You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - He's Got His Coltrane Stuff Together

Episode Date: March 5, 2020

On this episode, Peter and Adam highlight some of the most Coltraniest moments in John Coltrane's discography.Ultimate Coltrane Moments:"Just Squeeze Me" (Miles Davis Quintet)"Countdown""In a Sentimental Mood" (with Duke Ellington)"Chasin' the Trane""Crescent""A Love Supreme, Pt. II - Resolution""The Night Has a Thousand Eyes"BONUSListen to all of these tracks in their entirety with our Spotify playlist.Coming soon - a new course from Open Studio! It's the long-awaited sequel to our Rhythm Section Fundamentals course, where you'll learn how to get the piano, bass, and drums to play as one well-oiled jazz machine. Stay tuned for more details, and check out the original Rhythm Section Fundamentals to prepare for part two.Interested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Peter. Hey, you have your cold train stuff together? My cold train. I'm cold and I'm about to get on the train. Do you have your Peter Martin stuff together? I'm Peter and I'm Martin. I'm red-up knit ram. Let's do it.

I'm Adam Manus. And I'm Peter Martin. And you listen to the You'll Hear podcast. Daily music advice coming at you. Coming at you today's episode sponsored by Open Studio. Go to Open Studio jazz.com. Check out our piano access pass. That's every piano course we make and will make.

When you buy the annual, you get all the ones that we'll make this year, which are going to be significant. I normally say you are prone to overpromising as am I But that's more of a pre-promise everything that we're going to make this year You got to trust us that we got some nice stuff in the pipeline Which we do Yeah, when I say like yes and like enough stuff in the pipeline That's an understatement

Yeah, this isn't like a like this is like an anti-layaway plan Yeah, you know anything about layaway plans? I do That predates you I think no I grew up in high region We had a Kmart Oh yeah So today Blue Light Special That's right

So today we wanted to just just have some Coltrane moments. I hear all the time, and I know you do too, like the phrases, like, oh, yeah, he's really got his Coltrane stuff going on. Or here's where he plays his Herbie stuff. Yes. You know?

And so we always think it's funny because, like, when you hear Herbie or Coltrane or Wayne, you're like, oh, there's the Wayne stuff from Wayne. Oh, man, Wayne, I got to tell you, every time I hear him, I realize what a mastery he is of his Wayne stuff. As was Coltrane of his Coltrane stuff. Coltrane was so good at the Coltrane stuff. Well, so we picked seven tracks today that I thought were good examples of playing as train stuff, which is an odd situation to be in.

But it should be fun. I don't know. We'll see how it goes. And if you have any suggestions, Peter, as we're going down the list here, just feel free to shout them out. No, these are all good ones. Have you noticed that what I just did, I made a little reference some of our more mature audience, as myself might have noticed. I was affirming what you were saying so far. Yes.

Yes. And you know what that's from? What? Do you remember the side? You remember a gentleman named Johnny Carson? You used to have a late night talk show. Oh, yeah. Ed McMahon.

Yeah. Yes. Yes. So I kind of spun it around on you. Hi. Yeah. I like it. Okay.

I like it. Sorry, that was my Johnny Carson. Well, the thing is with Coltrane, this should be a whole lot of yes. Like, you could literally have looked up the seven worst coal train tracks ever and put it on here. And I was going to say yes. Here's my amazing kind of. Ready? Ready?

Oh, we've, we've. A Love Supreme, Crescent, and live at the Black Hawk. Yes. All right, here we go. The first one is actually, this is from, this isn't John Coltrane recording. This is a recording from the Miles Davis Quintet, the album Miles, which is like 1956. This is early train. Yes.

It's a great record. Yes. And this is Just Squeeze Me. And just when Train comes in here, just to reiterate, this is 1950. It's going to be hard to keep that in mind when he enters because he's... Okay, I'm keeping it in mind. Already so. 1956.

Getting into a little here. Just Red Garland, right? Yeah. Ooh. Philly Joe. Paul Chambers. It's not bad. Oh.

Red Garland. Master of the most appropriate Phil. Yes. I would say he and Hank Joe. He's a math. Most appropriate Phil. He has the MVP of Math. Well, I mean, he has that red garland stuff down.

He's really shed at the red garland stuff down. Yeah. I think they're just bopping here. Let's move along a little bit. Yeah, because that's sad. I don't know. That's not sad. That's great.

