The New Jazz Musings

When Coltrane first came to France in 1960 with Miles Davis, French audiences were expecting sweet and romantic solos from Coltrane, but they got broken notes, tortured arpeggios and aggravated variations instead. The stubborn stammering of someone unable to master his instrument. So says the French Jazz Magazine from January 1962 in an eight page Coltrane special, including a two page poster. He also got the front page and a full page ad placed for Africa/Brass. The editorial is spread across three writers, the first appears to be an interview after a French performance. In this section Coltrane describes, for example, his difficulties in finding suitable reeds. They take a month to be perfect then only operate for a couple of days in peak condition. It also describes his introspective personality, for example him not wanting to eat in a restaurant, preferring to buy two apples and eat alone in his hotel room. The article below, mainly a review of the Paris concerts, was written by Mi...

Britain’s Musicians' Union found the 1950s difficult, with the rise of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the growth of outside musicians coming to play in Britain. By the early 60s an agreement had been reached with the US that an equivalent number of touring American and British musicians could play in each country. Most headline US Jazz artists up to that point had used local musicians, and the live exposure to ‘modern’ Jazz artists was limited. Through the 60s and beyond, Britain was still problematic for outside artists due to the (then) power of the MU. Having said that, the MU was sometimes a force for good. For example, in 1961 the MU boycotted the entire Mecca Circuit for the Bradford Mecca Locarno’s policy of refusing admission to single black males. Norman Granz had been running JATP European tours since 1952, featuring top US jazz artists. Earlier in 1960 Miles Davis had visited Britain, so it missed out on Miles' famous JATP tour of Europe with Trane later in 1960. Granz organised...

Africa/Brass from 1961 1961 was another signature year for John Coltrane. Creed Taylor signed him to Impulse Records (Am-Par), giving him a significantly better deal than he had with Atlantic. He recorded and released Africa/Brass (A-6/AS-6), and in early November recorded the tracks that would comprise Live at the Village Vanguard (A-10/AS-10). On the live scene that year, despite having played the major concert halls of Europe's major cities the year before with Miles Davis, Coltrane was back to the normal US small club jazz scene. Typical for Trane in early 1961 was the Welcome Inn in Cleveland, the Half Note and Village Gate in NYC, the Mardi Gras in Kansas City and the Zebra Lounge in LA. In September however, his band did play the Monterey Jazz Festival in CA. JATP 1961 UK Tour Following the success of the JATP tour of Europe the previous year, the year of the "infamous" John Coltrane appearances at the Olympia Theatre in Paris with Miles Davis' group...