Bye Bye Blackbird

John Coltrane | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 17, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000YW7
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,689 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy "Bye Bye Blackbird", March 10, 2001

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bye Bye Blackbird (Audio CD)

"Bye Bye Blackbird" was the last of four live John Coltrane albums to be released by the Pablo label, originally on vinyl, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. All four titles -- the others are the double disc "Afro-Blue Impressions" and the single discs "The Paris Concert" and "The European Tour" -- feature the Classic Quartet of 'Trane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones in performances from a European tour in the fall of 1962. The finest of these four recordings in my opinion is "Afro-Blue Impressions," both in terms of the quantity of material (more than 90 minutes of music and a dozen tunes) and the quality of the performance and sound. With that being said, "Bye Bye Blackbird" is a close second. To my ears, the sound quality is better than that of "The European Tour" (see my review) and "The Paris Concert," and even though the Quartet tackles only two tunes, they are wonderful, lengthy improvisations on old Coltrane staples. My reason for withholding a fifth star, as with "The European Tour," is two-fold. First, these live discs are not as good as live albums released during Coltrane's lifetime, like "Live At Birdland" or "Live At The Village Vanguard, and second, Trane's Atlantic and early Impulse studio recordings are the best place for those new to his music to start. However, if you are a Coltrane fan, you should definitely buy "Bye Bye Blackbird," along with the other three Pablo titles.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chasin the Blackbird, May 1, 2005

By 

H. Lim (Carlingford, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bye Bye Blackbird (Audio CD)

Forget what the other review said - this is improvisation of the highest possible order. Especially Bye Bye Blackbird, whose hyper-extended length and cool energy reminds me of Chasin' the Trane. That any group could improvise for eighteen minutes on one theme, and never let the pace flag, is incredible.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Quartet Recording from '62, April 21, 2008

By 

Christopher Calabrese (Watertown, CT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bye Bye Blackbird (Audio CD)

Taken from Coltrane's European Tour from the Fall of 1962, "Bye Bye Blackbird" starts with a popular standard from the time and transforms it into a traumatically eclectic whirlwind of sound, much in the same vein as earlier Coltrane covers such as "My Favorite Things" and "Afro Blue". Featured on this live record, we hear the classic quartet made up of McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums). In addition to the title track, we are also presented with an extended version of one of Trane's late 50's tracks, "Traneing In", which begins with a magnificent introduction from Tyner.

This record, alongside 'Afro Blue Impressions', was released later on by the Pablo label. Despite a questionable recording quality, this is early 60's Coltrane at its finest, especially in the context of his tone. An experienced listener will recognize the transition being made from Trane's 'Sheets of Sound' recordings into some of the more free jazz he would embark upon in the mid 60's. You can really hear Trane stretch out at moments on this record, especially when he is left to counter only Elvin Jones. My only complaint here is that at times, McCoy Tyner sounds as if he is trying to keep up, and perhaps should have taken a backseat more often when Trane would stretch out his sound. The crowd volume and recording quality leave much to be desired, and this is a rather brief record, clocking in at only thirty six minutes.

All in all, I would not recommend this to the casual Coltrane fan, however it is essential for collectionists like myself, and there certainly is worse Coltrane out there.