Discovery! At the Five Spot documents emerging tenor giant John Coltrane's brief, but eventful six month residency with pianist-composer Thelonious Monk at New York's Five Spot. Monk was reestablishing his stature and draw... more »ing power as a jazz innovator while Coltrane grew by leaps and bounds studying Monk's repertoire and learning to navigate his compositions not just rhythmically and harmonically but thematically as well. Monk's melodies were too strong simply to run the changes, and on his extended jaunt Monk's tricky, intricate obstacle course "Trinkle, Tinkle," Coltrane attacks the harmonies with such compulsive power and blissful abandon, that you can hear whole new vistas of sound revealed to the tenor saxophonist. Recorded on a dinky tape machine by Coltrane's wife Naima, the sound is vague, hissy, and distorted--yet vivid and inspiring because on none of the few studio recordings documenting this period do Trane and Monk play with such unrestrained intensity. The mere existence of these tapes far transcends the shaky nature of their "production values." --Chip Stern« less
Discovery! At the Five Spot documents emerging tenor giant John Coltrane's brief, but eventful six month residency with pianist-composer Thelonious Monk at New York's Five Spot. Monk was reestablishing his stature and drawing power as a jazz innovator while Coltrane grew by leaps and bounds studying Monk's repertoire and learning to navigate his compositions not just rhythmically and harmonically but thematically as well. Monk's melodies were too strong simply to run the changes, and on his extended jaunt Monk's tricky, intricate obstacle course "Trinkle, Tinkle," Coltrane attacks the harmonies with such compulsive power and blissful abandon, that you can hear whole new vistas of sound revealed to the tenor saxophonist. Recorded on a dinky tape machine by Coltrane's wife Naima, the sound is vague, hissy, and distorted--yet vivid and inspiring because on none of the few studio recordings documenting this period do Trane and Monk play with such unrestrained intensity. The mere existence of these tapes far transcends the shaky nature of their "production values." --Chip Stern
While this is a historic recording, be aware of the mechanical flaws, including dropouts and an incorrect speed on the source tape. The later version issued as a part of the Blue Note complete recordings of Monk at least pitch corrected this audience tape.
CD Reviews
Stop Complaining!
John Estey | Wisconsin, USA | 08/20/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Dogging this incredible CD because of its lo-fi sound is like dogging the Declaration of Independance because it's on old paper and is hard to read. I mean come on-it is clearly brilliant, joyful music. Get over the poor sound and be Thankful you are lucky enough to hear this great stuff."
Heresy....
Thomas Plotkin | West Hartford CT, United States | 12/26/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"...many would say, but I believe Coltrane should have stayed a Monk sideman, judging by the evidence of this recording. No other Monk hornman shared Thelonious's lust for harmonic deconstruction. Usually players like Charlie Rouse, Johnny Griffin, or Sonny Rollins imposed structure on Monk's pixilated harmonic eccentricities, then the leader comes in with a piano solo that blows that order away. Only Trane, entering his furious sheets of sound period (he's like an erutping volcano), evinces a Monkian desire to shred order, structure, common sense. The two men were a match made in heaven, and they left only a tiny handful of recordings together. This is hands down the most anarchic (the whole band sounds weirdly restrained on the recently discovered Voice of America Recording). Coltrane sounds off-mike much of the time; his sound is so damn HUGE that you can still hear him loud and clear. The audio is poor, but who the hell cares when the music is of world historical importance. When you see a shooting star it's rarely under optimal conditions either, but would you pass up the experience?"
A fun little journey, and it doesn't sound too bad
Andy Williamson | Chicago, IL | 04/10/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I see that a lot of folks have been criticizing the sound quality here. When I found this at my public library I hesitated. We've all heard BAD recordings that were put out only to line someone's pockets. In this case, even if the sound quality were terrible, I would still argue for its release. For Coltrane fans especially, this is a rare chance to hear him in one of his least recorded periods. The music is fun and the sound quality is much BETTER than I was expecting. For me, it falls somewhere in between the static of very early 1920's recordings (Louis Armstrong comes to mind) and the house chatter of the classic Bill Evans disc "Sunday at the Village Vanguard." There is crowd noise, but not TOO much, the music is fairly well balanced as far as one microphone recordings go. Monk's piano occasionally comes close to drowning out Coltrane. Considering the circumstances under which it was recorded, I was pleasantly surprised by how listenable this disc is. Keep in mind, if you have not had a lot of experience listening to low-quality recordings or bootlegs, then you may wish to hear this before purchasing it."
Uninhibited Monk/Coltrane brilliance
DG | swindon, uk | 10/21/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Forget the poor quality recording, just listen to the music. This live concert shows Monk and Coltrane totall uninhibited, free to impose their visions onto the canvas of the music. Coltrane's solos are amazing, especially on 'I mean you'. There's also, among other things, a short and snappy version of 'Epistrophy.'"
I Mean You!
H. Lim | Carlingford, NSW Australia | 06/22/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"
Get this disc for only one thing - Coltrane's insane, hyper-extended solo on "I Mean You!!" And that version of "In Walked Bud" is pretty damn good too!"