dg
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Post by dg on Dec 9, 2021 20:28:48 GMT
John Coltrane wrote many beautiful tunes (more about that later) but one of the prettiest and most popular is Naima, written for his first wife. One of my favorite versions was by John Handy, with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Pat Martino, guitar, Albert Stinson, bass, and Doug Sides, drums. It is a long very atmospheric interpretation, pretty and peaceful. It was recorded some three weeks before Coltrane's death and Handy placed it on the NEW VIEW! album (Columbia CS 9497) in tribute to Coltrane. The relatively under-appreciated Handy has a gorgeous alto sax tone across the whole range of the instrument, not as acidic as McLean nor as mellow as Desmond.
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dg
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Post by dg on Dec 12, 2021 18:36:51 GMT
John Coltrane wrote many beautiful tunes (more about that later) but one of the prettiest and most popular is Naima......Something about that melody clearly resonates with a wide audience of both musicians and the public. The SecondHandSongs website (an excellent resource) lists an incredible 249 recorded versions of Coltrane’s “Naima” – by artists such as Art Farmer in 1963 – through Woody Herman, Charles Lloyd, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Anthony Braxton, the Caribbean Jazz Project – to Mayuko Katakura in 2020 - all have made “Naima” their own. Two other beautiful compositions by Coltrane that have been covered by a variety of artists are “Central Park West,” which was recorded in 1960 and appeared on COLTRANE’S SOUND (Atlantic) in 1964 and “After the Rain” from IMPRESSIONS (Impulse) in 1963. My favorite version of “Central Park West” is probably that by Jack DeJohnette from his SPECIAL EDITION album (ECM -1-1152) that has Arthur Blythe on alto sax, David Murray, tenor sax and bass clarinet and Peter Warren, bass and cello. This is an album well worth acquiring, not only for “Central Park West” but also for its interpretation of Coltrane’s “India.” The album also has three compositions by DeJohnette, including “Zoot Suite,” which has a wonderful interplay of the reeds and “One for Eric.” DeJohnette’s version of “Central Park West” seems not to be available for inclusion here and so I link to Coltrane’s original version of the song and also to his beautiful composition “After the Rain.”
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Post by bassman on Dec 12, 2021 20:46:38 GMT
ECM 1152 is fantastic. I like the bass vamp at the beginning of "Zoot Suite" and the theme that is faintly reminiscent both of the third movement of Ellington's "Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald" and a certain part of his "Such Sweet Thunder" suite (I would have to check which) where the horns perform some kind of out-of-time ostinato in the background. - Murray sounds wonderful on bass clarinet, but in fact everybody sounds perfect on ECM 1152.
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Post by Doom Girl on Dec 12, 2021 21:02:59 GMT
ECM 1152 is fantastic. I like the bass vamp at the beginning of "Zoot Suite" and the theme that is faintly reminiscent both of the third movement of Ellington's "Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald" and a certain part of his "Such Sweet Thunder" suite (I would have to check which) where the horns perform some kind of out-of-time ostinato in the background. - Murray sounds wonderful on bass clarinet, but in fact everybody sounds perfect on ECM 1152. I agree completely with your assessment of this album, Jack DeJohnette's SPECIAL EDITION. "Zoot Suite" is a wonderful composition and arrangement. When I first heard this album I was rather stunned by drummer (and pianist) DeJohnette's skills (and knowledge of the "jazz tradition"). Blythe, Murray and Warren all turn in great performances on this record.
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dg
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Post by dg on Dec 13, 2021 16:22:39 GMT
Dec 6, 2019 at 8:04am, Doom Girl said: “WELCOME - like having an angel of God come and sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY just to you.”
Dec 6, 2019 at 8:33am, Jazzhead said: Yeah, I can definitely hear Happy Birthday at the start. I haven't looked into that. Is it intentional? Must be, right?
Dec 6, 2019 at 3:15pm, Doom Girl said: I think it must be. Another interesting thing about "Welcome" is it's the last track on KULU SE MAMA, I think the last album released during Coltrane's lifetime.
A version of "Welcome" appears on the 1973 Santana album titled WELCOME. The album was made shortly after Carlos Santana met Alice Coltrane, with whom he would later record for the first time. Santana stated: "At that time, I felt my whole existence pulled toward John Coltrane
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dg
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Post by dg on Dec 14, 2021 19:25:30 GMT
I hesitate to characterize “Alabama” with the word “pretty,” but there is an undeniable intense beauty to the composition. “Alabama,” presented on LIVE AT BIRDLAND, was composed and played as a tribute to the children killed in the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama and contained the seeds of the ideas behind A LOVE SUPREME. It has been said that “Alabama” is based in part on the rhythms of a speech given by Martin Luther King discussing the tragic event. It is an approach that will be taken to a new level on “Psalm” from A LOVE SUPREME, where Coltrane will “voice” the words of his poem, or song, through his saxophone.
When A LOVE SUPREME was released it was not explicitly stated that Coltrane was in effect reciting the “Psalm” in music, a fact missed by some early reviewers of the album. I vividly remember my own moment of discovery and how it engendered a feeling of kinship with Coltrane and his masterpiece – and, in retrospect, could then understand what he meant in the liner notes, where he wrote “…the fourth and last part is a musical narration of the theme, “A Love Supreme” which is written in the context; it is entitled “PSALM.””