Miles is solo. Fun fact, I'm not a big fan of this prestige Paul Chambers bass sound they got from a sonic standpoint. I agree. It sounds a little artificial. A little midi. Like mid-rangedy, I should say. Yeah.

But I mean, he's just so darn great. It still sounds good. I mean. Swinging. Oh, blue tone. Is that legal? Johnny. That's just squeezed me in 1950s.

He already had his cold train stuff. I see where you're going with this. You see where I'm going? You're going on a lineage. You're going on a journey. We're going to take on a little journey. It's the harshness juxtaposed with Miles. And that's what's so brilliant actually about Miles with these bands.

He knew that. Yes. He knew that when the train comes in after him here, it's going to be different. His beautiful Harmon mute bopping. You know what I mean? You can tell there. Even a young train was really shedding on his train stuff. He was, man.

Yeah, I mean, and what a... So this was 56. So he's like not even 30 or right around about to turn 30. Yeah, he's still in his 20s. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so next, this is, of course, from Giant Steps. And this is, oh, man, he's going to play it. This is that train stuff of waves of sound.

You know what I'm talking about? Sheets of sound. Sheets of sound. I love it, too. This track is literally, the whole song is two minutes and 25 seconds long countdown. If there's been a more impactful two-minute and 25-second song, that was wait that was Philly Joe wasn't it

okay I was blank there for something I was like it's got to be Phil so the way he kind you know you always hear different dimensions to these great recordings and it's so fun to come back to them

there's always another layer which is amazing but I never really totally realize this when Train comes in he kind of comes in at a different tempo than Philly Joe's a little behind him

he's a little behind him but he resets it of course and like there's a little bit of that but like the confidence with which he goes ahead, like, because he knows his coal train stuff. Well, this is, but also it's so funny, right?

Now there's the Coltrane changes. That's what the changes that he put here on, on, what is the, what's the tune? The tune of the tune of miles recorded at this space off of the three, two, five ones in a row. Tune up, yeah. That's right. He put Coltrane changes on it, quote unquote, cold train changes. But this is the first time anybody had ever done cold train changes like this. That's why they waited like four courses before they came in.

Wait, hold up, we got to hear it. We got to hear it. Yeah, poor Tomics landing in. But I mean, that's, I mean, of all the first time. the brilliant things on here, obviously, you know, running through those crazy changes, but that reset at the beginning, I'm equally impressed by that kind of note. Did you notice that before? That time when he comes in?

You know what? This has happened in a few of the moments researching for this podcast of like, he is not, like, as, he's not like a Brecker precise with almost anywhere in his solos. He can kind of, he doesn't go off. I think. You're saying Brecker had his Coltrane stuff more together than Coltrane? In some ways. No, but I think that's what was part of his sound.

was even in tone. I mean, obviously the tone is so huge, but in time and pitch, there were, there were relativities that I think we overlook. But I don't know. I wonder, is it, yeah, maybe. But I think intentionally.

Yeah, I don't think it was like. But I'm wondering, and I might be projecting, if he didn't hear the temple, the where he wanted to hear it, even, not that he wasn't listening to Philly Joe, but like, he heard it the way he wanted

right when he came in and was like, I care about the, you know, it's like you're walking with somebody, and you know, you can't keep up instead of like trying to trip them up or try to pull them back you're just like there's a way that you can do it where you just bam reset right i don't know all right let's well it's let's let's our podcast we could listen to it again yeah it's my podcast i can play it again if i want to first of all this intro too it's like yep they both run right in there though

but you're right it wasn't until that second phrase there you really started like you know they were like locked in yeah all right what do you know about this one So this is another one of those. It's a cult-transignature, the way he plays these ballads. You know what I mean? Yeah. This great beauty, this amazingly soulful tone, this realness to everything that he plays. It's not just a chops fest all the time.

And it's not just about messing with a form or the changes or anything like that. It's a real lyrical beauty that he brings to everything. Yeah, that's Duke Allington at the piano, right? It is. That's from Duke Wellington and John Coltrane. There's a, I mean, that whole album is terrific, but the way he phrases

that melody so, so cleanly. Yeah, and just looking back, I made a grave air I had to, because I was, when we listened to that, just jumping back to the previous countdown, there was something about that, I was like, wait, I'm not sure if that's Philly Joe knows. It is Art Taylor. I just looked it up.

