Search - John Coltrane :: One Down One Up: Live at the Half Note

Quality - not quantity

Chris Speaks | Winston-Salem, NC | 10/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Coming on the heels of Blue Note's highly publicized and equally highly anticipated "Thelonius Monk Quartet with John Coltrane At Carnegie Hall," Impulse! releases yet another performance from the vault by John Coltrane and his celebrated quartet (Jimmy Garrison, McCoy Tyner, and Elvin Jones). Produced by Coltrane's son, Ravi, and containing performances from two nights at the Half Note in New York City, such a cast and setting seems to make this recording too good to pass up. However, even though this album features two full discs of live Coltrane, we are presented with only four extended cuts: "One Down, One Up," which is the lengthy highlight of the album, a shorter "Afro-Blue," an astounding, passionate rendition of "Song of Praise," and a 23-minute foray into sonic pyrotechnics with Coltrane's staple, "My Favorite Things."



If you are a Coltrane completist, such as myself, then you probably realize that we've seen a release similar to this already: LaserLight's "Live at the Half Note" released a few years back. And if you own this disc, then you'll find you already own two of the tracks featured here. I find it disappointing that Impulse! is unable to deliver the entire performances from the Half Note. However, in terms of sound quality, this album wins hands down



In terms of live performance, these two discs cannot measure up to the audible ferocity and contrasting poignant lyricism which makes up the "Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings" or even the Master Takes from those sessions - but I doubt anything ever could topple such a performance from its throne. However, I find this performance much more personable, more directed and whole lot more listenable than the 4-CD "Live in Japan" or the comparable 2-CD "Live in Seattle." In terms of an actual album, these two discs present a very cohesive rhythmic outfit with Garrison, Tyner, and Jones always keeping ahead of Coltrane's improvisational shenanigans.



As a completist, this album isn't worth passing up. However, as a casual listener still unfamiliar with Coltrane's more exploratory ventures within his own music, I recommend "Live at Birdland" or the "Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings" before diving into something as involved and multifaceted as this album.

"

One of the Holy Grails of Jazz.

Louie Bourland | Garden Grove CA | 10/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It seems that quite a few historic unreleased recordings of John Coltrane have been making their way to the shelves as of late. Just weeks prior to the Impulse release of "One Down, One Up: Live at The Half Note", EMI unveiled an excellent top notch 1957 Carnegie Hall performance recorded during Coltrane's brief but legendary stint with Thelonious Monk's Quartet. With the release of this present 2-disc set of Coltrane's legendary 1965 performances at New York's Half Note club, another Holy Grail of jazz has finally seen the light of day.

Much has been written and discussed on these performances but until now, no official recordings had been available. Now with the release of this double CD, the world can finally hear what all the rage was truly about. The recordings were taken from late night radio broadcasts and apart from the final tracks on each disc being incomplete (due to time constraints on the original broadcast) and some minor dropouts on the performance of "One Down, One Up", the sound quality as well as the performances are outstanding.

The legendary half-hour performance of "One Down, One Up" is worth the price of admission alone. The piece is one continuous tenor sax improvisation with Coltrane spontaneously creating and recreating musical ideas that never let up. It's a performance that literally leaves one stuck to their chair. The piece becomes more intense as McCoy Tyner's piano drops out followed by Jimmy Garrison's bass leaving Coltrane going head-to-head with drummer Elvin Jones for over 10 minutes before everyone comes back in the bring this powerplay to an exciting finish.

Also included are a stellar but sadly abbreviated version of "Afro Blue" which ends just as Coltrane is letting rip on soprano sax following a solid McCoy Tyner piano solo, a nearly 20-minute take on the spiritual "Song Of Praise" which is arguably superior to the studio version included on the "Quartet Plays" album with its endless torrents of spontaneous invention and to close the set, an awesome but also unfortunately abbreviated version of "My Favorite Things" which displays just how far this piece had come from its original 1960 version. There is fortunately more to listen to with "My Favorite Things" as it fades out after 23 minutes whereas "Afro Blue" faded just short of 13.

What else can be said about Coltrane's performances at the Half Note except for the fact that this is truly some breathtaking music. Coltrane and his Quartet were in their prime during these performances and these recordings are proof that they definitely were giving it their all.

Besides the great music, this CD-set includes some well-written essays and sleevenotes from Ashley Kahn (the author of a book that gives detailed analysis on Coltrane's immortal masterwork "A Love Supreme") and Coltrane's son Ravi who also oversaw the production and release of this music.

If you're a die-hard Coltrane fan, this CD-set is definitely a must. If you're just starting out, this is definitely worth picking up later on down the line. Thus is positively a genuine piece of music history and is classic Coltrane at its very best.

Recommended!!!"

Even if you have the boot, this is worth buying

Dan Plankton | Somerville, MA | 10/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a Coltrane nut, I've had the legendary "One Down, One Up" on bootleg for years, and it's long been my single favorite Coltrane performance. And I'm very pleased with this purchase. The sound quality for all four tracks is much improved over the bootlegs, even if it doesn't match the 1961 Vanguard shows recorded by Impulse's Bob Thiele. There's an extended bass intro to One Up One Down that I hadn't heard, and even the complete radio announcements are historically interesting.



The dropouts that a few reviewers mention for the title track are really not a problem, if you can accept the fact that the master tapes aren't in pristine condition. There are no actual gaps in the performance, and the brief drops in volume were done well and aren't jarring.



As Coltrane collectors know, there are four radio broadcasts from the Half Note from 1965 widely traded as bootlegs. This package includes two of them, complete. I sure hope the Coltrane estate also has master-quality copies of the other two broadcasts."