also saw Alan Price’s departure, officially citing ‘fear of flying’. Burdon himself blames Price’s sole arrangement credit on the band’s biggest hit as the real reason: ‘When Alan Price walked off with the publishing for House Of The Rising Sun, well, what does that amount to in terms of finances? It would have given everybody a sense of success and achievement if the money had been distributed equally. So the band was always split into factions.’
Eric Dolphy
Out To Lunch
Tour de force of articulate free jazz.
Record label: Blue Note
Produced: Alfred Lion
Recorded: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; February 25, 1964
Released: 1964
Chart peaks: None (UK) None (US)
Personnel: Eric Dolphy (as, flute, bass clarinet); Freddie Hubbard (t); Bobby Hutcherson (vibes); Richard Davis (b); Anthony Williams (d)
Track listing: Hat And Beard; Something Sweet, Something Tender; Gazzelloni; Out To Lunch; Straight Up And Down
Running time: 42.18
Current CD: CDP7465242
Further listening: Far Cry (1960); Conversations (1963)
Further reading: Eric Dolphy (Vladimir Simosko, 1979); http://adale.org/Eric.html
Download: iTunes
When Eric Dolphy first arrived in New York in the late ’50s with Chico Hamilton’s West Coast group, AJ Spellman noted that he ‘played nice – pretty and all’. The same writer noted that it was a different Dolphy who returned a year later with Charles Mingus: ‘This one was wild and woolly, played all kinds of unmentionable things you wouldn’t say in front of your mother.’
Stylistically, Eric Dolphy was somewhere between the slithery melodicism of Charlie Parker and the boundary-busting disorder of Ornette Coleman, of whom Dolphy said, ‘He taught me a direction.’ He had the energy and anarchy of a New Thing player but there was an instrumental virtuosity, melodic intelligence and tonal refinement that somehow set him apart from the centre of the avant-garde. Here, on his acknowledged masterpiece, Dolphy is majestic on bass clarinet on Hat And Beard (a witty nod to Monk in 9/4) and Something Sweet Something Tender (a gorgeous, Mingus-like semi-abstract reverie); lyrical and visceral by turns – sometimes within the same phrase – but always thoughtful and engaging.
‘I play notes that would not ordinarily be said to be in a given key, but I hear them as “proper”,’ Dolphy once explained. ‘I don’t think I “leave the changes” as the expression goes; every note I play has some reference to the chords of the piece.’
While the chords on Out To Lunch are often not an issue (the quintet go ‘free’ on several occasions), there is pulse and rhythmic momentum throughout, though the rhythm section – especially vibist Hutcherson – are employed as equal contributors rather than time and harmony keepers.
‘Everyone’s a leader on this session,’ commented Dolphy, and how well they all lead; the lingering impression of this challenging, often beautiful work is far from the dense, cluttered argument that characterises much New Thing music, but is rather one of aerated, witty conversation. Leaving America soon after this date (‘If you try and do anything different in this country, people put you down for it’), Dolphy died in Europe three months later of undiagnosed diabetes, aged 36. This tragedy, his musical boldness and reputed personal charm have elevated his standing to nothing short of jazz saint.
John Coltrane
A Love Supreme
More than a jazz milestone, a landmark in music.
Record label: Impulse!
Produced: Bob Thiele
Recorded: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; December 9, 1964
Released: January 1965
Chart peaks: None (UK) None (US)
Personnel: John Coltrane (ts); McCoy Tyner (p); Jimmy Garrison (b); Elvin Jones (d); Rudy Van Gelder (e)
Track listing: Acknowledgement; Resolution; Persuance; Psalm
Running time: 33.03
Current CD: IMP11552
Further listening: Coltrane Live At Birdland (1963); Crescent (1964)
Further reading: A Love Supreme: The Creation Of John Coltrane’s Classic Album (Ashley Kahn, 2003); Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest (Eric Nisenson, 1993); John Coltrane: His Life and Music (Lewis Porter, 1998); www.johncoltrane.com
Download: emusic; iTunes
Few musicians have asked as much of music as John Coltrane. Fewer still have gotten as much out of it as Coltrane did with A Love Supreme. His musicians had only the sketchiest idea of what they would be recording that December day in 1964, but the tenor saxophone giant had been in preparation for years. After kicking a heroin habit in the late ’50s, Coltrane’s position as a fearless explorer of ‘New Thing’ jazz had been paralleled by a spiritual quest that embraced the wisdom of the Bible, Koran, Kaballah and other philosophical and mystical tracts.
‘My goal is to live the truly religious life and express it in my music,’ Coltrane told Newsweek. ‘If you live it, when you play there’s no problem because the music is just part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am – my faith, my knowledge, my being … When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hang-ups. I think music can make the world better and, if I’m qualified, I want to do it. A musical language transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.’
He did. From the gentle tenor invocation that opens this four-part suite, Coltrane is in command of something extraordinary – or perhaps it is commanding him. Neither as ‘free’ as the jazz he’d begin making the following year, nor as immediately accessible as Giant Steps or My Favorite Things, this music is distinguished by the spirit that moves through it. So complete was the moment that there is only one known instance of Coltrane attempting to play the piece live. (Another version of Acknowledgement, adding the sax of Archie Shepp and bassist Art Davis, was recorded the following day and was lost for many years. It has now been unearthed and has been added to the expanded edition of the album.)
A Love Supreme is that rare thing: a work of exalted art that also touches the common consciousness. It was an immediate best-seller by jazz standards, indicating that there was a substantial audience for the new music. Certified gold in 1970, it has now sold more than a million copies.
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys Today!
A teenage surf-band starts to grow up strange.
Record label: Capitol
Produced: Brian Wilson
Recorded: Western Recording Studios and Gold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood; June 8 and 22, August 5 and 8, October 8 and 10, December 16, 1964, January 7–19, 1965
Released: March 8, 1965
Chart peaks: 6 (UK) 4 (US)