I'm looking at the album cover, my friend. That would be Art Taylor on drums, the great AT. and so I apologize for introducing but I mean obviously you know contemporaries but very much influenced by but that makes sense now yeah it does make sense that we go that's awesome

yeah okay next is from live at the village vanguard 1961 now we're talking yeah oh come on that's kind of swinging yeah it's chasing the train you know this is another one there's a bunch of recordings so you could just hear train

blow over the blues for minutes and minutes and minutes yeah each chorus better than the next those little half tones that he does, you know, the saxophone thing. Saxophone is, let us know what those are technically called. I'm not even sure what those are called. They have a name, though. So much thematic development.

So swinging. Yeah, man. Go to our Spotify account, Open Studio. We'll link here, too, to this Spotify playlist. But you can check out all these tracks on our playlist. We're going to call this one seven tracks where Coltrane sounded, Aight. Aite.

All right, our next example. Let me just mention one thing about that. the live, and again, another thing I didn't notice, I hadn't listening to this in a while. That record, record captures the Vanguard sound. I know, right? It sounds so well. Like, that's why, to me, that is the best sounding room to record or listen to jazz. No, listen to the piano and the drums again.

Now, that's a bass sound right there. That is a great thing. Big shot's prestige, but it's his impulse here. I mean, it's just like, it's like you're standing in the middle of the stage, you're standing back by the bar, you're in the middle of the room, it doesn't matter. Those drums so sound like the Vanguard. I remember being down at the Vanguard and being in the presence of the great Lou Donaldson and him telling stories about Coltrane playing at the Vanguard

and all of the young cast we were all crowded around him like he's the master that he is and he's telling these stories and he's like, yeah, I think somebody was like man, what was that like here in Coltrane? And we forget, like Lou Donaldson was a contemporary of Coltrane. He, of course, admired him like we do, but not in the way that we do where we lionized himself. He was like, yeah, Coltrane.

Actually, Coltrane was a nerd. He didn't really have no friends. He just practiced all day. That's why he sounded good. But he solo too long. Yeah, he sounded good, but he didn't know when to stop. And, you know, for us, we want to hear that all night. But he's like, no, I was there.

I had to sit there. Is someone just interviewing Lou Donaldson while we still got him? You know what I'm saying? Like, we need to just get. We need to get him on the podcast. We do. We might need to start a. I want a Lou Donaldson button.

I'm just like, get out of here with that. Well, the thing, like I told you, like, every time I'm around him, I actually heard that he heard that we were possibly doing his voice occasionally and that, you know. Oh, yeah, yeah, me and Mark Whitfield, but he didn't really, like, he was real slick about sort of me. He's like, yeah, I heard something about you. Like, he didn't want to come out, so that made us even more scared about it. But yeah, great, great stories about the Vanguard at the Vanguard. Awesome. All right, here's Coltrane playing another Coltraneism.

This is Crescent from Crescent. and this is his very unique and beautiful way that this entire quartet actually could play Roboto. McCoy is a superstar on this stuff, man. The way they roll into these chords, man. Organic.

It's like a whole foods produce aisle up in there. That's so good. Dang. Cage free arpeggios. Cage free arpeggio. That's a good pull-out quote for this one. I can't stop. Wait until the time comes in.

And men, this kind of, like, oh, man, it's one of the most graceful entrances to swing ever. It's just. And then he was able to procure the services of a gentleman who had mastered his McCoy stuff on the piano. Yeah, this piano is not another than McCoy time. Yeah, he really has this McCoy stuff together. But, I mean, the way they go from just totally open, kind of queued, you know, you imagine Coltrane, you know, kind of. But I mean, Elvin's really cueing that, like, with his roles and the way he goes into that. There's no doubt where that stuff is that.

But there's no, like, come on, right together, guys. I mean, it's just like, I mean, the way they're feeling the beat. And, like, you think that there's no beat there, but it's absolutely a beat there. It's just out of time, you know, but it's phrasing. They're feeling the phrases. And then when they go to that next section, it's a lot of people think it's all out of time until it starts swinging. Yeah. But they're actually in a ballad temple there, a very loose ballad temple.

And you look at a lot of folks later on down the road, you know, Keith Jarrett Trio comes to mind, maybe some Chick-Korea, different ECM stuff later on where that I really think a big part of that originated in this kind of playing with this quartet. I've never thought about that. That very loose, free, not out of time, but not like strict, like on Coltrane plays ballads or Colterian with Duke Ellington, which you played earlier. So you think there is some kind of loose pulse happening? Yeah, maybe play it back a little bit. I'll show you. I've always heard it like that. I used to listen to this record a lot. Obviously, here, this is all open. Maybe jump ahead a little bit.

