Guy Berger Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 (edited) I'm listening to a torrent I downloaded a long time ago from EasyTree -- the John Coltrane quartet playing in Stuttgart, West (?) Germany on November 4th 1963. I think these live recordings from '62 and '63 are interesting because they puncture a big hole in the "Trane all of a sudden went avant-garde in 1965" myth. (Not an original Guy thought -- I'm borrowing this from Ed Rhodes.) You listen to the sax-drums duet on "Impressions" from this gig and then something like "Vigil" (or "One Up One Down" from the Half Note gig), and it's not such a huge leap. It's a shame there aren't any live '64 recordings (AFAIK) to bridge the gap. Anyway, the gig -- it's a real shame they didn't include it on the Live Trane box -- the sound is stupendous. It's not the complete concert: Afro Blue, I Want to Talk About You, Impressions, My Favorite Things. I've only listened to this concert once so far. I Want to Talk About You has a (typically -- I am not familiar enough with the non-Birdland versions to rank this against the others) beautiful unaccompanied coda. It starts out really lyrical, then gets more intense and verbose as it progresses. The unaccompanied codas on versions of this tune always remind me that Trane was an incredibly logical, cerebral, methodical improviser. Impressions, 29 minutes long -- par for the course at this point. Great McCoy solo opens it up for 5 minutes, then Jimmy Garrison has a longish solo (8 minutes or so) that calms things down. Elvin comes in near the end of the solo, then Trane and McCoy reintroduce the theme. Then Trane begins one of his incredible improvisations around 15:30 or so... frequently playing around with the melody, or at least fragments of it. After about a minute, McCoy drops out. The interplay between Elvin and John gets a lot more intense, wow. Lots of those high-low register jumps at some point. At just under 20 minutes Jimmy drops out and high-level Trane-Elvin insanity ensues. Wow wow wow. This mayhem lasts for over 7 minutes, getting especially intense near the end, before Trane slips back into the melody and McCoy and Jimmy return to bring us back to planet Earth. Guy p.s. I just realized that there is another version of this circulating with three more tunes: "The Promise", "Every Time We Say Goodbye" and a 36 minute version of "Mr. P.C." Gotta get that! Edited June 28, 2005 by Guy Berger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcello Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 I have a vinyl release from a Italian label called Jazz Galore, from the same date and issued as Part 1. Afro Blue The Promise I Want to Talk About You (2 Parts) My Favorite Things I havn't played it in years. Maybe it's time to transfer this one to CD. Thanks for the reminder of how great it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Marcello, not sure your transfer would be worth all the work... Guy has a burn of the recent radio re-broadcast, in pristine mono. I have that one as well, it sounds really really good, as Guy says, and the music is great! You'd rather want to look around to get a copy of that re-broadcast than invest too much work and time into transferring a boot that will probably not sound half as good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Here's the setlist of the long version (115 min) that is part of the first Trane Tree:1. The Promise 2. Afro Blue 3. I Want to Talk About You 4. Impressions 5. My Favorite Things 6. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye 7. Mr. P.C.(Not nearly as good sound as the re-broadcast of #2-5). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Would one of you consider upping this on Dime a Dozen? I'd like to hear it, based on your recommendations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1ngram Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Where can I get a hold of this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 I have a vinyl release from a Italian label called Jazz Galore, from the same date and issued as Part 1. Afro Blue The Promise I Want to Talk About You (2 Parts) My Favorite Things I havn't played it in years. Maybe it's time to transfer this one to CD. Thanks for the reminder of how great it is. ← Sound on that Jazz Galore LP volume 1 is no good. Very thin, no dynamics which is a shame for that type of music. Hope that torrent material sounds better! Never saw a volume 2 from Jazz Galore... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted June 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Here's the setlist of the long version (115 min) that is part of the first Trane Tree:1. The Promise 2. Afro Blue 3. I Want to Talk About You 4. Impressions 5. My Favorite Things 6. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye 7. Mr. P.C.(Not nearly as good sound as the re-broadcast of #2-5). ← Thanks, Ubu -- I was thinking the same thing -- as soon as I download this stuff from the Underground Trane seeds I'll put my own "Complete Stuttgart" together on my ipod. Pete -- I still have the files on my computer but I've never seeded anything -- I'll try to reseed it sometime soon. As ubu said, the current Underground Trane includes the entire concert (but in worse sound quality than the excerpt I described above). Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 (edited) Would one of you consider upping this on Dime a Dozen? I'd like to hear it, based on your recommendations. ← Of all things it's up there already: John Coltrane - Live Trane Underground Disc 11 (Reseed) John Coltrane - Live Trane Underground Disc 12 (Reseed) Edited June 28, 2005 by Quincy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 I have the 'Trane tree - it was the improved sound that piqued my interest. Someone has offered to reseed that version at a later date. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted September 14, 2018 Report Share Posted September 14, 2018 The John Coltrane Reference book also gives high marks to this concert and says it definitely merits an official release of some kind. Does seem odd that it wasn't included in the Live Trane box... rights issues of some kind, perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 i wonder if Trane pounded a bunch of food when he was over there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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