Sunday, January 1, 2012

Another Sunday Interlude: A Trane Trio

Photo by Don Hunstein





Spiritual by John Coltrane on Grooveshark 
 
 

Heading into the new year, "Spritual" is as fine a composition, at once detailed and melodic, complex and basic, as one can imagine, rendered live by one of the best improvisatory ensembles as there ever was.  This was the first album with the classic John Coltrane Quartet: Elvin Jones, Paul Chambers, and McCoy Tyner.  For this selection the incomparable Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet makes this piece levitate.

And below is "an outake" from the original album, with Coltrane and Dolphy ascending to amazing heights of musical transcendence:





 
 
 

The mind is, of course, the most complex instrument of all, certainly proven by these stellar tunes. For those who prefer their transcendence a tad more melodic, here are two of my favorite recordings from Coltrane's Atlantic years, "Equinox" and "Central Park West":






Finally, to get the new year started with a little look back, a recent poem of mine featured on tinywords:




Slime trail—
glancing back at
the glinting







little snail
facing this way
where to now?
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue








best,
Don



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Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 127 songs

6 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I do like Coltrane. Great name as well.

bambooandplumblossom said...

you do have some great music here!

bandit said...

Thanks for this, Don.

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Cheers, Charles!

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Glad you liked, Don

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

You are welcome, bandit.