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1965 John Coltrane Recordings Part One

Knowing that 1965 was such a transformational year for John Coltrane, the one when he evolved from his "Classic Quartet", experimenting with some of the younger, more avant-garde musicians in live settings, and in some studio sessions, I decided to post each of thirteen albums on Instagram that emanated from the 1965 sessions (in recording date order). Not including some other live sessions (mainly on CD). Trane was feeling the need to change by adding other musicians. He was experimenting more than usual, and recording more. The output from 1965 was immense. The first seven records are below, with information on the recording sessions.


#1 of 13. The quartet entered Van Gelder's on Feb 17th for two days' recording with Art Davis on 2nd bass. On the 1st day Nature Boy, Feelin' Good and Chim Chim Cheree were laid down. All material from this session was unreleased until this double album in 1978, when one of the Nature Boy takes was included. From a recording later in the year, a highlight of the album was Living Space and Joy without the overdubs Alice made for the 1972 album Infinity. Untitled 90314 from a session on June 10th, which also produced Transition. Untitled 90320, Dusk-Dawn and Living Space from Jun 16th. And Joy, the last known recording by the classic quartet. Superb material which must have been quite a revelation in 1978. A step above the 'lost' album from a few years back.


#2 of 13. Nature Boy had multiple takes on Feb 17th and 18th. One of the takes from the 18th made the album but none of the Feelin' Good takes that day were released. It wasn't until a session on May 17th when Chim Chim Cheree, Brasilia and Song of Praise were laid down, one take each and The John Coltrane Quartet Plays album had its tracks.

In between the sessions the sidemen were back at Van Gelder's recording for others, the quartet spent a week at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, two weeks at the Half Note in NYC, a benefit gig at the Village Gate, two weeks at the Plugged Nickel in Chicago and another stint at the Half Note.



#3 of 13. At 3PM on March 28th at the Village Gate in NYC, The Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School benefit concert kicked off. LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) was the school's Director, and assembled an impressive lineup. The John Coltrane Quartet played Nature Boy and One Down One Up. The performance of Nature Boy was included on Impulse A-90 'The New Wave in Jazz'. It wasn't until 2002 that One Down One Up was issued, on the 4 x CD Legacy boxset. Still its only issue.

As we will see comparing live recordings from later in 1965, Trane and his groups' development is out of the park.



#4 of 13. Following the May 17th recording session that gave the remaining tracks for The John Coltrane Quartet Plays album, the quartet were back at Van Gelder's. This time with Roy Haynes on drums instead of Elvin Jones, who was 'indisposed'. Dear Lord from the session was included on the album 'Transition', released in 1970. The liner notes state that Transition was recorded at the same session, but later research showed it was from the next session. On June 10th at RVG's, Suite was also recorded. In five parts and occupying side B of Transistion, this could be viewed as another spiritual follow up to A Love Supreme (which was recorded late '64 and released early '65).



#5 in 1965. This is when it starts getting real interesting. Six days later back in the studio on June 16th Vigil is one of the tracks recorded. It's Trane and Elvin only. An experiment that will culminate in the Interstellar Space album with Rashied Ali on drums. Living Space is also laid down, and appears on the posthumous Feelin Good 2 x LP (record #1 in this series of posts). An overdubbed version will appear in the next post. Welcome was recorded at the previous session and Kulu Se Mama, taking up side A, was recorded when Trane was on a West Coast tour in October. Now Trane was adding a number of musicians to his live sets including #pharoahsanders #frankbutler #donaldgarrett and #junolewis. After the tour, Alice McLeod and Trane travelled to Mexico and were married.


#6 in 1965. As mentioned in the last post, Living Space which was recorded at the June 16th session, was overdubbed in April 1972 by Ed Michel and Alice Coltrane, with strings, tamboura and bells. The album Infinity was released the same year. Incidentally, during the original session, Trane double tracked his soprano sax on Living Space, which gave it a powerful ever so slightly dissonant effect.

Joy, which was recorded on Sep 22nd during Trane's West Coast tour at Coast Recorders in San Francisco, was also given the later treatment for the Infinity album.



#7 in '65. In between the last recording session on June 16th and this one on June 28th, the Quartet appeared at the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival. Not much time to prepare, but Trane gave all assembled a theme and a timeline of solos. Ascension became one of Coltrane's most controversial records. ALS was becoming a favourite crossover record for college students, but it was Ascesion that became the 'sit up and take notice' record of 1965 for Jazz musicians. June was some month !

The second part is here

Ref : The John Coltrane Reference, Chris DeVito et al. Other sources.

The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol 2 has another version of Dear Lord from the same session. The album's not included since I don't have it !

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