Originals Conformist

John Coltrane - Concert In Japan (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015955-02 rel 2011}
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© 1966, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015955-02 | LP AS-9246-2
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modal Music / Free Jazz / Saxophone

This single-disc Concert in Japan by John Coltrane's 1966 quintet is a reissue of the original double LP that was released as IMR 9036C in 1973. Its three selections include two long instrumental pieces and a spoken introduction of the musicians in Japanese. These performances are compiled from two Tokyo dates. This set is not to be confused with the four-disc document that includes both Tokyo concerts in their entirety. The band here performs a 25-minute "Peace on Earth," a ballad that Coltrane wrote especially for the tour, to express his empathy and sympathy for the nuclear destruction Japan experienced during WWII. The tune moves outside, but stays well within the realm of spiritual boundary-pushing that the band was easily capable of.

John Coltrane - Sun Ship (1965) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015952-02 rel 2011}
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© 1965, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015952-02 | LP AS-9211
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Saxophone

Recorded on August 26, 1965 (and not released until after his death in heavily edited form), Sun Ship was the final recording by John Coltrane's quartet with drummer Elvin Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner, and bassist Jimmy Garrison. After nearly four years together, this band had achieved a vital collective identity. When Coltrane moved toward metrically free styles of rhythm and melody (with tunes often based on one chord or a short series of notes as themes), the quartet's rhythmic pulse and collective interplay evolved accordingly. The title track opens with a splintered theme. Garrison and Jones group dramatically around the leader's call, then rhythmically abstract the pulse; they imply a central rhythm more than state one.

John Coltrane - Transition (1965) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015953-02 rel 2011}
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© 1965, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015953-02 | LP AS-9195
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

There's no sense of "transition" here – as the album's an incredibly solid one, and stands with John Coltrane's best mid 60s work for Impulse – even if the session wasn't issued by the label until after his early death! The work builds strongly on the Love Supreme vibe – soaring, searching, and finding whole new space in jazz – but all with a unified conception that's driven by an unbridled sense of energy. The group here is the quartet with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums – and we're still quite puzzled why Impulse never managed to get this one released until a few years later! Titles include "Transition", "Dear Lord", and the side-long "Prayer and Meditation" suite.

John Coltrane - Selflessness featuring My Favorite Things (1965) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015830-2 rel 2011}
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© 1963, 1965, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015830-2 | LP AS-9161
Jazz / Free Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Saxophone

In the context of the decades since his passing and the legacy that's continued to grow, John Coltrane's Selflessness album bears an odd similarity to Bob Dylan's autobiographical book Chronicles. In Chronicles, Dylan tells the tale of his beginnings, jumping abruptly and confoundingly from his early years to life and work after his 1966 motorcycle accident, omitting any mention of his most popular and curious electric era. The contrast between these two eras becomes more vivid with the deletion of the years and events that bridged them. Released in 1965, Selflessness presents long-form pieces, likewise from two very distinct and separate eras of Coltrane's development.

John Coltrane - Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015827-2 rel 2011}
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© 1966, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015827-2 | LP AS-9124
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

John Coltrane returns to the Village Vanguard – but his sound here is a lot more far-reaching than a few years before! The album's a great counterpart to the first Vanguard session – as it takes all of the bold, soaring energy of that date, and balances it with the newly introspective sound of the later Coltrane years – plus some of the freedoms learned from the Love Supreme era. The group here showcases the new territory explored by Coltrane – with Trane himself on tenor, soprano, and a bit of bass clarinet (echoing earlier Dolphy), plus Pharoah Sanders on additional tenor, Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Rasheid Ali on drums. The album only features 2 long tracks – an incredibly soulful version of "Naima", and a very firey version of "My Favorite Things", but one that begins with a haunting bass solo by Garrison!

John Coltrane - Meditations (1965) {Impulse!-Verve Originals 0602517920378 rel 2009}
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© 1965, 2009 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | 0602517920378 | LP A-9110
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modal Music / Free Jazz / Saxophone

This CD reissues what was arguably the finest of the John Coltrane-Pharoah Sanders collaborations. On five diverse but almost consistently intense movements ("The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost," "Compassion," "Love," "Consequences," and "Serenity"), the two tenor saxophonists, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and both Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali on drums create some powerful, dense, and emotional music. Unlike some of the live jams of 1966, the passionate performances never ramble on too long and the screams and screeches fit logically into the spiritual themes. This would be the last recording of Coltrane with Tyner and Jones.

John Coltrane & Archie Shepp - New Thing At Newport (1965) {Impulse!-Verve Originals 0602517920392 rel 2009}
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© 1965, 2009 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | 0602517920392 | LP A-94
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Saxophone

The jazz world was immersed in controversy in 1965 when the bands of John Coltrane and Archie Shepp appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival. Coltrane's own style was undergoing constant evolution, his lines more convoluted and explosive, his sound increasingly ranging to vocal cries and metallic abrasions. He had also become a figurehead of the "avant-garde" or "New Thing," an established star who provided a public forum for younger musicians and the creative ferment largely taking place out of public hearing.