Evenings at The Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy

There have been some fascinating, and absorbing, discoveries of previously unissued Coltrane material culled from a variety of sources, but this one takes the biscuit. — Jazzwise, August 2023

Release Date: 14th Jul 2023
Catalogue No: 5551419
Label: Impulse! Records

Jazzwise

Recommended Reissue/Archive

August 2023
Presto Recording of the Week

14th July 2023
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2023

A1 My Favorite Things

B1 When Lights Are Low

B2 Impressions

C1 Greensleeves

D1 Africa

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Recording of the Week, John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy - Evenings At The Village Gate

14th July 2023

Our Recording of the Week is a formidable new release that captures an exciting and transitional phase in both artists' careers, in a live quintet recording from 1961.

In August of 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played an engagement at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York. Coltrane’s Classic Quartet was not as fully established as it would soon become and there was a meteoric fifth member of Coltrane’s group those nights— visionary multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. Ninety minutes of never-before-heard music from this group were recently discovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, offering a glimpse into a powerful musical partnership that ended much too soon. In addition to some well-known Coltrane material (“My Favorite Things”, “Impressions”, “Greensleeves”), there is a breathtaking feature for Dolphy’s bass clarinet on “When Lights Are Low” and the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane’s composition “Africa”, from the Africa/Brass album. This recording represents a very special moment in John Coltrane's journey—the summer of 1961—when his signature, ecstatic live sound, commonly associated his Classic Quartet of '62 to '65, was first maturing and when he was drawing inspiration from deep, African sources— and experimenting with the two-bass idea both in the studio (Olé) and on stage. This truly rare recording of "Africa" captures his expansive vision at the time.

Reviews

August 2023

There have been some fascinating, and absorbing, discoveries of previously unissued Coltrane material culled from a variety of sources, but this one takes the biscuit.

Evenings at The Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy

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Recording of the Week, John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy - Evenings At The Village Gate

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Evenings at The Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy

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