Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy

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Still, the rudimentary production will frustrate fans who seek sonic perfection from mid-century pioneers. Tyner’s piano is muffled enough on “My Favorite Things” that his parts can sound like ghostly percussion unless you focus on them. Basslines are sometimes difficult to unearth from the tumult, with the notable exception of “Africa”—ditto Dolphy’s more delicate trills. Scores of Coltrane heads weaned themselves on the impressive fidelity of “Live” at the Village Vanguard and 1964’s Live at Birdland, both of which were captured with extreme stereo know-how by Rudy Van Gelder. Fans expecting this treatment may be displeased, but their reactions befit the artist—Coltrane never liked meeting expectations. And sometimes the music is downright holy. Welcome to the church known as the Village Gate. Welcome to Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy.

One of the great pleasures in listening to jazz is experiencing Elvin Jones. Elvin dominates the recording, it might be the microphone placement but, I suspect, it was just Elvin’s power. The percussion tapestry is relentless. Coltrane did not really like straight ahead drumming and he does not get that from Elvin. The polyrhythms, the energy, the sheer personal swing is completely unlike anyone else’s rhythm. Elvin’s drumming seems to come from three or four directions at once. This is Elvin’s album as much as Coltrane’s or Dolphy’s. a b c Chinen, Nate (May 31, 2023). "John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy's fearless experiment sets a new album ablaze". Music News. Consider This. NPR . Retrieved June 2, 2023.This is the only recording of their vaunted Village Gate performances and features Coltrane staples such as “My Favorite Things,” “Impressions,” and “Greensleeves,” along with a remarkable spotlight feature for Dolphy’s bass clarinet on “When Lights Are Low.” The LP also offers the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane’s composition “Africa,” with bassist Art Davis. The recordings, uncovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, were made by engineer Rich Alderson as part of a test of the Village Gate’s then-new sound system. The tapes seemed to have been lost, were found, but then disappeared again into Library’s vast sound archives. a b Hynes, Jim (July 14, 2023). "Seminal Never-Before-Heard 1961 Recordings Released On 'Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy' ". Glide Magazine . Retrieved July 16, 2023.

This album is an important addition to the work of Coltrane. The chronology shows that. In 1961 the contract with Atlantic was finished and in May and June the Africa/ Brass sessions were completed for Impulse. Africa/Brass was obviously an indication that insurgent ideas would be followed. The inclusion of Eric Dolphy during the engagement at the Village Gate during the summer was important. He had worked on the Africa/Brass sessions. The playing at the Village Gate in the summer is a foretaste what the Quintet would achieve at the Village Vanguard in the autumn. The Impulse albums were groundbreaking and set the pattern before the group set off for the European tour promoted by Norman Granz which started immediately after the Vanguard engagement. In an essay in the album booklet, Alderson tells the story. Here is an extract: "In 1965 and '66, I was hired to build Bob Dylan's stage sound system and went on the road with him. Around that time, I also got involved with the Institute of Sound at Carnegie Hall, a small non-profit run by a former child actor named Richard Stryker, which was dedicated to preserving historic recordings, primarily opera. Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy is a 2023 live album recorded in 1961 featuring American jazz musicians John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, released on Impulse! Records. Swisscharts.com – John Coltrane & Eric Dolphy – Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 23, 2023.During 1961, John was following a different concept as far as his harmonic approach,” Workman writes in an essay accompanying the new release. “He was giving more room for the solos and coming from a different place in the way he was constructing his tunes … It was an exploratory time for John. He was always reaching for new sounds and Eric being in the group was part of that. John really respected Eric a lot. They were very close in concept. Listening to the recording from the Gate, you can hear how Eric would take long solos and John would come after him and take a much shorter solo than he would normally take and let Eric’s voice be prominent.”

Brody, Richard (July 18, 2023). "A Newly Discovered Realm of Accomplishment for John Coltrane". Culture Desk. The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. OCLC 320541675 . Retrieved July 29, 2023. All of these albums were produced or co-produced for release by Ken Druker, Senior Vice President, Jazz Development at the Verve Group, of which Impulse! is a part. Below, Druker talks to AAJ about the latest album. But first, some scene setting...

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WAS AN annus mirabilis for John Coltrane. In March of that year his radical, modal reworking of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s My Favorite Things was an unlikely radio hit for Atlantic Records. Then, in April, the then 36-year-old saxophonist became the first artist signed to Creed Taylor’s new Impulse! label, recording the defiant Africa/Brass and briefly augmenting his piano/bass/drums line-up of McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman and Elvin Jones with 34-year-old experimental multi-instrumentalist, Eric Dolphy. By the end of the year came another three Coltrane LPs, all of them capturing the sound of an artist in a constant state of flux and evolution. Himes, Geoffrey (November 7, 2023). "Give the Jazz Drummers Their Due". Music > Features > Jazz. Paste. ISSN 1540-3106 . Retrieved November 7, 2023. Hobart, Mike (July 7, 2023). "John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy thrill in Evenings at the Village Gate— album review". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766 . Retrieved July 7, 2023. We should be grateful for what we have got, however, for the tape reels concerned disappeared from view around 1968 and were only rediscovered, by chance, in 2019 (the first four tunes) and 2021 ("Africa"). The new release features essays from two participants from those evenings, Workman and Alderson, and insightful pieces by historian Ashley Kahn and jazz luminaries Branford Marsalis and Lakecia Benjamin.