Product Details

• Actors: Eric Dolphy, Stan Getz, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, John Coltrane
• Format: Best of, Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Jazz Icons
• DVD Release Date: September 4, 2007
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000TNJIK6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,456 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #16 in Music > Jazz > Avant Garde & Free Jazz
  • #32 in Music > Jazz > Bebop > Hard Bop
  • #65 in Music > Jazz > Bebop > Bebop General

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As Ashley Kahn points out in his informative liner notes, there aren't many visual recordings of jazz giant John Coltrane in circulation--or, possibly, in existence. In capturing the saxophonist in three different phases in his too-brief career, this installment in the inestimable Jazz Icons video series performs a valuable service. The 92-minute DVD includes a 1960 performance in Dusseldorf, Germany, featuring Coltrane on tenor with his mates from Miles Davis's rhythm section, jamming on Miles's tunes; a 1961 performance in Baden Baden, Germany, with Coltrane on soprano and tenor, and Eric Dolphy on alto sax and flute, backed by pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and super-drummer Elvin Jones; and a surpassingly intense 1965 Belgium performance by "the Classic Quartet," with Jimmy Garrison replacing Workman. The black-and-white footage, some of it from broadcast sources, is sometimes striking, sometimes too shadowy (the dated camera effects, while evincing a certain period charm, still don't help). And a rare meeting of Coltrane and tenor great Stan Getz at the end of the Dusseldorf set is compromised by the poor miking of Getz. But we'll put up with such imperfections to hear the primal force of Trane's playing cut through the years, on songs ranging from "Autumn Leaves," to "Impressions," to "My Favorite Things." Trane lives. --Lloyd Sachs

Product Description

JAZZ ICONS:JOHN COLTRANE LIVE IN 60 6 - DVD Movie

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Holy Grail, September 11, 2007

By 

J. Harmon "bassman" (LA-USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jazz Icons: John Coltrane Live in '60, '61 & '65 (DVD)

What can be said about Trane that hasn't been said before? Well after watching this DVD, you probably won't say anything because your jaw will be hanging for an elongated period due to the bombarding attack that has just pierced your ears, eyes, and soul. Seriously guys, this is a SMOKIN' HOT DVD!! You get 3 sets: Germany-March 28 1960 with the 'Kind of Blue' band(Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, and Wynton Kelly), Germany-December 4 1961 with Eric Dolphy & Reggie Workman(Jimmy Garrison had not joined the band full time yet. This set was filmed a month after the famed Village Vanguard sets), & Belgium-August 1 1965 with the Classic Quartet of McCoy, Elvin, & Jimmy(This set was filmed a mere five days after their gig at the Antibes Jazz Festival in France, which was the only time A Love Supreme was performed in its entirety). This 3rd set is worth having the DVD alone. It showcases the Quartet at the height of their powers. A stunning all out 'Vigil' kicks off the 3 song set, with everyone absolutely feeding off each other. John then brings it down a couple of notches with his beautiful ballad 'Naima', and to go out with a bang(and two foot stomps), you get 21 minutes of pyrotechnics with 'My Favorite Things'. Thus ends the bombardment. This 3rd set is some of the heaviest playing I have ever heard, any band, any genre. And you can't classify it as just jazz, its actually progressive music. Just a year later Mike Bloomfield composed East-West while he was with the Butterfield Blues Band, seemingly carrying the progressive torch that John had lit. A year later you get Cream turning it upside down, then The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jaco, the list goes on. This is just me rambling.

GET THIS DVD!! Matter of fact, go for all the titles in the Jazz Icons series. Jazz is a great art form, its provided so much influence on so many styles and forms. And for a little over a decade, a man named John William Coltrane helped redefine the idiom. Add this priceless investment to your music DVD collection today!

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars rapturous, September 12, 2007

By 

B Goods (MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jazz Icons: John Coltrane Live in '60, '61 & '65 (DVD)

What an amazing piece of artistic history captured on film. The 1960 segment is some of the hardest swinging ever recorded. You have a Dream rhythm section- (Wynton Kelly, Mr. P.C. and Cobb) and Trane in a very transitional period stylistically. Absolutely brilliant.

The 1965 stuff is unreal, just when you think the band hits an apex in the pieces, it finds a 7th and 8th gear to go into almost telepathically. The music is so complex, yet so raw and exposed and presented without pretension that it really transcends classification or definition. Words can't be used to describe it. Skip the pizza and beer for a night and spend the cash on this instead.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Coltrane, December 3, 2007

By 

Hong Kong Phooey (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jazz Icons: John Coltrane Live in '60, '61 & '65 (DVD)

This is Coltrane at his peak:

(Germany, 1960)

On Green Dolphin Street

Walkin'

The Theme

Autumn Leaves / What's New / Moonlight in Vermont

Hackensack

(Germany, 1961)

My Favourite Things

Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye

Impressions

(Belgium, 1965)

Vigil

Naima

My Favourite Things

Leave it to Naxos to present these concerts on a high quality/low cost disk. Even the most casual jazz fan will love this.