Customer Reviews

One Down One Up: Live at the Half Note

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Coming on the heels of Blue Note's highly publicized and equally highly anticipated "Thelonius Monk Quartet with John Coltrane At Carnegie Hall," Impulse! releases yet another performance from the vault by John Coltrane and his celebrated quartet (Jimmy Garrison, McCoy Tyner, and Elvin Jones). Produced by Coltrane's son, Ravi, and containing performances from two nights at the Half Note in New York City, such a cast and setting seems to make this recording too good to pass up. However, even though this album features two full discs of live Coltrane, we are presented with only four extended cuts: "One Down, One Up," which is the lengthy highlight of the album, a shorter "Afro-Blue," an astounding, passionate rendition of "Song of Praise," and a 23-minute foray into sonic pyrotechnics with Coltrane's staple, "My Favorite Things."

If you are a Coltrane completist, such as myself, then you probably realize that we've seen a release similar to this already: LaserLight's "Live at the Half Note" released a few years back. And if you own this disc, then you'll find you already own two of the tracks featured here. I find it disappointing that Impulse! is unable to deliver the entire performances from the Half Note. However, in terms of sound quality, this album wins hands down

In terms of live performance, these two discs cannot measure up to the audible ferocity and contrasting poignant lyricism which makes up the "Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings" or even the Master Takes from those sessions - but I doubt anything ever could topple such a performance from its throne. However, I find this performance much more personable, more directed and whole lot more listenable than the 4-CD "Live in Japan" or the comparable 2-CD "Live in Seattle." In terms of an actual album, these two discs present a very cohesive rhythmic outfit with Garrison, Tyner, and Jones always keeping ahead of Coltrane's improvisational shenanigans.

As a completist, this album isn't worth passing up. However, as a casual listener still unfamiliar with Coltrane's more exploratory ventures within his own music, I recommend "Live at Birdland" or the "Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings" before diving into something as involved and multifaceted as this album.

It seems that quite a few historic unreleased recordings of John Coltrane have been making their way to the shelves as of late. Just weeks prior to the Impulse release of "One Down, One Up: Live at The Half Note", EMI unveiled an excellent top notch 1957 Carnegie Hall performance recorded during Coltrane's brief but legendary stint with Thelonious Monk's Quartet. With the release of this present 2-disc set of Coltrane's legendary 1965 performances at New York's Half Note club, another Holy Grail of jazz has finally seen the light of day.

Much has been written and discussed on these performances but until now, no official recordings had been available. Now with the release of this double CD, the world can finally hear what all the rage was truly about. The recordings were taken from late night radio broadcasts and apart from the final tracks on each disc being incomplete (due to time constraints on the original broadcast) and some minor dropouts on the performance of "One Down, One Up", the sound quality as well as the performances are outstanding.

The legendary half-hour performance of "One Down, One Up" is worth the price of admission alone. The piece is one continuous tenor sax improvisation with Coltrane spontaneously creating and recreating musical ideas that never let up. It's a performance that literally leaves one stuck to their chair. The piece becomes more intense as McCoy Tyner's piano drops out followed by Jimmy Garrison's bass leaving Coltrane going head-to-head with drummer Elvin Jones for over 10 minutes before everyone comes back in the bring this powerplay to an exciting finish.

Also included are a stellar but sadly abbreviated version of "Afro Blue" which ends just as Coltrane is letting rip on soprano sax following a solid McCoy Tyner piano solo, a nearly 20-minute take on the spiritual "Song Of Praise" which is arguably superior to the studio version included on the "Quartet Plays" album with its endless torrents of spontaneous invention and to close the set, an awesome but also unfortunately abbreviated version of "My Favorite Things" which displays just how far this piece had come from its original 1960 version. There is fortunately more to listen to with "My Favorite Things" as it fades out after 23 minutes whereas "Afro Blue" faded just short of 13.

What else can be said about Coltrane's performances at the Half Note except for the fact that this is truly some breathtaking music. Coltrane and his Quartet were in their prime during these performances and these recordings are proof that they definitely were giving it their all.

Besides the great music, this CD-set includes some well-written essays and sleevenotes from Ashley Kahn (the author of a book that gives detailed analysis on Coltrane's immortal masterwork "A Love Supreme") and Coltrane's son Ravi who also oversaw the production and release of this music.

If you're a die-hard Coltrane fan, this CD-set is definitely a must. If you're just starting out, this is definitely worth picking up later on down the line. Thus is positively a genuine piece of music history and is classic Coltrane at its very best.

Recommended!!!

As a Coltrane nut, I've had the legendary "One Down, One Up" on bootleg for years, and it's long been my single favorite Coltrane performance. And I'm very pleased with this purchase. The sound quality for all four tracks is much improved over the bootlegs, even if it doesn't match the 1961 Vanguard shows recorded by Impulse's Bob Thiele. There's an extended bass intro to One Up One Down that I hadn't heard, and even the complete radio announcements are historically interesting.

The dropouts that a few reviewers mention for the title track are really not a problem, if you can accept the fact that the master tapes aren't in pristine condition. There are no actual gaps in the performance, and the brief drops in volume were done well and aren't jarring.

