Music CD - John Coltrane: My Favorite Things: Coltrane at Newport

	Music CD: My Favorite Things: Coltrane at Newport Artist: John Coltrane List Price: $11.98 Our Price: $5.96 Your Save: $ 6.02 ( 50% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Impulse Records
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Tracks: 1. I Want to Talk About You 2. My Favorite Things 3. Impressions [#] 4. Introduction by Father Norman O'Connor 5. One Down, One Up 6. My Favorite Things
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0602517350540 Format: Extra tracks Label: Impulse Records Manufacturer: Impulse Records Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Impulse Records Release Date: 2007-07-03 Studio: Impulse Records
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: triumphs and flaws = masterpiece Comment: I've owned a copy of this disc for about three weeks now and am completely obsessed with it, listening to nothing else. Both Newport sets represented here are masterful. Others have waxed authoritative here, so I won't attempt that, or to detail the history. To me the most surprising thing here is the presence of Roy Haynes, who drums for the '63 set. Though his snare sounds like a paper bag or a sheet of bubble wrap (i.e. appalling), his performance is as close to perfection as possible. I associate Haynes more with the bop school, moreso than "the new thing," so this is a cool revelation. His interplay with Coltrane through the '63 set is, if anything, more remarkable than Elvin Jones' work in 1965. As others have said the take of "Impressions" is phenomenal. There's a six minute McCoy Tyner solo, followed by a real cryin' shame: Jimmy Garrison begins what sounds like promising solo, but we only end up hearing about 30 seconds of it. Why? His bass is so "on mic" that it clips and distorts, and not just a little bit...the first time I heard it I thought I'd blown a speaker, the distortion is that bad. There's no way to clean that up really...so all but the first bit of Garrison's solo is lost to us. Truly a shame. Afterwards, Coltrane re-enters and gradually all the players except he and Haynes drop out. From 10 minutes out the two play off one another in sublime fashion. The '65 set is comprised of just two numbers. Apparently, things were running late and the quartet was allowed only a half hour. As always, "My Favorite Things" comes off well. "One Down, One Up" is exhaustive and intriquing, though Elvin Jones seems a little lost here and there. One minor benefit of this disc is the recorded comments of the two emcees and the fact that each insists the audience go home immediately when Coltrane's sets are over! What a different world than we inhabit today. No encores are allowed. Time is up. GO HOME NOW is the unsubtle thinking. The emcee for the '65 set was Father Norman O'Connor. His comments and "personality" are, forty years later, embarassing. He comes off as the kind of annoying "hip vicar" character portrayed so often in 60's British comedy, including the seminal "Beyond the Fringe." It's hard to imagine how, in 1965, you couldn't stop yourself--in public--from using the words "Detroit boy" to describe a black jazz musician (!) and to say Coltrane was, in reference to his band, "master of them all." Master? Does that imply the others are slaves? Oy! Ouch! You just cringe for the guy. Willis Conover, jazz broadcasting veteran, manages to make no such gaffes in 1963. Customer Rating: Summary: Some epochal 5-star material that includes 1-star piano solos to fast-forward through. Comment: Generally not a fan of constant repackagings of the same material, this disc is perfect for me because the Newport '63 album was one of the very few Coltrane albums I never heard/bought. The Coltrane & Roy Haynes '63 duo performance of Impressions is why you need to own this album. John's playing is monumental! As with One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note, this album is largely about John and Jimmy. McCoy is intolerable in '65, and Elvin seems to be trying to hang on. Thankfully Alice and Rashied replaced them later in the year The Gods seem to smite thee when what is seeming like it's going to be a devastating, aggressive Garrison bass solo is cut because (as the notes say) there was some brutal distortion or choppiness on the tape. DARNIT!! Instead we get every second of every mindnumbing Tyner solo. I feel odd talking about McCoy like this, as I enjoy him so much in earlier years. Here and on One Down One Up though, my god. Were '65 the only year from which I knew his playing, I'd flat-out hate him. By '65 he was only in the band out of a sense of commitment or "family" or something. His playing is painfully out of place. John was changing at a rapid rate, and beginning to push his own limits with daring feats of imagination (though moreso on the One Down discs than on the '65 material here). McCoy comes off as a stagnant, one-trick-pony on most of this disc and on the entirety of One Down. I grew to hate his left hand as time went on, as he approached every song the same way, regardless of mood or melody. To put it bluntly, McCoy got old young. Still... Impressions (this slays me!) and to a lesser extent the two versions of My Favorite Things make this essential. I prefer these 2 versions of MFT because they aren't faded out and don't have a radio announcer talking over them as they begin to get going. Such is the case on One Down. Get this for John & Jimmy but if you'd like to give someone else a try, if you want to hear A BAND, I recommend getting the oft-overlooked Alphaville Suite . That, my friends, is interactive, listening-based ensemble improvisation. Customer Rating: Summary: Much better than the previous release of the same material Comment: This release is much better in sound quality than the previous release of some of the same material under the title "Newport '63." If you bought that version I would consider rebuying this as an upgrade. You also get the full version of "Impressions" from the '63 set. And almost as a bonus you get the '65 Newport set, and wow Elvin Jones just kills on "One Down, One Up." You also get to see Trane's evolution in just two short years. Overall this is very enjoyable, and easily accessible. Customer Rating: Summary: great live record Comment: great live record by john coltrane, above all the version of impression, i suggiest this record to everibody. danilo ravanelli Customer Rating: Summary: trane at his best Comment: fantastic coltrane, at his best. there aren't many other words to spend for these ultra- famous live recordings. the main importance is that we all miss the giant drummer of the celebrated quartet, elvin jones (who, in those days, was in jail because of drugs, if i remember well). roy haynes is a fantastic drummer, but elvin was unequalled. really, just one of these recordings was almost unknown: the complete version of impressions, from the 1963 concert. but i think that everybody who loves music (not necessarily jazz music) should buy this record. i'd got the former edition ("newport '63") but this one is best. More Reviews
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