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John Coltrane: Expression


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Over the years this has become one of my favorite Coltrane records. I still haven't entirely warmed to "To Be," but the other tracks have such incredible presence. The opener "Ogunde," besides being a beautiful melody, seems like a farewell of sorts, as if Coltrane knew his time on Earth was ending. "Offering" has to be one the best tracks Coltrane ever committed to vinyl (while it technically belongs to the "Stellar Regions" session). And the title track itself? Filled with emotion.

What's your experience with this record? When did you first hear it? 

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I picked it up for a buck or two during the Great Vinyl Purge of the 1990s.  I was happy that Alice was on the album, as I was trying to find a lot of her stuff.

I was acquiring a lot of Coltrane on vinyl at that time, and some of the later albums blur together for me.  I will have to revisit.  

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49 minutes ago, colinmce said:

I find it endlessly fascinating.

:tup Same.

Expression was actually the third Coltrane record I ever bought. I didn't know what I was purchasing at the time, and it freaked me out. I spun it once and sold it. Four years went by, and I purchased it again. This time I knew what I was getting into.

 

14 hours ago, Guy Berger said:

Wish we had even more recordings.

Me too. In fact, I think about this way too much. :crazy:

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Expression has always had a place in my heart as something like the last word from Trane.   Some of it is quite beautiful as well.  At the time I bought it in the mid-70s, Stellar Regions, the Temple concert, and the Olatunji Concert were still far from being discovered/released.  Therefore, for a long time, along with Interstellar Space, Expression was the only real sound picture we had of Trane at the end.  It was a distinct picture too.   Stellar regions filled out that picture even more.   But the Olatunji Concert sort of shattered it, making everything a bit more confusing.    

Edited by John L
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I am curious about how many here actually saw/heard Coltrane in person.

I heard the "classic quartet" at the Plugged Nickel twice (multiple nights each time), the augmented quartet with Archie Shepp at the Down Beat festival and finally the group with Alice and Mr Sanders at the Nickel again.

I think personal experience colors impressions.

I would welcome recollections of any live performances.

 

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30 minutes ago, Chuck Nessa said:

I am curious about how many here actually saw/heard Coltrane in person.

I heard the "classic quartet" at the Plugged Nickel twice (multiple nights each time), the augmented quartet with Archie Shepp at the Down Beat festival and finally the group with Alice and Mr Sanders at the Nickel again.

I think personal experience colors impressions.

I would welcome recollections of any live performances.

 

I saw him in Boston with 2 drummers (Elvin & Rashied) + Carlos Ward, Pharoah Sanders - raised the roof as I recall, but it's 50+ years ago.

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I got called into a spirited debate between two lab-band-clowns to give my opinion on whether or not that was Alice or McCoy on this record because "Alice couldn't possibly play like that. Trane had had enough of her incompetence and called McCoy back for this record."

Seriously.

In some circles, Alice Coltrane is the jazz-villain equivalent of Yoko Ono. You want to know what that's about, well, if you have to ask....

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17 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

Bertrand, what do you feel is "missing" as far as tapes from '67?

 

John Coltrane Quintet

John Coltrane, tenor sax; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Rashied Ali, drums; Marion Brown, bells.

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, February 27, 1967

90774 E Minor Impulse! lost
90775 Half Steps -

John Coltrane Quartet

John Coltrane, tenor sax; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Rashied Ali, drums.

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, March 29, 1967

90784 Number Eight Impulse! lost
90785 Number Seven -
90786 Number Six -
90787 Number Five -
90788 Number Four -
90789 Number Two -

John Coltrane Sextet

Pharoah Sanders, alto sax; John Coltrane, tenor sax; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Rashied Ali, drums; Algie DeWitt, bata drum.

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, May 17, 1967

90790 None Other Impulse! lost
90791 Kaleidoscope (mistitled as Collidoscope) -

 

 

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6 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Yes, my very first impression of it was how pretty some of it was. I'm not sure if that bode well for the whole "what if he had lived" thing, to be honest. Maybe?

Do you think the trajectory of Archie Sheep's playing has  anything to tell us about "what if he had lived"?

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Nope. Not really. Shepp was making up in traditional skills that Trane had already exploded.

People were talking that strings and harp and maybe voices and a populist/spiritual bent, and seriously...I don't know that being on the other side and this side at the same time is really do-able for any meaningful public duration. 

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11 hours ago, medjuck said:

Do you think the trajectory of Archie Sheep's playing has  anything to tell us about "what if he had lived"?

Joe Henderson's my go to comparator. Same concept though - Gradual running out of self-belief in the Concept in the mid 70s in face of dwindling critical and audience enthusiasm, then triumphant traditionalist return in the Reagan era: 'Trane plays the American Songbook, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1981)', 'Night Trane' (GRM, 1986), etc etc. Like Henderson (and Shepp, if you like his later work) they'd probably be good records, but its not an entirely appealling thought. 

However, I'm not sure it's right. Coltrane's final period deepening comes at a time when free jazz is still riding high, rather than in the face of gathering indifference and bop revival in the late 70s, as with Shepp and Henderson. So, as always, it looks like he was leading the way into something else.

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