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Post by Doom Grl on Dec 15, 2021 14:21:12 GMT
Listening to A LOVE SUPREME for the first time in years I was again fascinated by that second tenor sax voice at the end. I had read somewhere that Archie Shepp was present at one of the sessions and I thought it was him, but Ashley Kahn in his book about the album, points out that Coltrane, wanting a more dramatic ending, had Rudy overdub the second sax voice. There is also an (Elvin Jones) overdubbed drum part. It seems that the focus is on beautiful music that Coltrane wrote himself. There are also many lovely Coltrane performances on songs composed by others, "Lush Life," the BALLADS album, etc. Coltrane had an ear for a good tune, from any source. (I would add "Stellar Regions" from the album of the same name as a beautiful Coltrane track)
Thinking of a musician of similar great stature, Miles Davis, I am hard pressed to think of a "pretty" tune he wrote and played. "Blue in Green" - well, did he really write it, or was it Bill Evans. "Fran Dance" - ugh, too cloying. Maybe "Generique" - but is that a "composition." Miles Davis was no slouch in the composition game - he has a record 20 themes in Feather's "Omnibus of Jazz" but the "pretty" Davis music seems to me mostly on songs written by others - "My Funny Valentine," "'Round Midnight," "Time after Time," etc. Any suggestions for a pretty Davis original?
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Post by bassman on Dec 15, 2021 17:08:56 GMT
Is "Générique" a composition? "Générique" is French for "title music", of course. In this case, it's the title music to "Ascenseur pour l’échafaud". (Art Blakey's contemporaneous "Des femmes disparaissent" has a "Générique" too. A very different one.)
So, is Miles's "Générique" a composition? And what about the rest of the film score? I think all those tracks are spontaneous compositions of a kind. To me, "Ascenseur" is the purest, most genuine, most unadulterated jazz that there is. Not a trace of "American Songbook", no funny valentine or starlit stella or "cloying" nursery rhymes. It makes free use of elements that constitute the essence of jazz, but it is by no means "free jazz". It's melodic, relaxed, mysterious, nocturnal. Is it "pretty"? No. It's beautiful. And mind you: The original reverb is a must. It is part of the music.
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Post by dottorjazz on Dec 17, 2021 15:14:47 GMT
"Générique" is French for "title music", Is it "pretty"? No. It's beautiful. correct, we can call "love theme" too. beautiful description of non American music written by an American musician, chapeau!
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Post by dottorjazz on Dec 17, 2021 15:19:15 GMT
I had read somewhere that Archie Shepp was present at one of the sessions and I thought it was him, but Ashley Kahn in his book about the album, points out that Coltrane, wanting a more dramatic ending, had Rudy overdub the second sax voice. There is also an (Elvin Jones) overdubbed drum part. actually Sheep recalls having recorded the whole suite. the result is available today but it's not good as I could expect. Shepp, who adored Trane, couldn't fit with his music. love Trane, love Shepp from those years but I can't stand him in ALS. not a single note.
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dg
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Post by dg on Dec 17, 2021 18:55:26 GMT
I had read somewhere that Archie Shepp was present at one of the sessions and I thought it was him, but Ashley Kahn in his book about the album, points out that Coltrane, wanting a more dramatic ending, had Rudy overdub the second sax voice. There is also an (Elvin Jones) overdubbed drum part. actually Sheep recalls having recorded the whole suite. the result is available today but it's not good as I could expect. Shepp, who adored Trane, couldn't fit with his music. love Trane, love Shepp from those years but I can't stand him in ALS. not a single note. In October of 2020, WBGO published “A Deep Dive into John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’ Pt.3” by Lewis Porter, author of “John Coltrane: His Life and Music.” In this (very, very) long article, Lewis writes, with respect to the available recordings of part of ALS with Archie Shepp and Art Davis added to the Quartet:“….Shepp acknowledged that he could have used more preparation….Nevertheless, Shepp acquits himself well, his growling, speech-inflected style making an effective contrast with Coltrane’s. And they interact well…” www.wbgo.org/music/2020-10-01/a-deep-dive-into-john-coltranes-a-love-supreme-by-his-biographer-lewis-porter-pt-3Despite Porter's comments I agree with dottorjazz, that Shepp's performance on Acknowledgement from ALS did not fit - in fact was really bad - as was the performance in general - even Jones seems oddly out of sorts. And I am also a fan of Shepp's work of the time - FIRE MUSIC and THE MAGIC OF JU-JU are two of my favorite Impulse albums.
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dg
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Post by dg on Dec 18, 2021 23:56:50 GMT
@theprettiestjazz: “Lush Life” - Coltrane’s classic instrumental version (with Byrd, Garland, Chambers and Hayes), and then the composer’s own -
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Post by bassman on Dec 19, 2021 8:39:23 GMT
@theprettiestjazz: “Lush Life” - Coltrane’s classic instrumental version (with Byrd, Garland, Chambers and Hayes), and then the composer’s own - [ ... ] Coltrane's "Lush Life" version is probably the best thing that ever happened to the song. I don't care much about Strayhorn's vocal version, to be quite honest.
The best vocal version still is the one by Nat King Cole and Pete Rugolo's orchestra - and I mean both the 1949 original and the later stereo version. They sound very much the same anyway, although one of them contains this little slip of the tongue ("strifling those who strive"). Call it pretty or beautiful or whatever - I just love it.
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Post by dottorjazz on Dec 20, 2021 20:22:09 GMT
Despite Porter's comments I agree with dottorjazz, that Shepp's performance on Acknowledgement from ALS did not fit - in fact was really bad - as was the performance in general - even Jones seems oddly out of sorts. And I am also a fan of Shepp's work of the time - FIRE MUSIC and THE MAGIC OF JU-JU are two of my favorite Impulse albums. downloaded (but not read yet) Porter's articles. I do love Shepp in his early works up to The Way Ahead. I do NOT love his playing with Trane, and it's a real lost occasion. maybe he was too shy, maybe he wasn't able to play with one of his masters: a real bull shit, and I'm said in saying this.
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Post by gregorythefish on Dec 21, 2021 14:22:17 GMT
i rather enjoy shepp's playing on ALS, but the versions including him do not come close to the master versions.
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