John Coltrane - Live at Birdland

PARTLY Essential Trane

I have posted what I hope are at least thoughtful reviews of LIVE TRANE, the "COMPLETE" IMPULSE QUARTET recordings and the COMPLETE 1961 VILLAGE VANGUARD RECORDINGS...So let it not be said that I don't "understand" or appreciate Coltrane's genius.

But oh dear, goodness gracious, and, if I may add, heavens to Betsy. It seems I am the only one to rain on this particular parade, but (as I gingerly don my bulletproof vest) here goes...The three live Birdland performances, from which this album takes its name ("Afro-Blue," "I Want to Talk About You" and "The Promise," recorded October 8, 1963) ARE truly great. But...But, they are rendered excruxiating by the out-of-tune piano which McCoy Tyner is condemned to play.

Since I discovered this album, 25 years ago, I've tried - I really have - to pretend it doesn't bother me, but there's just NO DENYING IT. Did I say "out-of-tune"? I mean "oi sheesh" out of tune. I mean "Vibrations-that-can-put-a-hurt-on-the-old-fillings-in-your-teeth" out of tune. I mean, this miserable "ax" makes the average Sunday School pie-anah sound like Sergei Rachmaninov's freshly tuned, custom-built Steinway. Now, I'm no expert on the history of Birdland, but it sounds as if their piano tuner had been granted a lengthy sabbatical.

Thankfully, in the Pablo LIVE TRANE box, there are even greater performances of these three works by the Classic Quartet - with a TUNED piano - recorded only weeks later in Stockholm and Berlin. Not only are these versions of "Afro-Blue" and "The Promise" taken at more energetic tempos, but in fact, in LIVE TRANE you can find two live "Talk"s - both of which outshine the Birdland version- especially in terms of Trane's phantasmagorically daring, unaccompanied cadenza.

The "essential" part of this disc ? That would be the studio-recorded tracks from November 18, 1963: the very dark "Alabama" and the lithe "Your Lady" (a Mixolydian modal romp). (The March 1963 bonus track, "Vilia" - an attempt to "swing" Franz Lehar - is okay, but nothing to set one on fire.)

But for non-excruxiating versions of "Afro-Blue," "Talk" and "The Promise," you would need LIVE TRANE. Yes, it's a 7-CD box that "lists" at just over $100, but if you "go hunting," you can probably shave between 1/3 and 1/2 off that amount. Now, let's assume that you care more than just a little about John Coltrane...There are many top-drawer Coltrane treasures in this box, available NOWHERE ELSE - in addition to the four live tracks I have just mentioned. So, even if, budget-wise, it means eliminating a month's worth of unnecessary driving, eating-out tabs or other "impulse " buying, I'd say you need LIVE TRANE, period. June 3, 2008

The Sound of Feverish Emotion: Coltrane at his Best, Live

This album is easily one of the top three greatest albums Coltrane ever produced, and that is saying quite a lot. It also happens to be one of the greatest live jazz albums of all time. In fact if you were to make a list of greatest ever live albums (which coincidentally I did here on Amazon, and ranked it #1) you'd be hard pressed to come up with another one that exhibited all the virtuosity, interplay, and sheer naked emotion of "Live at Birdland". If you thought Clifford Brown was on fire when he cut the album with Art Blakey at the same venue almost a decade before ("A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1"), just wait until you check out Coltrane. The word "naked" is a good one as he really lets it all out here to an almost overwhelming, even scary degree. People talk about the spiritual nature of Coltrane's music, and of course they have a well founded point as the man was inseperable from his music, but what really left an impression on me after first hearing this milestone in jazz was how utterly direct, and raw, the emotion in his playing was. To call it passionate is almost doing it a disservice, as it is well beyond simple passion. It's more like a rabid creature fighting feverishly to live in a jagged sonic landscape. Forget the gradual build up of the wonderful "A Love Supreme", here we have one long sustained climax that never lets up. Don't expect any foreplay either, as right out of the chute with "Afro Blue" Elvin Jones is in a bleary rage of fire-filled drumming, Mccoy's comping like a madman with touch, and Jimmy Garrison's laying the foundation for this musical structure to stand on. That's not to say that all the music on this album is taken at the same tempo; with the second track "I Want to Talk About You" we slow it down a bit, just a bit mind you, and we get a different feel, but what we don't get is a let up in intensity, or a let down on Coltrane's part of that overpowering desire to communicate what he feels. Don't miss the glorious ending when his three fellow-travelers lay out and he goes off on a solo tangent that'll tire you out just listening to it. It's hard to single out a single greatest Coltrane album since, like Picasso, Coltrane had different periods. In his first period when he emerged with his own voice, but was still grounded in hard bop, we have "Blue Train", and then "Giant Steps. In his next period we have "A Love Supreme", this album, and the woefully underrated "Transition", where he's branching out and juggling chaos with structure, and then when he goes over the edge we have works like "Ascension". However for my money this is definitely one of those rarified peaks. If you've never heard "Live at Birdland" and are thinking now of buying it, I envy you for the experience that's at your finger tips. September 3, 2007

you need this.

