John Coltrane – Afro Blue Impressions (2013)

“When John Coltrane’s Afro Blue Impressions was released on LP by Pablo Records in 1977, it marked the tenth anniversary of the saxophone great’s 1967 passing.  Capturing his classic quartet in its prime, Afro Blue was recorded live in 1963 in Stockholm and Berlin.  Now, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its recording, and the fortieth anniversary of Pablo, Concord Music Group has remastered and expanded Afro Blue Impressions. The roots of Coltrane’s great quartet can be traced to 1960.  By fall of that year, Coltrane’s group had coalesced with McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Steve Davis on bass.  … Tyner, Garrison and Jones would support Coltrane as he experimented with more avant-garde free jazz forms.  The group reached its pinnacle with the 1965 album A Love Supreme.  Its marriage of free jazz and hard bop on yielded one of the most influential, and most successful, jazz albums of all time.  Afro Blue Impressions is imbued with this probing and adventurous style – haunting and creative, yes, but also accessible. …”
The Second Disc
YouTube: Afro Blue Impressions 12 videos

JuJu – Wayne Shorter (1965)

“Fulfilling the potential promised on his Blue Note debut, Night Dreamer, Wayne Shorter’s JuJu was the first great showcase for both his performance and compositional gifts. Early in his career as a leader, Shorter was criticized as a mere acolyte of John Coltrane, and his use of Coltrane’s rhythm section on his first two Blue Note albums only bolstered that criticism. The truth is, though, that Elvin Jones, Reggie Workman, and McCoy Tyner were the perfect musicians to back Shorter. Jones’ playing at the time was almost otherworldly. He seemed to channel the music through him when improvising and emit the perfect structure to hold it together. Workman too seemed to almost instinctively understand how to embellish Shorter’s compositions. … From the African-influenced title track (with its short, hypnotic, repetitive phrases) to the mesmerizing interplay between Tyner and Shorter on ‘Mahjong,’ the album (which is all originals) blooms with ideas, pulling in a world of influences and releasing them again as a series of stunning, complete visions.”
allmusic
W – JuJu
LondonJazzCollector (Audio)
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: JuJu 6 videos

On John Coltrane’s “Alabama”

“The first thing you hear is McCoy Tyner’s fingers sounding a tremulous minor chord, hovering at the lower end of the piano’s register. It’s an ominous chord, horror movie shit; hearing it you can’t help but see still water suddenly disturbed by something moving beneath it, threatening to surface. Then the sound of John Coltrane’s saxophone writhes on top: mournful, melismatic, menacing. Serpentine. It winds its way toward a theme but always stops just short, repeatedly approaching something like coherence only to turn away at the last moment. It’s a maddening pattern. Coltrane’s playing assumes the qualities of the human voice, sounding almost like a wail or moan, mourning violence that is looming, that is past, that is atmospheric, that will happen again and again and again. What are we hearing? It has been hard for me to know what to say regarding George Floyd’s murder, or the uprisings that it has sparked. …”
The Paris Review
Alabama, by John Coltrane (Video)
W – Alabama (John Coltrane song)

McCoy Tyner Trio ‎– Inception (1962)

“Arguably, along with Bill Evans and Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner ranks as the most influential pianist to emerge since the mid-1950s. (I’m not saying these three are better than Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea or Keith Jarrett, just more influential). When Tyner emerged in 1959 on a Curtis Fuller LP, he displayed a light touch, suppleness and considerable dexterity, so that his work was reminiscent of Hank Jones’ or Tommy Flanagan’s. With The Jazztet the next year McCoy’s voicings and left hand work indicated that he’d been influenced by Red Garland. Tyner gained attention in the early and mid-1960s as a member of John Coltrane’s group, and learned from Trane. Tyner’s use of fourths and the pentatonic scale was picked up by tons of pianists. Cut in 1962, Inception is McCoy’s first album as a leader. He’s accompanied by bassist Art Davis and drummer Elvin Jones, and four of the six compositions here are by him. …”
Jazz Times
W – Inception
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Inception (Full Album)

Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album – John Coltrane (2018)

