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Coltrane At The Half Note


Cali

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Oddly enough, Coltrane's solos have an organizing effect on me. I find it very easy to stay focused on what he is playing, even those solos from Live in Japan that push the hour mark.

Somebody will have to check, but I think the OUOD solo (which runs for 26-28 minutes, depending on whether you include the brief melody statements at the beginning and the end) is longer than any of the solos on Live in Japan, even if you include the duets with Pharoah as part of Trane's solo. It might even be longer than any other Coltrane solo on record, though I am not sure about that.

Guy

Obviously you don't have the extended dance mix of Live in Japan.

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I must get Live in Japan next. I've never heard it but the Half Note is incredible

If you want something similar to the Half Note recordings, I'd recommend Live in Seattle before Live in Japan due to the rhythm section and general level fo intensity. (Obviously the live version of A Love Supreme would be even more similar, but I assume you already own that.) If you do get Live in Japan, you might want to get the extended dance mix that J Larsen just mentioned...

(I agree with Mr. Larsen about Interstellar Space!)

Guy

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I dug out a ten cd "tree" that I have that has the Half Note, Penthouse and so much more and listened to some of the Half Note material. My copy of the new Impulse STILL has not arrived. That really is a nice version of Afro Blue from the Half Note. . . nice Tyner.

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I dug out a ten cd "tree" that I have that has the Half Note, Penthouse and so much more and listened to some of the Half Note material.  My copy of the new Impulse STILL has not arrived.  That really is a nice version of Afro Blue from the Half Note. . . nice Tyner.

Which one, Lon? There's a 7 minute incomplete version that ends the 4/2/65 broadcast (this is the broadcast with "Creation" & "I Want to Talk About You") and the 13 minute incomplete version that ends the 3/26/65 broadcast (following "One Up, One Down").

Also, to toss more fuel onto the OUOD fire, when I started the "greatest Coltrane solos" thread, I quoted someone else saying:

And an honorable mention to "One Down, One Up" from the Half Note, March 26, 1965--a 28-minute solo (half of it a Trane-Elvin duet) that has its moments but never quite takes off; the urgent, relentless _weight_ of it makes this one of my favorite Trane solos, even though I don't really think it's "great."
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Finally got my copy of the "official release" in the mail. Man. . . worth waithing for. The fidellity is so much better than either the mono or stereo versions I have of this through the collectors' network. No wobbliiness or two dimensional sound. Steady, clear sound with rich depth.

I'm so glad this is out. It's important stuff, and good to have in a handsome official package.

Hope they find a few more Half Note reels in the closet. . . but it sounds like the other broadcasts weren't in Trane's holdings darn it. Those reels he had sound great! (Think they gave him the tapes that were recorded in the club?)

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Picked up my copy Monday, and have listened through a couple of times. Damn! I had some low-fidelity cassette copies of this when I was in college. I understood then that it was an important document, and I dug the vibe of it, but I wasn't ready to deal with it musically.

I'm not necessarily ready now, but I'm a little closer, and this is some incredible music. I can only concur with earlier posts about Trane's stamina, and his motivic development. And you can tell that people in the room were very much ready to receive all of that music from those guys.

Not exactly like some jobbing tenor player tying to play 20 minutes on "Tequila" at some kid's Bar Mitzvah... :P

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Not exactly like some jobbing tenor player tying to play 20 minutes on "Tequila" at some kid's Bar Mitzvah... :P

Hey, was that a dig at Bird? :angry::angry::angry::angry:

Nothin' but love for Bird!!! (please see avatar to the left <-----) Just a silly comment on all the post-Trane players (myself sometimes included) who figure that if Trane could build a solo for 20 minutes, then surely the world should have to hear what they/I have to play for an equal amount of time. :)

Edited by DukeCity
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Is this heresy: I lost some of my enthusiasm  when I saw  that it  included yet another version of My Favorite Things. As the late (?) George Crater said in Downbeat in the mid-sixties "If I hear John Coltrane play My Favorite Things one more time I'm going to strangle Mary Martin". I'm sure I'll get  the cd next week anyway.

OK I take it all back. I got the cd and this is one of my favorite versions of Favorite Things.

BTW I suprised that no one's mentioned that according to the announcer they'd already been playing "One Down" for 30 minutes before the broadcast beings which suggests that Trane is probably playing his second solo on the number. (Unless Tyner took a 20 minute solo-- not impossible I guess.)

