Coltrane Audience Trouble in Glasgow 1961

Britain's Jazz Journal from August 1962 paints a typical picture of the Jazz scene in the early 1960s. The 'New Thing' is being discussed in typical polar opposites to more traditional music. Interestingly, the references are not just Jazz. Igor Stravinsky talks about the opposition to his New York period music. There is also a partly balancing piece by Steve Voce on (more traditional) jazz critic Benny Green's dislike of Ornette Coleman. Steve Voce is a big supporter of e.g. John Coltrane during this period, as I've seen in other journals from the early 60s.
There is also a very dismissive record review of Ornette Coleman's, amongst generally positive reviews of contemporary artists such as Ahmad Jamal, Roland Kirk, Sonny Rollins, Ike Quebec and Hank Mobley.
Lastly, there is the letter below from Wellington Holliday, who accosted John Coltrane side-stage during the JATP appearance at Glasgow's St Andrews Halls in late 1961. He says he is compelled to write, given Benny Green's "coming out" about Coltrane's tour of Britain. Of course, tours such as the JATP drew mixed audiences, likely more trad than not.

See also : John Coltrane's Only British Tour in 1961

Lightly & Politely Column by Stanley Dance (excerpt)

The television premiere of Stravinsky’s “Noah and the Flood” was reviewed in the “Herald Tribune” by Paul Henry Lang. The newspaper subsequently received the following cable from the famous composer:

“Of hundreds of reviews of my New York work most of them, like every Opus since 1905, were gratifyingly unfavorable. I found only yours entirely stupid and suppurating with gratuitous malice. The only blight on my 80th birthday is the realization my age will probably keep me (from celebrating the funeral of your senile — musical columnist.”

That makes the jazz world seem quite gentlemanly, although, as we all well know, it has similar problems.

... And All That Jazz Column by Steve Voce (excerpt)

No, No Ornette :

Taking up the thesaurus which George Melly and Acker Bilk gave me for Christmas, I. would like to throw it in the general direction of Benny Green. Mr. Green came out from amongst all the colour supplements, bringing-up-baby articles, George Melly book reviews and political comic strips to give us his assessment of the “new thing” people in our June issue.

The main body of his article, A Matter Of Form, is taken up by a pains-taking slaughter of Ornette Coleman’s music. By use of analogy (a particularly insidious form of Jesuitry with which one can win any argument) he says that Coleman is not necessarily a charlatan, and then goes on to prove that he is.

Coleman, like Brubeck and Giuffre, has gone too far in trying to explain his music to people. It is the impact of the music on the listener which matters. He should not be required to read a railway time-table to complement that impact. Miles Davis had something with his theory that there should be no sleeve notes to records.

As usual Ellington has put it in a nutshell: “They don’t necessarily know what they’re listening to. They don’t have to know that a guy is blowing a flatted fifth or a minor third, but they enjoy it, and this I consider normal and healthy listening. 

Bearing this in mind, let us return to Coleman and “the comedy of his Free Form theorising”, as Mr. Green puts it. “What he needs is about three years in seclusion with unlimited supplies of time and saxophone reeds at his disposal.”

What Mr. Green is saying that Coleman’s technique is not good enough to cope with the ideas which evolve in his mind, and until it is he should not expose himself to the public. Follow this through and we should have done without Thelonious Monk, Cat Anderson, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Jimmy Giuffre, Charlie Parker, Pee Wee Russell and practically everyone who has ever gone for a note and missed it. :

Coleman should go away and practise until he sounds like Freddy Gardner, by which time of course, all the freshness and vitality of his ideas would have evaporated. Mr. Green wishes for a world of Al Hirts and Andre Previns.

I should imagine advice like this was freely handed to Louis Armstrong and Parker in their early days—although I am not suggesting that Coleman should be placed on their level.

In the many criticisms I have read of Coleman’s work, the writers have invariably stressed that he plays out of tune, pitches badly. and completely disregards harmonic sequences. He has been accused of everything except spying for the Russians.

These faults I will mainly concede but, as with Monk, they are a part of the character of the man’s music. Look at it from the other side. To me his works, which I find admittedly largely baffling, bristle with concentrated jazz (had you forgotten that word, Mr.Green?) feeling which is not derivative. He is not a copyist, even if his originality has not proved itself yet. You will find no copy lifts from Schoenberg in his playing, no borrowing of other people’s themes—his compositions, like Monk’s have the quality of freshness which is very much missing from a lot of jazz these days.

I am by no means wholly satisfied by Coleman’s output, but I am convinced that he is very much a man worth watching whose music, if you are prepared to accept its short-comings, is exciting and enjoyable. Certainly he is doing jazz no harm, and I hope that in the future he will do it a great deal of good.

BLUE FOR WATERLOO (Reader Letter)

Dear Sir,

Thank God Benny Green has come out into the open at last with his views on the recent Coltrane/Dolphy tour of these islands.

I heard this Group in Glasgow and after the first number I crept quickly outside and had myself a few haufs of the crater.

Thus fortified I returned to my seat but the group still sounded awful. Being Scotch and traditionally mean, I felt extremely annoyed at having paid the top price for my seat. I was even more annoyed at having partaken so liberally of our national beverage to no avail.

John Coltrane in Britain 1961 (Photo : Val Wilmer)

When Dolphy came forward again to solo I knew his piece would last about fifteen minutes so I stole out of my seat again and nipped round the back to confront Coltrane who was listening at the side of the stage in rapt attention to what Dolphy was doing with his flute!

Coltrane was rather taken aback at finding me at his elbow and being a semi-professional drummer I thought I would complain first about Elvin Jones.

Now don’t get me wrong. Although I'm 47 this month I keep very much abreast of the times and Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach, Charlie Persip and Art Blakey are high on my list. In spite of this Elvin Jones sounded like the worst professional drummer I have ever heard in my life. Worse even than Jack Parnell, who had at least the good sense to play on a chair.

I asked Coltrane if his drummer was kidding and if there was any hope of him getting down to some serious playing.

Coltrane looked at me aghast and said, “Ah don’t know man.” I then asked if the set was going to continue in a similar manner and Coltrane replied, “Ah don’t know man.”

After these two devastating replies I decided to withdraw in case I did something irresponsible which might have lead to my apprehension by the local gendarmerie.

When the Dizzy Gillespie group followed Coltrane in the second half of the concert, they sounded positively traditional and Mel Lewis came over as the greatest drummer in the world bar none.

When I spoke to Mel Lewis later he apologised for not having had time to blend into the group—what a wonder-ful old fashioned idea! Such an idea would have sounded like something in a foreign language to Elvin Jones I am sure.

Undoubtedly this Coltrane/Dolphy concert was the worst I have ever heard in my life and I haven’t missed a jazz show since Armstrong played the Glasgow Empire in 1932. I am delighted Benny Green has taken time to put the whole matter in proper perspective. I am particularly pleased that he has included Ornette Coleman in his piece which completes the most ludicrous trio ef Negro musicians that have ever been foisted on the public in the name of jazz.

WELLINGTON HOLLIDAY

Glasgow. S.2.