As Coltrane collectors know, there are four radio broadcasts from the Half Note from 1965 widely traded as bootlegs. This package includes two of them, complete. I sure hope the Coltrane estate also has master-quality copies of the other two broadcasts.

Legendary music gets its first release...blah blah, you know the hype, and this is certainly particularly exciting coming as it does just after the Monk/ Coltrane at Carnegie Hall release. First, I don't think it's as good as the 'A Love Supreme' deluxe edition, which was frankly astounding, and it's not the Holy Grail either. The packaging and liner notes (with contributions from Ashley Khan and Ravi Coltrane) are all immaculate and beautifully designed, just as they were for the 'ALS' deluxe.

However, there is one major drawback: as these were radio broadcasts with the restricted time limit of 45 minutes, both discs manage to incorporate only one complete and one incomplete piece each. So, just a few minutes after Coltrane has soared back into 'Afro-Blue' and 'My Favorite Things' after ferociously powerful McCoy Tyner solos, he is cut off by the radio DJ bidding us goodnight. I've always found that the greatest parts of Coltrane's soprano explorations are after Tyner has had his say and Trane comes back in to really hit the stratosphere- then come back down in a beautiful, graceful shower of notes.

Nevertheless, there are many positives (how could there not be?), not least Elvin Jones' massive drumming and Tyner, reaching into the heart of his soul with his churning, powerful, graceful, passionate, epic solos. And Coltrane himself, driving forward like an unstoppable force of nature; Jones comments that it was like he was "sitting on a mountain of ideas, and they would flake off every three of four seconds."

This is particularly apparent in the heart of the collection, 'One Down, One Up,' a 27-minute work comparable to 'Chasin' the Trane', but even more extreme. Jimmy Garrison's bass solo opens the track (in fact, DJ Alan Grant later informs us that the piece had been going on for 35 minutes before the broadcast started- that's 62 minutes in total!), before Trane comes in with the dark modal theme on sax with Tyner's crashing left hand chords behind him...and then goes! 20 minutes in and he's lost none of his energy, frantically spilling out ideas over Jones' drums in a frenzied duet. At times, his tone approximates that of an electric instrument; sometimes he finds a phrase and repeats it for a few seconds, but then he's off again into yet more territory uncharted by music before or since...

There's hardly a moment of repose in the whole set, apart from the graceful openings of 'Afro-Blue' and 'MFT', and the beautiful ballad 'Song of Praise' (which soon turns into another full-blown workout, however). If there is such a thing as 'cosmic music', then this is it. So, despite the flaws in sound quality (there are several noticeable dropouts on the title track) and completness, this is yet another must-own masterpiece for the Coltrane completist.

The Half Note set, recorded in 1965 by the classic John Coltrane Quartet, has been floating around for years as an authorized bootleg, available in the only shoddiest fidelity. This Impulse! Recording, sanctioned by the Coltrane estate and produced by John's son Ravi, sounds wonderful. Finally, we get to hear "One Down, One Up" in all its glory from the March 26, 1965 performance. This performance stands right up there with "Out of this World," "Chasin' the Trane" and "I Want to Talk to You" (the "Coltrane Live at Birdland" performance) as one of his great transitional, commanding performances. There is an extended section in the middle of the track where Coltrane improvises with only drummer Elvin Jones accompanying him. This looks back to the amazing "Countdown" (on "Giant Steps"), but also looks forward to similar sections of the "A Love Supreme" suite as it was played in France later in 1965 and the sax/drums duets with Rashied Ali on his swansong studio session "Interstellar Space."

The other performances here are very good, but better live excursions exist elsewhere. "Afro Blue" appears in its definitely state on "Coltrane Live at Birdland," while the 40 minute version on "Live in Japan" is also a formidable performance. The version of "Song of Praise" here is quite lovely. "My Favorite Things," as performed here, can never top its studio version, though the live version from Coltrane's last recorded concert on "The Olatunji Concert," where he ferociously duels with Pharoah Sanders and the drumming of Ali, is much more compelling.

This set is highly recommended, but proceed with caution. It is disrupted by radio announcements (by Alan Grant) which cut the songs off. This is quite a buzzkill, to say the least. If you can forgive this (is there a mastertape without the announcements?), "One Down, One Up" is a very high quality set for those interested in Coltrane's journey following "A Love Supreme."

Less a review perhaps and more of a reminisence, _John Coltrane: One Up, One Down; Live at the Half Note_ (Impulse--B0002380-02--released in 2005) drew me back to days gone by in New York the Spring of 1965. My brother Mike and I were in the City for about a week in April-May, on a mission to pick up a Volkswagen shipped from France to the Brooklyn Army Terminal by our dad who had been reassigned a new job with the US Army. We rode the 'George Washington' train from Lexington, Kentucky to New York's Penn Station via Washington, DC. and would drive the VW back to our new home in the Bluegrass. While in New York we took every advantage of the opportunity to listen to jazz in the clubs. One night we walked way over to the west side from our friend's digs on E. 6th St at 2nd Ave. to listen to the John Coltrane Quartet at the Half Note Cafe, corner of Spring and Hudson. From start to finish, Mike and I were mesmerized by the music. (I had first heard Coltrane with the Miles Davis quintet at the Olympia Theater in Paris in 1960. And again leading his quartet at the Olympia in 1962 where, cigar in hand, he and McCoy and Jimmy (though not on the recording) autographed my copy of his _My Favorite Things_.) The evening at the Half Note was just another gig for the Quartet evidently. No recording session was happening and the audience was sparse even in this modestly-sized club. The intensity of the music did bring a few to their feet and I remember one or two guys standing on their chairs. Later in the evening (probably 1 or 2 in the morning actually) following a break, I remember seeing a young trumpeter up on the bandstand trying to get a sound out of his instrument while Jones, Tyner, and Garrison drove the pulse. My feeling at the time was that Elvin was not pleased at what must have been an impromptu appearance of this struggling apprentice trumpet player. And within moments, Coltrane the master re-appeared and took charge. I've always wondered if anyone else present that night experienced the sense of mastery exuded by these musicians and the frustration of an apprentice. Intensity is the only word that comes to mind. When the gig was over, lights up, and 'Trane was sitting on the bottom step of the bandstand which was chest level above the floor, talking to Elvin, my brother and I just stood there just waiting not wanting to leave. I have imagined Coltrane's conversation with his Mephistophelian drummer to have included something like the following remarks: Elvin asking, "John, why do you let these inexperienced musicians sit in?" and Coltrane answering softly, "Elvin, where else but on the bandstand can an apprentice learn to play?" Mike and I left the Half Note and stood on the sidewalk wet with rain. Across the street was a glaring TEXACO sign. Coltrane was right behind us, instrument cases in each hand, and Mike and I watched him walk up Hudson Street into the dark until he disappeared from sight. I am pleased to have this recording now as a reminder of me how precious is the experience of hearing these musicians `live' - masters and apprentice.

I was surprised when this album got released. It contains previously unreleased songs at fairly good sound quality. At this point in time its hard to imagine music this good, from such an influential artist, to have remained in hiding since 1965. To those who are unfamiliar with Coltrane, this is a live radio broadcast of Coltrane with his classic quartet lineup just a short time before Coltrane radically changed directions. To the Coltrane fan its an indispensable addition. It is sheer joy to listen to "One Down, One Up" which, to my understanding, has been influencing jazz musicians for many years in bootleg formats. Also, Coltrane's revisting of his standards, such as "Afro Blue" and "My Favourite Things", document his growth and show how much he had changed since he first recorded versions of those songs earlier that decade. Having said that, to those who are not Coltrane fans and want to get initiated, I would recomend earlier albums from the classic quartet. For example, if you dont have "Love Supreme", I would ask, why not? It is, at least, the most universally loved of his albums. If you like to buck the convention, I still would recomend earlier albums such as "Crescent" (recorded just a few months before Love Supreme) or the album entitled simply "Coltrane", his first studio album with the classic quartet for Impulse records. I am pleased to see that this album is selling well, which is a testament to Coltrane's reputation. It is a great and historic jazz album. I would readily acknowledge, however, that this album is definitely a non-conventional jazz album that may not appeal to those who like traditional jazz.

Culled from a radio broadcast (and who told the moron announcer it was OK to talk over Coltrane?), and discovered among a collection of tapes in the family archives, this is one of John's very best live dates, and as everyone is pointing out, including his esteemable son, you see here how the transition was being made in the course of John's music. What's also on offer here is just how much he and Elvin Jones were on each other's pages. I have rarely heard such a sympatico among two musicians, even more so than Coltrane's rapport with Miles. That's sticking it way out there, but I can think only of Hendrix and Mitchell, Fripp and Bruford, as being in the same aether.

This is a club date and has a better than expected sonic quality to it, considering the source. Along with the Monk/Trane concert from Carnegie Hall released last month, this represents the second major release of significant recordings from a man who was at his most stunningly spiritual in a live context. Let's hope the family uncovers more, even if the sound is less than pristine. We all survived the OLATUNJI tapes in one piece, and the sound quality was horrendous, but no matter, it had enormous importance in the discography of John Coltrane. That same ethic ought to guide any and all future considerations.

I was really annoyed by the announcer stepping all over the best parts of some of the solos but even more annoyed that the best tunes are cut off probably only half-way into the tunes. Just when Trane starts stretching out, the announcer comes in and the songs are cut. Get the Village Vanguard recordings first. I saw Pharoah Sanders do a version of My Favorite Things at Blues Alley for over an hour and it was a spiritual experience that will never be equalled. I hate to think of what I missed with these recordings... it's depressing.

This may not be the best CD to start your Coltrane collection off with - many fans find it hard to appreciate a 20 minute song - however, the depth and pure elegance of this CD is well worth the purchase. Don't be dissuaded by criticisms of its sound quality. While not the best, there is an authenticity - enhanced by the additions of the radio-broadcaster himself - that lend a very personal feel to it. Some of Coltrane's best soprano work with the quartet.