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Not exactly like some jobbing tenor player tying to play 20 minutes on "Tequila" at some kid's Bar Mitzvah... :P

Hey, was that a dig at Bird? :angry::angry::angry::angry:

Wow, Glenn......a 4-angry-smilie response. :o Your first, I believe.

Welcome to the board! :g

EDIT: Also interesting that your comment was construed as an insult to Bird. Was it interpreted as a reference to the famous Bird-plays-Bar Mitzvah gig? Had Tequila been written yet? Was he playing tenor?

I think you were dissing Joe Henderson. Who the hell do you think you are? Anyhow?

Edited by Free For All
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Wow, Glenn......a 4-angry-smilie response.  :o Your first, I believe.

Welcome to the board! :g

EDIT: Also interesting that your comment was construed as an insult to Bird. Was it interpreted as a reference to the famous Bird-plays-Bar Mitzvah gig? Had Tequila been written yet? Was he playing tenor?

I think you were dissing Joe Henderson. Who the hell do you think you are? Anyhow?

Thanks, Paul. It's a proud day for me and my family.

If I had been talking about Joe I wouldn't have used the term "jobbing". It would have been either the NY term "club date" or the West Coast "casual", and it wouldn't be a Bar Mitzvah. I'm pretty sure that Joe's commercial gigs were primarily weddings and some corporate shows. There is nothing like hearing him stretch out on "Wind Beneath My Wings". Send me a PM if you'd like to cop some bootlegs from me...

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The story I have heard is that he never performed live with them. If someone can disprove that, I'll be very interested.

There were MANY rehearsals and some were taped. Four tunes were planned - including two by Henderson (one being No Me Esqueca aka Recorda-Me). As far as I know, these recordings have never circulated outside BST. Again, would love to be proved wrong on that.

Mike

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Not exactly like some jobbing tenor player tying to play 20 minutes on "Tequila" at some kid's Bar Mitzvah... :P

Hey, was that a dig at Bird? :angry::angry::angry::angry:

Wow, Glenn......a 4-angry-smilie response. :o Your first, I believe.

Welcome to the board! :g

EDIT: Also interesting that your comment was construed as an insult to Bird. Was it interpreted as a reference to the famous Bird-plays-Bar Mitzvah gig? Had Tequila been written yet? Was he playing tenor?

I think you were dissing Joe Henderson. Who the hell do you think you are? Anyhow?

Yeah I was making a reference to that Bird at the Bar Mitzvah and yeah I doubt he was playing tenor. Who cares when Tequila was written, do we have to be so literal? Just having a little fun. Is that so wrong? I hope you survived it Glenn.

But while we are at it, Bird was a man of few choruses and I think he is on record as making a negative comment on those whose solos include too many.

Edited by skeith
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Yeah I was making a reference to that Bird at the Bar Mitzvah and yeah I doubt he was playing tenor. Who cares when Tequila was written, do we have to be so literal? Just having a little fun. Is that so wrong? 

Not wrong at all. I hope you realize we (actually, just me) also were having a little fun at your expense.

I guess I misinterpreted " :angry::angry::angry::angry: ". Seemed like you were pissed. :g

And I certainly don't care when Tequila was written, although I'm sure Mike Fitzgerald knows the answer.

Edited by Free For All
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Yeah I was making a reference to that Bird at the Bar Mitzvah and yeah I doubt he was playing tenor. Who cares when Tequila was written, do we have to be so literal? Just having a little fun. Is that so wrong? 

Not wrong at all. I hope you realize we (actually, just me) also were having a little fun at your expense.

I guess I misinterpreted " :angry::angry::angry::angry: ". Seemed like you were pissed. :g

And I certainly don't care when Tequila was written, although I'm sure Mike Fitzgerald knows the answer.

Ok, I thought you were serious, although the Joe Henderson thing was a bit of a tip off. I thought I was having fun at your expense and no I wasn't really pissed but I thought that was clear. Guess not. Oh the internet.

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Free For All....."This is the kind of Trane we used to listen to in college in various, um, altered states. "

and...

"I remember in college someone bought one of those long Andrew White transcriptions (like Chasin' The Trane) and we (the "jazz guys") would lay it on the floor, open it up and it would extend through like three rooms of the house. We would put on the record and sort of huddle over it and scoot along accordingl..."

Ahhh....the days of Chasing The Bird, Open Your Eyes And You Can See and Meet The Press!

My copy should be in my mailbox when I get home....can't wait!

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