“If you heard the John Coltrane Quartet live in the early-to-mid-1960s, you were at risk of having your entire understanding of performance rewired. This was a ground-shaking band, an almost physical being, bearing a promise that seemed to reach far beyond music. The quartet’s relationship to the studio, however, was something different. In the years leading up to ‘A Love Supreme,’ his explosive 1965 magnum opus, Coltrane produced eight albums for Impulse! Records featuring the members of his so-called classic quartet — the bassist Jimmy Garrison, the drummer Elvin Jones and the pianist McCoy Tyner — but only two of those, ‘Coltrane’ and ‘Crescent,’ were earnest studio efforts aimed at distilling the band’s live ethic. But now that story needs a major footnote. On Friday, Impulse! will announce the June 29 release of ‘Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album,’ a full set of material recorded by the quartet on a single day in March 1963, then eventually stashed away and lost. …”
NY Times: Lost John Coltrane Recording From 1963 Will Be Released at Last (Video)
Guardian: ‘A new room in the Great Pyramid’: lost 1963 John Coltrane album discovered (Video)
NPR: John Coltrane’s ‘Lost Album’ Is A Window Into His Pursuit Of The Impossible (Audio/Video)
W – Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album

Night Dreamer – Wayne Shorter (1964)

“Night Dreamer is the fourth album by American jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter. It was released in November 1964 by Blue Note Records. With a quintet that includes trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Elvin Jones, Shorter performed six of his originals on this April 29 session. At this point of his career, Shorter felt his writing was changing. While the previous compositions had a ‘lot of detail’, this new approach had a simplistic quality to it. ‘I used to use a lot of chord changes, for instance, but now I can separate the wheat from the chaff.’ … ‘Night Dreamer’ has mostly a minor feel, often perceived by Shorter as ‘evening or night’, hence the ‘Night’ in the title. It is a 3/4 ‘floating’ piece, yet, ‘although the beat does float, it also is set in a heavy groove. It’s a paradox, in a way, like you’d have in a dream’. …”
Wikipedia
Wayne Shorter: Night Dreamer (1964) Blue Note MM33 (mono update added) (Audio)
Discogs (Video)
amazon
YouTube: Night Dreamer 6 videos

John Coltrane Quartet – Live at the Village Vanguard (1962)

“This set documents the four-night stand by John Coltrane (sax) and his quintet at the Village Vanguard in New York City, November 1 — 5, 1961. Although these are not newly discovered tapes — as the majority of the selections have turned up on no less than five separate releases — their restoration is significant in assessing motifs in Coltrane’s [read: multi-show] live appearances. Coltrane is accompanied by an all-star ensemble of Eric Dolphy (alto sax/bass clarinet), Garvin Bushell (oboe/contrabassoon), Ahmed Abdul-Malik (oud), McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass), Reggie Workman (bass), Elvin Jones (drums), and Roy Haynes (drums). Their presence is as equally vital as Coltrane’s — inspiring as well as informing the dimensions of improvisation. … The highly recommended box set also includes a nine-panel fold out poster, 48-page liner notes booklet — with a complete discography for the included material — and other ephemera, such as rarely published photographs.”
allmusic
W – Live at the Village Vanguard
Discogs
YouTube: Live at the Village Vanguard 36:32

Bobby Jaspar Quintet

Wikipedia – “Bobby Jaspar (20 February 1926 – 28 February 1963) was a Belgian cool jazz and hard bop saxophonist, flautist and composer. Born in Liège, Belgium, Jaspar learned to play piano and clarinet at a young age. Later, he took up the tenor saxophone and flute. With the ‘Bop Shots’ band, he took his first steps in the jazz world. In 1950, Jaspar moved to Paris, playing and recording with the best musicians of the era. Here he met singer Blossom Dearie; the two were married in 1954 but separated in 1957. In 1956, Jaspar was persuaded to try his luck in the United States, where his reputation in jazz circles had preceded him. He played and recorded with the quintet of J. J. Johnson, with Kenny Burrell, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Donald Byrd and many others. … Bobby Jaspar died from a heart attack in New York City on 28 February 1963 at age 37.”
Wikipedia
Discogs
amazon
YouTube: Bobby Jaspar Quintet 41:50