Like, once they're starting, even here. For sure. Yeah, it's kind of there. One, two, two, PM's conducting right now. Let's see what it is. And saxophone. No, that's true, man.

And mallets on the drums floor time. Yes. You know, but because, and really, Elvin, the master orchestrator. I mean, can we say enough about Elvin Jones and his, the power of his drumming, but the power of his. orchestration he could do of that quartet was just stunning and just you know how much of his

elven stuff he had to get it was crazy i mean i saw a chart one time the coltrain made for elvin on the stuff and it was like open sections and then it said like quotes elvin stuff and then it was like elven stuff like that's how he was able to get him to do that's awesome elvenesque how many times have we written that on charts elven's oh good good this yeah can you do like an elven elven thing it never quite happens though doesn't really happen like it happens in your head when elvin's playing with you uh so that's uh six of them we have one more but before you go out, do check out Open StudioJaz.com.

And we got a bonus. I put a bonus, so we're actually going to go one, two, three, four. So let's go ahead and give it. All right, hold on. So let's do number seven. Our number seven here is... I was excited about number seven, so... Is, uh...

Hold on. Resolution, right? From... That's right. That's not the bonus, is it? No, it's not the bonus. Yeah, resolution from a love supreme. Also known as a love supreme.

I said this is six, actually. Sorry, this is six. My bad. That's my bad. I don't want. Oh, yeah, you still got that. Oh, this one's about. This one's about power.

I love the way they fall in that temple, too. Come on. One more time. See, I always thought that this is in time, too. A lot of people think this is a free solo. I hear a pulse. There is. And, like, there's a little dance between Elvin.

You can hear the temple once again. Yeah. Between Elvin and Train, the way they established the temple. Man. And the way he just, like, hammers this melody as they get into it. And just let's, I think that's something this era had that can get lost a little bit as we listen back. But that hammering the melody over and over again, letting the band, letting the rhythm section, color the melody each time over and over again. It's so cool, man.

There's like a power, obviously, finesse. But I mean, all the musical stuff we take for granted, but that's assumed here. High level of musicality from all, this whole quartet, interplay, listening, of course, all the usual stuff we talk about. but there's a real kind of evocative political sound to what they are playing and what they're unifying on, not in an overt. I mean, they were overt in some of the, certainly some of the titles and stuff, but I mean, you hear it just like there was a lyric. I hear it from that, that time, the 60s, you know, the strife in the United States. And like, I think train, I'd like to nominate train for mayor of Swingville and mayor of Musicville, okay? Can I get a second on that?

Yes, I second that. I mean, just, you know, what the amount of just humanity. and everything else he was able to channel into his horn and then so I love the way you put this together in terms of like with Miles and it just squeeze me but then here this is really coming full circle with the quartet and you know he went beyond it

but you heard that spirit and that that Coltrane Coltrane I mean we're joking about his Coltrane stuff but that's really what his Coltrane stuff is about that power. One more for me this is just I just put this on here because it's like my favorite track of anything he's done this is from Coltrane sound Nighthouse

a thousand ice I love McCorm Roy's playing on this too. Young McCoy. All this is Young McCoy. Steve Davis. But I think if this is like in that lineage of like his version of body and soul,

you know what I mean? Like when he take a standard. That's from the same record, I think. I think it is. Yeah, but make it his own without putting Coltrane changes quote unquote on there. I just love that track so much.

Again, go to our Spotify account. Click the link below to check out this playlist and add it to your Spotify. If you're on Spotify. We've had some requests for some different platforms. We might get into that. actually. Yeah, we were talking about LPs,

maybe doing a delivery system via LP. LP club? That's going to be hard. But, you know, remember the old Columbia House records. What do you know about that?

More cassettes than then CDs than anything, but free until you, that bill came. Yeah, automatically generated. All right, those are good, man. Those are all great. All these records,

I remember holding the LPs at one time. Young Peter was holding some of these LPs and as he consumed the content. Yeah. All right, we're going out on your bonus. This is Mr. Day from Coltrane plays the blues. Yeah, okay, so this is a record that, people are sleeping on this one. Have you noticed that?

I have noticed that. Yeah. This is such a great, I don't know if it was not available for a while. This is from the Atlantic period, kind of the late Atlantic period. And I just think it's one of his men. What's not to like? You got the blues. This is killing. G-flat.

What do you know about a little G-flat blues? I know, it's hard. Well, you'll hear it.