Customer Reviews

Dear Old Stockholm

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dear Old Stockholm is one of the lesser known albums from Coltrane's time at the Impulse! lable. Featuring a modified version of his classic quartet including McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Roy Haynes sitting for an absent Elvin Jones on drums. Never one to be lacking in passionate, breathtaking performances Coltrane, sticking exclusively to tenor on this cd, displays his full range as a musician. From the tender "After the Rain" and soulful "Dear Lord", through his straight ahead take on an old chestnut from his days with Miles Davis "Dear Old Stockholm", to the churning, fearsome, firey roar of "One Down, One Up" and "After the Crescent" 'Trane puts on a full display of the steely tone, superhuman endurance, and obsessivly honed technique that helped make him an icon. In the cd liner notes, Roy Haynes speaks of how much he enjoyed playing with Coltrane, and how he felt challenged to keep him inspired and not let him down. Haynes delivers. His drumming is, at times, almost as powerful as Coltrane's tenor, this is one of his greatest moments on record. As always McCoy Tyner's piano is lyrical and inspired. His dense chording, coupled with Garrison's throbbing, pulsing basswork providing the flexible evolving framework neccessary to keep Coltrane and Haynes flying on the intense tracks. Tyner also displays his ballad touch with a lovely solo on "Dear Lord". This cd is one of contrasts. It has equal parts of tenderness and ferocity and is one of the best, if lesser known sessions from the early phase of Coltrane's final creative period. A definate must for fans of late period Coltrane.

Dear God, i can't stop listening to john coltrane albums! i've been on a two week bender now. lost my job. my car was repossessed. yesterday the old lady took off, saying, "you care about that old saxophone player more than you care about me!" and, Lord help me, she was right. "don't let the door hit you in that nasty behind of yours, on the way out," was all that i shouted back, as i cranked up the stereo even louder. the album playing was another of his classic Impulse releases, "dear old stockholm," from sessions made in 1963 and 1965. what a great album, man. the title track, which is first up, had me laughing and dancing, then comes the beautiful "after the rain," and i'm like crying my butt off. but "one down, one up," brings me right back up. all that emotional coltrane energy pouring into my soul, like a drug, baby. i am soooo addicted, it's not funny. "after the crescent" is more fire-music, more of trane's soul served up hot and fresh. and then the last track "Dear Lord," has me weeping like a little child again. such a gorgeous ballad. each note as pretty as a woman's behind. man, i need help! i love this music, but i have to pay the bills, have to do something else besides listening to trane all day and all night. still, with that said, hear i sit, listening to "Like Sonny," and all that i can really think about is what coltrane masterpiece am i going to listen to next?

The tracks on this cd were recorded in 1963 and 1965, with Roy Haynes on drums sitting in for Elvin Jones. And what a difference a drummer makes! This is not better (Elvis WAS of course the ultimate Coltrane-drummer), but the music takes new and unexpected turns, backed by Haynes' crisp, intelligent playing. The 1963-track "After the Rain" is essential Trane in its quiet, visionary majesty. The two long, rather too similar 1965-tracks "One Down, One Up" and "After the Crescent" set new levels of intensity and find Coltrane at the brink of his late, screaming sound. Somehow McCoy Tyner seems to benefit more from Haynes' playing than Coltrane. The interplay between Tyner and Haynes on these two long tracks is stunning and Tyners' solos are intensely powerful. "Dear Lord" is again quiet and serenely beautiful. 4½ stars.

