I may well have heard this modal reworking of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic first performed not by John Coltrane but by Harry Corbett and friends. With puppets. The son of a Yorkshire coal miner, Corbett's early ambition to pursue a career as a musician was thwarted by deafness in one ear.
I wonder how this sat with Syd ? I like to think it might have been a favourite.
John Coltrane: soprano saxophone;
Steve Davis: bass;
Elvin Jones: drums;
McCoy Tyner: piano.
Produced by Nesuhi Ertegun, Engineered by Phil Iehle and Tom Dowd.
Recorded at Atlantic Studios, NYC, October 21st, 1960.
Recorded at Atlantic Studios, NYC, October 21st, 1960.
▼ JOHN COLTRANE: MY FAVOURITE THINGS from "My Favourite Things" LP (Atlantic) 1961 (US)
10 comments:
he was still in the throws of miles's band here although some of the Monk influence is there also.
just on the point about heroin, seems he had kicked around 58/59 and was living a life of purity and penance until mid 60s. even gave up the gargle. miles on the other hand, while gving up smack developed a robust coke addiction over the 60s. i do think drugs influence styles and music but players of this stature are out in the first place. the 1965 antibes version of this 'song' (and w/coltrane thats a very loose word) is as sacred to me as any piece of music. a great one to listen to on a plane when over clouds.
Word verification: Mingst. Nearly.
Being a-narco-terrorist as I am, I haven’t really stepped into this lysergic pool you’ve had filling up here. Asyd Barrett was a casualty of the times & the musick industry as much as anything else chemical or neuro-chemical. For every Tim Leary there was a Charlie Manson. To debate whether minds were lost or saved from Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is a futile exercise in mental masturbation. Sandoz has the only ergot left on the planet. There was no Hofmann 25 left much later than 68...Augustus Owsley Stanley III’s White Lightnig (99 & 44/100% pure) was nearly gone by 68...few people after that time know what street drug they were taking in the name of mighty 1394 or what its purity really was. & what of ‘Set’ ‘Setting’ & ‘Time’?
As for John Coltrane...once Ornette Coleman’s Quartet had come to New York & settled into a four month, six nights a week gig at the Village Vanguard, jazz became polarized like it never before had. Miles said that Coleman was ‘messed up in the head’, but Coltrane would come to the Vanguard & set in with the band. He began listening to Ravi Shankar & delving into eastern mysticism. For a habitual drug user, the step toward mind expansion via psychotropic drugs is not a large, nor uneasy one. Since this was the early-mid 60s, he would have been getting the real deal, probably pharmeceutical Sandoz organic-derived ergot-based ACID! If you want to listen to Coltrane in what is arguably one of his most creative periods (just prior to his death), start ‘Chasing the (A)[cid] Trane’ with some of these fine selections.
As Anto so rightly & righteously suggested:
Live in Seattle disc 1;
Live in Seattle disc 2;
OM.
Then step out into space:
Stellar Regions;
Interstellar Space.
correction: the gigs where Coleman played & Coltrane sat in were at the Five Spot in Greenwich Village NYC; & Miles actually said Coleman was 'all screwed up inside'. Sorry for the late proofread.
and to be a complete jazz bore, I would add that the Albert Ayler influence which seemed to come in around 63/64 assisted in pushing trane into the territory heard on these records.
As with many a good man, the missus's influence may have played a part in his taking acid (only joking ladies). but the head on ALice in later years is enough to tell me she was a tripper. Trane credited his first wife Niama for his kicking the hard drugs. he lived a life of sobriety for about 6 yrs and then gets into as NO sez pure acid. i wouldn't have though for very long though. either way, the poor fuckers liver have up shortly afterwards and that was it. but what a player.
Asyd Barrett. I like it.
Your rambling on Owsley and Hofmann is unwelcome if apposite, sir. Chiefly, it stings a little not to have partaken from the collective pool.
Thank you for temerity and møre, besides.
Funny. I was set to push a little Alice and Pharaoh Sanders late last night. I slept on it and regrouped sufficiently to dip into some proto Düül instead.
Oh, for fucksake. It would seem John Coltrane has blown a hole in my server.
Who would have thought it ?
to Anto,
Quite right. Go ask Alice. She was definitely a head of her time. AA's influence also most definite. Good points. But whatever the influences, the Trane was a mighty loco motive.
One of the true GREATS!
to ib,
Hope JC used a .45
A .45 or some kind of (frank) cannon.
never mynd sid or syd, that track in one of my favourite things
ano II
I wouldn't disagree.
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