In a previous blog entry 1965 - A Stellar Year for John Coltrane I described what a truly productive and transformative year 1965 was for Coltrane. And, ending the year as the first musician to win four awards in DownBeat magazine's Annual Reader's Poll : Hall of Fame, Jazzman of the Year, Record of the Year and Tenor Saxophone. In the same December 30 1965 edition of DownBeat there was an AB Spellman review of Trane + 7 at the Village Gate in NYC. Essentially this was an extension of what Trane had been driving at the Ascension recordings. Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Carlos Ward and Rashied Ali complementing the (classic) Quartet. Interesting on a few fronts. 1. Shows again Trane's desire to keep certain musicians funded, and to promote them. 2. Sanders as the "damnest tenor player in the English language". 3. Elvin Jones not appearing for the first set and AB Spellman saying that the night was better for it. 4. Clear evidence on how 1966 was shaping up wi...
Jamo Spingal