Recorded on two seperate occasions in 1963 and 1965 with replacement drummer Roy Haynes, while Quartet regular Elvin Jones was in rehab, this is a fine addition for any Coltrane collector. Though Jones' trademark thunder is absent, Haynes adds a tight finesse to the typically wild Quartet sound. The material is strong throughout, especially "Dear Old Stockholm" and the serene "After the Rain". The frenetic "One Down,One Up" and "After the Crescent" (both recorded during the 1965 session) evoke the kindred mayhem of Coltrane's "Sun Ship" recordings made that year and suffer many of the same problems of his work of that period. Unquestionably, the high point here is the albums swan song "Dear Lord". Perhaps the saddest song Trane ever performed; understated and wonderfully blue, it reminds us that beyond his legacy as avant garde explorer he was first and foremost a master of melody and lyricism.

i know that i am a bit liberal with my stars when it comes to reviewing Coltrane discs, but it's tough to hold back when dealing with this monumental and underheard masterpiece. Dear Old Stockholm has been in almost constant play since i purchased it about one year ago.

when it comes down to deciding which Coltrane cd's to purchase, the proposition can be a bit overwhelming (well....not as overwhelming as say, Miles Davis). there are a range of styles and quite a few different shades of Coltrane's music to be found across his short, but prolific musical career. some may be put off by the sheer power and force of his work towards the end of his days; such albums like Meditations (another five star affair - in my opinion); and the respectable effort of Ascension may be a bit too much for the average jazz fan. but the music on Dear Old Stockholm somehow stradles that line of song/sound and showcases unfathomable depths of beauty, melody, precision, power, passion, and grace. each piece seems to build and swell in that big deep Coltrane sound...his solos stretching out and painting wild and vivid colours on the audio canvas; the bass climing high and then swooping low in a loose, yet grounded fashion, piano notes swinging around and violently crashing with cymbals and snares. the whole band getting scooped up and driven into this sonic vortex of their own creation! yes, it's all that dramatic! but the band never falls into "free" territory where it's just blowing hard for ther sake of blowing hard...every player pushes the limits of the song's melody at times, but it never strays so far that it misses the point. and to me, that's one of the greatest points of Dear Old Stockholm. the fact that the passion and the discipline are shown in evidence as going hand in hand.

those of you who want to find the right balance between Coltrane's early style of melody and fast harmonics and his emotional passion and strength of his later years, should wait to longer and get this superb album. it will be one purchase that you will never regret.

What is it about John Coltrane that sparks such heated arguments one way or the other? I don't know that there's an answer to that, even in light of the simple fact of Jazz being such a complex form of music, and the accountability of personal likes and dislikes when deciding what is palatable. Or maybe it's just that Trane brings out the music critic in everyone, for better or for worse. I can't account for everyone's tastes, I myself like to some degree 95% of Coltrane's immense catalog, (or at least what I've heard!) but "Dear Old Stockholm" is accessible a work as you're gonna get from the master. Minus Elvin Jones on drums (Roy Haynes replaces) the classic crew is present (Tyner and Garrison) and as usual other worldly. 5 no nonsense tracks make up this offering, and it's clearly all killer, no filler. Trane novices may recognize the sweet "After The Rain" and one of my favorite JC tracks, ever, "Dear Lord" from the "Gentle Side Of John Coltrane" release, a greatest hits collection. It's always good to get those original albums though, and "Stockholm" is one of my favorites and a JC Impulse release. Besides the ballads, the bop is evident on the blazing and timeless "One Down, One Up" as Roy drives the quartet as ably as Elvin, no easy task. A well rounded addition to any level of jazz enthusiast's collection, "Dear Old Stockholm" is a perfect slice of the Coltrane pie.

"One Down, One Up" is an absolutely shattering performance. Coltrane and Co. are dancing brilliantly between form and chaos. Some of Coltrane's later "transcendent" music sounds to my ears a bit squawky and abrasive, but this relies more on vamps, with all of the defiant anti-authoritarianism of free jazz -- think of it as a cross between "My Favorite Things" and "Om." Having not yet been born in the 60s, I use the passion, fury, and exuberance of this recording to channel backward to a frightening but more hopeful time. Every time I listen to this record I come away thrilled yet haunted. Thank you, John Coltrane!

Though I can't list any of these tracks among my favorite Coltrane performances. Its an important look at what the Quartet would have been without Jones. Dear Lord and After the rain are standouts, while One Up.. and After the Cresent are avant garde blowing tunes.