A VERY COLTRANE CHRISTMAS

One of my all time favorite recordings is the monumental set of John Coltrane recordings from the Village Vanguard in 1961. At the height of his powers, Coltrane and his legendary quartet (McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones) were joined by some other heavyweights (most notbaly Eric Dolphy), and proceeded to blow the roof off the Village Vanguard for five nights in early November. Coming off the heels of his "Africa / Brass Sessions" that summer, Coltrane pushed all of these players to the their limits, and although many compositions were repeated each night, the improvisation is fast and furious (and powerful) and there's little redundancy between takes. This music scared the heck out of critics back then, and within the last 10 years, folks are still a bit scared by it, but recognize the dates for what transpired, espcailly between Dolphy and Coltrane.

For this mix, I selected two cuts that definitely fall into the holiday category - Coltrane's take on Greensleeves, featuring the quartet, and very warm and wonderful take on Spiritual with Dolphy bringing the bass clarinet to the forefront as a legitimate jazz instrument. There's a slow build here, and the Coltrane cuts come near the end. Listen how the literally punch out and separate themselves from the other songs here. I threw in some vocals from some of my favorite female singers, as well as a nice father son take where Josh Haden (Spain) joins his dad Charlie on a down home take on Josh's own composition, also entitled Spiritual.

Personnel for the 1961 Village Vanguard Sessions:

John Coltrane (soprano & tenor saxophones)
Jimmy Garrison (bass)
McCoy Tyner (piano)
Elvin Jones (drums)

Guests:
Ahmed Abdul-Malik (oud)
Garvin Bushnell (oboe, contrabassoon)
Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone, bass clarinet)
Reggie Workman (bass)
Roy Haynes (drums)

1. Warm December - Julie London
2. Theme From Hockey Night In Canada
3. Snowbird - Chet Atkins
4. Noite Feliz - Forro In The Dark
5. I've Got My Love To Keep My Warm - Reinhardt & Grapelli
6. Count Your Blessings - Sonny Rollins
7. Swingin' Silent Night - Asleep At The Wheel
8. Gulf Coast Blues - Teddy Grace
9. Now At Last - Blossom Dearie
10. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Herb Alpert
11. Winter Moon - Stan Getz & Laurindo Almeida
12. Jingles - Wes Montgomery
13. Spiritual - Charlie & Josh Haden
14. Greensleeves - John Coltrane
15. Both Sides Now - Herbie Hancock
16. Bag's Groove (Christmas Eve 1954, Take 2) - Miles Davis
17. Spiritual - John Coltrane

Download the mix here as a zip file, or stream the songs in the player below: