Customer Reviews

Paris Concert

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i've been on a coltrane bender lately. can't stop listening. this is a recording from a 1961-62(?) broadcast capturing coltrane with his relatively new group, featuring mccoy tyner, jimmy garrison, and elvin jones. it opens with a 26 minute workout of "Mr. P.C." which finds mr coltrane blowing his heart out through his sax, distorting notes wildly and twisting the fine melody of this tune into all manner of mad musical shapes. there's a long bowed-bass solo by mr garrison, and mr tyner decorates things with beautiful clusters of piano notes. elvin jones gets in some fine drum solo stuff, as well. "the inch worm," is a quirky and pleasing number, while "ev'ry time we say goodbye," is the most conventional tune on the disc. all in all, this makes a fine addition to any coltrane collection. his discography is so vast, it may take you awhile to arrive at this album, but happy listening when you do.

This was a brand new band when Coltrane played with Garrison, Jones and Tyner in 1961. The avant gaurde was years away, and this show works between standards and material from Giant Steps.

Of the three numbers, two are good, but it is Mr. P.C. that rules the album. The quartet jams for twenty minutes on the minor blues, changing it from a compact studio horse race into an improvosation vehical.

The blues changes on P.C. have a lemon bite and while all do well, Jimmy Garrison is king with his symphonic solo. Don't beleive me: listen to the applause when he is through.

Ironically, Garrison's early moment in the sun was named for Mr. Paul Chambers, a bassist Coltrane shared with one Mr M.D. Miles Davis.

Each of the musicians in this fabulous live concert is given the chance to go with the music in front of a fantasticly appreciative and responsive crowd. Skip over albums that are live versions of the same studio recordings, played in some smoky bar with only background noise to tell you it's live. This album captures the response of the crowd and the musicians feed off of it. A great Coltrane piece.

It basically goes without saying that any reasonably recorded live set from 'Trane is worth seeking out for the jazz-obsessed, but despite an extended P.C. (primarily through typically unengaging side-soloing) there is nothing from The Paris Concert fans wouldn't find in other, greater live recordings of which this artist has plenty. In fact, the brief disc feels surprisingly bare-bones, with no real incentive from the man himself to distinguish this admittedly great performance amongst numerous admittedly superb ones.

I bought this CD a long, long time ago, and I hardly ever played it. I hadn't really discovered the Coltrane train yet. I think I just bought it because Mr. PC is 26 1/2 minutes long. Now, in a rather startlingly example of irony, I don't like this CD that much since I've been getting into Coltrane. I have A Love Supreme, The Major Works of John Coltrane (including Ascension, both takes), Live at the Village Vanguard-The Master Takes, and Live in Newport, all vastly superior to this recording. The recording itself sounds rather muddy, and Coltrane seems to be going through the motions on most of it. There are some good passages in The Inch Worm, Mr. PC has a rather intense bass solo in it, but Coltrane is hardly in it, and Every Time We Say Goodbye feels like a throwaway. Now that I'm really into Coltrane, I don't think this album is one of his best. It's very similar to my first Bob Dylan album, Shot of Love, which I thought was decent until I got more Dylan albums. So, if you're a Coltrane completist, pick this one up. If not, I think you can safely skip it.

This is actually part of the Pablo live 7cd set it's all good but just buy the7cd set.