John Coltrane Quartet: Afro-Blue [1963]
written by Mongo Santamaria
recorded live at Birdland (52nd & Broadway), October 8, 1963
available on the classic Live At Birdland
Trane's re-entrance after McCoy's solo, coming on the heels of Elvin's thunderous tom-tom fill, is among the most spine-tingling moments in musical history.
(dedicated to MLK)
3 comments:
Elvin Jones really makes it that much better, doesn't he? He was playing until he died in 2004, with an O2 tank on stage with him while he played. I was lucky enough to catch him playing in Tokyo in 1998, or sometime around then. He was the Elvin Jones of 1963, but seeing him was a moment I'll never forget.
Yes, Elvin sounds fucking great on this. I only saw him once, in Cambridge at the Regattabar. The highlight was a hard-hitting rendition of "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing", which I still recall vividly.
Come to think of it, I also saw Elvin do a drum clinic in L.A. He mentioned he had been listening to Beethoven's 9th.
r.i.p. Alice Coltrane
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