Search & Destroy: John Coltrane

How much of the final Quintet is there recorded and released?
Looking forward to getting my hands on this Offering set but wondering what else is out there both studio and live. Cos I get the feeling they're greatly under-represented and I'm not sure if it's me or what is available by them.

Studio, there isn't much...in fact, strictly speaking, that quintet only made one studio record (Expression). Stellar Regions is also studio, but it's a quartet (no Pharoah).

There's a few live things, though: Live at the Village Vanguard Again!, Live In Japan, and The Olatuniji Concert.

I've only heard the boot of Offering, but it's tremendous, easily on par with Live In Japan, which itself has always been a high-water mark of this music for me.

I thought there was more, or is that just officially released. looks like I've had all of it but the Olatunji concert though I need to get new copies of a couple of things.
Hadn't realised there was no Pharoah on Stellar Regions & I did think there were more studio recordings which had been put out at least posthumously though i didn't know titles. Was that all Quartet stuff?
& Alice reworked some material prior to posthumous release by editing/overdubbing from what I've heard.

Live in Japan is the one Coltrane rec I'd return to.

I did think there were more studio recordings which had been put out at least posthumously though i didn't know titles. Was that all Quartet stuff?

Yeah, most of the posthumous stuff was the Quartet (Sun Ship, Transition, Living Space, First Meditations, others), or some coagulation of the Quartet + others (Live In Seattle, Om).

& Alice reworked some material prior to posthumous release by editing/overdubbing from what I've heard.

I think that's mostly on Cosmic Music, but I've never heard it.

forgot about transition, that's a great fucking record

Infinity is the reworked one (and it's fucking glorious; I wrote about these albums almost exactly a year ago), Cosmic Music is two tracks by John Coltrane's group and two tracks by Alice's.

Infinity is amazing, agreed, I also liked those two tracks on Cosmic Music OK, but I sold it years ago so I must not have *really* liked them

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/gallery/2014/oct/04/catastrophic-coltrane/

^ horror show of a review.

You can like or dislike Coltrane's work in this period (defining what it was to be 'in transition' a lot of the time) but its his "confession" around his oh so clever use of the word "catastrophe" that comes off so...ineffectual and weedy. Just leave it there man.

Having skimmed through this thread I guess I am going to have to give Meditations another go!

Anyway, for what its worth, Coltranology Vol 2 is my pick.

https://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3293&action=edit&postpost=v2

is it me or does Coltrane *almost* break into "Happy Birthday" on "Welcome" (from Kulu Se Mama)?

Birthday celebration on back-to-streaming, now-with-playlists WKCR!

Found out last year that my Dad had the same birthday as Coltrane though I think he was at least 12 years younger. Then missed any comment about JC's Birthday this year so missed it.

Rarely see my dad and grew up without him so don't know if i ever knew his birthday

Your dad isn't ilxor... oh never mind.

Didn't know this was on its way--opens in a couple of weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMFNuDJmc1Q

http://www.openculture.com/2017/04/the-tone-circle-john-coltrane-drew-to-illustrate-the-theory-behind-his-most-famous-compositions-1967.html

http://cdn8.openculture.com/2017/04/11003129/coltrane-circle-new.jpg

rad

yeah that is wild! hadn't seen it before.

So cool.

I'm curious about the doc becuz of home movies of Trane in a bathrobe, slippers, and pipe playing with his dog, less interested cuz Carlos Santana.

And something I've been wondering lately...are there more tapes of the Live at the Village Vanguard...Again! date? That record can't be everything they played that night is it?

lol santana yeah ... hopefully he's a small part of that doc. still, this shreds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DDwvSTrpj0

don't know about more Again! tapes --seems like they'd've made their way out to the world by now in some form?

Yeah that's what I would have figured...but it isn't exactly a widely loved/known (outside of heads I mean) lp so maybe it's been overlooked? Just that line-up only playing a 40 minute set (with a long bass solo) seems unlikely

I was about to post that santana / mclaughlin track ... imo the best "love supreme" version ever

Best "Love Supreme" cover is Alice's from World Galaxy

i'm sure more was taped — but they've put out lower-fi "previously unheard" Coltrane recordings (like that Olatunji Concert or the One Up One Down CD or the Temple University set). would love a big box set of the 66 vanguard recordings though, mannnnn. i also always wonder how embarrassed everyone else in the band was to be photographed with jimmy garrison on the day the cover photo was taken.
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0003/226/MI0003226957.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f8/04/d4/f804d4d95e23925fda5a3cd855c8c0ae.jpg
"jimmy we told you we were taking the photo today! this is what you chose to wear?!"

xpost - disagree!

he looks like some kid they just picked up from summer camp

everyone else looking cool as hell!

i like the archimedes badkar version of "love supreme" from their first album

read carlos santana as carlos castañeda and wigged out a little momentarily

"jimmy we told you we were taking the photo today! this is what you chose to wear?!"

"You guys told me we were going to the beach!"

i'm sure more was taped — but they've put out lower-fi "previously unheard" Coltrane recordings
― tylerw, Wednesday, April 12, 2017 4:00 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I pulled out the cd reissue last night and per a very small note from Michael Cuscuna "doubtless more music was played this night but no tapes or paperwork exist" :(

I love Jimmy Garrison's knobby knees! There's a photo from I think the Olatunji concert Garrison's got the same outfit on.

Love that album cover, love that they certainly don't look like they're a face-melting free jazz group

oof if cuscuna couldn't track anything down, it's probably lost forever.
garrison was capable of looking totally cool, of course ...
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/fe/da/bc/fedabc85e7af8eb5fa55fd7c8ec0f7dc.jpg

this is also good
https://a1-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/116/49cc16737bb91ad7d90572f9a7839d68/full.jpg

Such great bass player, those long solos from the 65-66 era...unreal

Yeah, honestly, his two ~15-minute bass solos were my favorite parts of the 4CD Live in Japan box set.

Commencement speakers at Bennington College in the early 1970s:

1970 Kurt Vonnegut
1971 Anais Nin
1972 Jimmy Garrison

(I'm told he played a solo rather than give a speech.)

whoa

Every year an upgrade! Tho seriously, whoa

wow

Is the percentage of Coltrane lps that have his image on the front cover normal? Had just been thinking that pretty much all of the ones that were released during his lifetime have him as the cover image. Think there's only 4 or 5 that don't.

Did wonder if there was any reason for that.

Thought a lot of lps from the time had either abstract art or a female model or something.

Live at the Village Vanguard Again might be my favorite album cover ever!

idk, it doesn't feel abnormal to me, but i'm not expert in it! but if you look at like, the discogs pages for coltrane's contemporaries (miles, monk, mingus, ornette, etc.), their late 50s-mid 60s discography is mostly them on the cover.

yeah coltrane started putting out records right when the abstract covers stopped being the norm.

I had just noticed that Interstellar Space which doesn't have him on the cover was several years posthumous when I asked that. But had wondered before.

Should I bother with Chasing Trane? It's playing in a couple weeks, but I'm afraid it's just going to be one of those standard issue talking head "He was a genius. He changed music" type docs.

this was my review, if it helps you decide: http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2017/08/free-form-thoughts-on-john-coltrane-and-how-not-to-remember-or-talk-about-him-next-time-maybe/

Lol so it's exactly as bad as the trailer makes it look. Fucking Carlos Santana, I swear it's in his contract that he gets to be in every single one of these.

There's also a new Lee Morgan doc which looks maybe a little more interesting? Have you seen that one?