Live at the Five Spot [LIVE]

John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 23, 1993)
• Original Release Date: March 23, 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B000002V2C
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #49,943 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #24 in	Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Bebop
  #25 in	Music > Jazz > Live Albums > Bebop
  #45 in	Music > Jazz > Live Albums > Modern Postbebop

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Discovery! At the Five Spot documents emerging tenor giant John Coltrane's brief, but eventful six month residency with pianist-composer Thelonious Monk at New York's Five Spot. Monk was reestablishing his stature and drawing power as a jazz innovator while Coltrane grew by leaps and bounds studying Monk's repertoire and learning to navigate his compositions not just rhythmically and harmonically but thematically as well. Monk's melodies were too strong simply to run the changes, and on his extended jaunt Monk's tricky, intricate obstacle course "Trinkle, Tinkle," Coltrane attacks the harmonies with such compulsive power and blissful abandon, that you can hear whole new vistas of sound revealed to the tenor saxophonist. Recorded on a dinky tape machine by Coltrane's wife Naima, the sound is vague, hissy, and distorted--yet vivid and inspiring because on none of the few studio recordings documenting this period do Trane and Monk play with such unrestrained intensity. The mere existence of these tapes far transcends the shaky nature of their "production values." --Chip Stern

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stop Complaining!, August 19, 2000

By	John Estey (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dogging this incredible CD because of its lo-fi sound is like dogging the Declaration of Independance because it's on old paper and is hard to read. I mean come on-it is clearly brilliant, joyful music. Get over the poor sound and be Thankful you are lucky enough to hear this great stuff.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heresy...., December 26, 2007

By	Thomas Plotkin "[e-mail]" (West Hartford CT, United States) - See all my reviews

...many would say, but I believe Coltrane should have stayed a Monk sideman, judging by the evidence of this recording. No other Monk hornman shared Thelonious's lust for harmonic deconstruction. Usually players like Charlie Rouse, Johnny Griffin, or Sonny Rollins imposed structure on Monk's pixilated harmonic eccentricities, then the leader comes in with a piano solo that blows that order away. Only Trane, entering his furious sheets of sound period (he's like an erutping volcano), evinces a Monkian desire to shred order, structure, common sense. The two men were a match made in heaven, and they left only a tiny handful of recordings together. This is hands down the most anarchic (the whole band sounds weirdly restrained on the recently discovered Voice of America Recording). Coltrane sounds off-mike much of the time; his sound is so damn HUGE that you can still hear him loud and clear. The audio is poor, but who the hell cares when the music is of world historical importance. When you see a shooting star it's rarely under optimal conditions either, but would you pass up the experience?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun little journey, and it doesn't sound too bad, April 10, 2002

By	Andy Williamson (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

I see that a lot of folks have been criticizing the sound quality here. When I found this at my public library I hesitated. We've all heard BAD recordings that were put out only to line someone's pockets. In this case, even if the sound quality were terrible, I would still argue for its release. For Coltrane fans especially, this is a rare chance to hear him in one of his least recorded periods. The music is fun and the sound quality is much BETTER than I was expecting. For me, it falls somewhere in between the static of very early 1920's recordings (Louis Armstrong comes to mind) and the house chatter of the classic Bill Evans disc "Sunday at the Village Vanguard." There is crowd noise, but not TOO much, the music is fairly well balanced as far as one microphone recordings go. Monk's piano occasionally comes close to drowning out Coltrane. Considering the circumstances under which it was recorded, I was pleasantly surprised by how listenable this disc is. Keep in mind, if you have not had a lot of experience listening to low-quality recordings or bootlegs, then you may wish to hear this before purchasing it.