John Coltrane Quartet ‎– The Complete 1962 Copenhagen Concert

This release includes the long unavailable 1962 Copenhagen concert by the classic John Coltrane quartet in its entirety (not to be confused with the 1961 and 1963 performances). Among the many highlights of this performance, which presents excellent sound quality, is a long and delightful version of ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’, a tune he rarely recorded after his time with Miles Davis. Personnel: JOHN COLTRANE tenor sax; McCOY TYNER piano; JIMMY GARR ISON bass ELVIN JONES drums. Falkonercentret, Copenhagen, Denmark, November 22, 1962. Disc 1 Total Time: 62:55 Disc 2 Total Time: 62:53

Despite a relatively brief career (he first came to notice as a sideman at age 29 in 1955, formally launched a solo career at 33 in 1960, and was dead at 40 in 1967), saxophonist John Coltrane was among the most important, and most controversial, figures in jazz. It seems amazing that his period of greatest activity was so short, not only because he recorded prolifically, but also because, taking advantage of his fame, the record companies that recorded him as a sideman in the 1950s frequently reissued those recordings under his name and there has been a wealth of posthumously released material as well. Since Coltrane was a protean player who changed his style radically over the course of his career, this has made for much confusion in his discography and in appreciations of his playing. There remains a critical divide between the adherents of his earlier, more conventional (if still highly imaginative) work and his later, more experimental work. No one, however, questions Coltrane’s almost religious commitment to jazz or doubts his significance in the history of the music.

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