John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy: Evenings at the Village Gate

To hear some critics, with their infinite reservoirs of wisdom, tell it in 1961, the inclusion of the masterful multi-instrumentalist and composer Eric Dolphy in John Coltrane's band was a blasphemy against jazz.  The Los Angeles native wrote and played in unconventional and highly distinctive ways and to those unimpressed ears, his work was harsh, noisy, dissonant and not tonal enough.  

Not unlike those who could not wrap their heads (ears) around other great innovators of the era, whether it was Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor or others, these critics were also generally unhappy with Coltrane's move into more experimental territory after he left Atlantic Records to join the upstart Impulse! label, where among his first recordings were the amazing performances from November 1961 at the Village Vanguard in New York City.

The album released early in 1962 with three tracks "Spiritual," "Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise," and the astounding "Chasin' the Trane" were divisive among many so-called experts, who decried the leader's explorations into the varieties of sound generated by his soprano and tenor saxophone playing.  Dolphy played bass clarinet on "Spiritual" and did so on "India" when that tune and "Impressions" appeared on the 1963 release titled after the latter.  In 1997, however, a 4-disc set of the complete Village Vanguard recordings provided devotees with an aural feast with Dolphy and Trane joined by pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and bassists Reggie Workman (the sole survivor of these recordings and now 86 years old) and Jimmy Garrison.

A fascinating complement to these recordings is Evenings at the Village Gate, released last year after the tapes, recorded by engineer Rich Alderson with the venue's new sound system, were discovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts by an archivist working on Bob Dylan recordings, as the folk artist was recorded at the Village Gate that year, as well.  These tapes were from August 1961, but with the same sextet format and with Art Davis as the other bassist.

Coltrane and Dolphy famously issued a published answer to the naysayers in Down Beat magazine, but this album and the Vanguard tracks should suffice in hindsight because Trane's observation that Dolphy broadened the band's sound as well as freed its musicians to take the music in new directions is on the mark.  All that critical angst is a reminder that innovators have to be allowed to pursue their passion for finding new ways to express themselves and those wedded to "tradition" shouldn't stand in the way or criticize honest and authentic artistic endeavor.

These pieces range from 10 to 22 minutes allowing the band to explore at a comfortable and organic pace and for soloists to take their showcases wherever they need to go.  The hit "My Favorite Things," which would be reprocessed into much freer territory in subsequent years, "Impressions," and, especially, "Africa," long a favorite of this listener, are especially impressive, while "Greensleeves," part of Trane's repertoire at the time is also taken to new levels of expression.  The surprise here, perhaps, is "When Lights Are Low," in which the 1930s chestnut sounds somewhat out of place on one hand, but, on the other, shows what innovators can do to both respect and expand upon tradition.

Sadly, Dolphy died in 1964 at age 36 after falling into a diabetic coma and a 9-disc box set of his complete Prestige recordings is a phenomenal document of his underappreciated career.  Coltrane went on to greater success, peaking with the transformative A Love Supreme, but was soon stricken with liver cancer from which he died at age 40 in 1967.  These two giants, criticized as they were in 1961, left behind some of the greatest music ever produced and this is a great document to show that.

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme, Live in Seattle

What an amazing circumstance it was when the Impulse! label released, in 2021, this astounding document that was long hidden in the possession of saxophonist and teacher Joe Brazil and which was one of the very few live recordings of John Coltrane's transcendent suite, A Love Supreme.  Recorded on house equipment at The Penthouse club in Seattle on 2 October 1965, this music featured the master and his classic quartet of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones, supplemented by bassist Donald Rafael Garrett, alto sax player Carlos Ward, and the great Pharoah Sanders, who departed this world last September.

After several years of working nearly exclusively with Garrison, Jones and Tyner and reaching the limits of what he felt could be done with modal jazz, Coltrane sought new ways of expression, with instrumentation, composition, improvisation, harmony and time and in other ways.  Not long after this recording, Tyner and Jones left the band, uncomfortable with the new directions pursued by Coltrane, while Garrison remained until the leader's death untimely death from liver cancer at age 40 in July 1967.

Not surprisingly, whereas the studio version of this masterpiece, recorded in December 1964, was conceived and played with precision, power, passion and no filler, this version, more than the other live recording, from the Antibes Jazz Festival in France in late June 1965, is looser, more open and free, and  often filled with explosive intensity unrivaled in jazz.  There were, too, the growing contradictions within the expanded band, especially for Tyner, a staggering pianist, but whose lyrical playing, complex soloing and distinctive comping often seems lost or out-of-place in the maelstrom—his solo on the third part, "Pursuance," however, is outstanding.  On the other hand, Garrison, the consummate accompanist, played well with Garrett and Jones, who often expressed frustration with the new manner of performance, more than keeps things moving with his great polyrhythmic playing for this unpredictable and fiery ensemble.

A lot has been said about Sanders and his often-abrasive and emotive style of playing, but he proved to be an excellent foil and complement, as well as an inspiration, to Coltrane, who was absorbing a good deal of "free jazz," most especially that of Albert Ayler (Trane made sure that Sanders and Ayler were signed to Impulse!).  Ward has some fine moments, as well, settling in somewhere between Sanders and Coltrane in terms of style and approach.  With respect to the leader, he was clearly inspired by new musicians and ways of writing and playing and making every effort to plunge forward fearlessly with records like Ascension, Om, and Meditations, while live recordings such as the ones in Seattle, Japan and the second Village Vanguard set show the full steam ahead approach that prevailed until the master died of liver cancer in 1967, at just age 40.

There was a lot of controversy about Coltrane's direction after 1964, but it's also understandable why he went where he did.  To grow is to change and this push into freer music was the only way he could see to go.  This end period was a world away from the hit version of My Favorite Things or his Standards album, but it is fascinating to follow him in those last years and this is a revelation for that era.