one of my 3 favorite john coltrane albums. this is an incredibly soulful and spiritually moving recording. coltrane's sax playing here soars and the rythmn section rolls along like thunder beneath it all building one great throbbing sound. mcoy tyner's piano playing is superlatively inventive and a joy to experience. an absolute jazz masterpiece that all jazz lovers should own. February 10, 2007

Coltrane v. Fat Freddie

This might be my favorite Coltrane record. The disc adds one song not on the lp--Vilia from the operetta "The Merry Widow." I really like it all-especially "I Want To Talk About You" and "Afro-Blue."

Afro Blue is wonderful because Coltrane plays a short introduction and then the rhythm section builds up tension as their playing continues to get more and more intense. Tyner and Jones are wildmen. Then Coltrane rips and tears his way through and soars over the top of the rhythm section for a marvelous cresciendo. The music still stays within some invisible boundary so that listeners turned off by "free jazz" are still satisfied.

When I was in college and we had stereo wars, I remember playing this song incredibly loud with Elvin Jones beating those drums as if his life depended on it. My neighbor, Fat Freddie, was simply playing some forgettable rock song trying to defend against the John Coltrane Qt. It was a lost cause.

Raw power on the hoof. This recording should not be missed. May 8, 2006

Essential

The title is a bit misleading since only the first three cuts are 'live' recordings.
Make no mistake though:
this entire release is so, so totally LIVE!
Can you get to that?
Cop this disc and you will.
For real.
Both 'Afro Blue' and 'I Want To Talk About You' have appeared on other Coltrane and Impulse! reissues so you probably are already hip to them but in case you aren't?
Be prepared for some definita kill.
Coltrane seems to have played 'Afro Blue' at least as often (maybe more) as 'My Favorite Things' yet this version is not only the most soulful, musical, and dynamic I've heard but also the best recorded.
'I Want To Talk About You' is like the liner notes state:a straight up lesson on how to blow.
'The Promise' is (IMHO) one of two of Coltrane's most overlooked compositions and recordings.
The other, 'Your Lady' is also included here, lucky dog!
I got hip to it many,many moons ago (after I'd copped the now long out of print 2 Lp Impulse! release "John Coltrane: His Greatest Years, Volume II, which also had an edited version of 'Greensleeves', 'India', 'Chim Chim Cheree', 'Ogunde', 'Miles Mode', 'Big Nick' among others ,just full of jams...) and was just mesmerized.
To me it has the same sort of aura(?), spirituality(?),beauty(?!) as both 'Acknowledgement' (a.k.a. 'A Love Supreme Part I ') and 'My Favorite Things'.
Yet its hardly ever mentioned.
Same goes for 'Your Lady' where the listener is on some trip, traveling on some wonderful journey being led by 'Trane', propelled by Jones, carried by Garrison and guided by Tyner.
On the LP of 'Live At Birdland' it was the final cut and as such seemed to be a fitting end for an interesting, joyful excursion. But before that was/is 'Alabama', a dark,foreboding, strange cut that broke down in the middle then started up again only to come to a somewhat unexpected and fearful climax.
Its been edited to a different but similar song this time around.A complete version is on the 'Jazz Casual' DVD.
'Alabama' was inspired by a KKK church bombing that killed four young black girls Down South one Sunday morning in 1963.
'Vilia' has been added this time around. when I bought this some fifteen years ago a different cut was added since "Live At Birdland" is such a short program.
In short: this is no CD to have just to flesh out your collection or just to show how cool you are.
Whether you're a die-hard Coltrane or jazz fan or not, once you slap this rascal on...from the opening notes of 'Afro Blue' to the last fading notes of 'Your Lady' ( I honestly can't completely recall what 'Vilia' sounds like) this sucker smokes.
I swear.
And while some folk may get a bit put off by the runs 'Trane blows toward the end of 'I Want To Tslk About You' even they'll have to admit all throughout this bad motherscorcher The John Coltrane Quartet keep doing it to death!
Hope this helps

January 19, 2006

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