| The complete long unavailable 1961
Copenhagen concert by the Coltrane-
Dolphy quintet.
Includes the only appearance of Victor
Young’s beautiful song “Delilah” in both
Coltrane and Dolphy’s discographies!!
Also noteworthy are a reading of “Naima”
and Trane’s two unusual live false starts
before playing a superb version of “My
Favorite Things”.
John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy played and recorded together
on many occasions. However, given the quality of their music
and the high level of creativity involved in every single one of
their performances, all newly discovered recordings are of
great interest. In this case, we present their complete
Copenhagen concert from November 20, 1961. Most of the
tunes were part of Coltrane’s regular repertoire, which were
played through out the European tour. However, one of the
Copenhagen selections stands out in both Coltrane and Dolphy’s
discographies, as neither of them would ever record it again
on any other occasion: Victor Young’s beautiful “Delilah”, a
tune brilliantly recorded by Clifford Brown with Max Roach on
August 2, 1954, and also recorded by Glenn Miller, Benny
Goodman, Kenny Burrell and Milt Jackson, among others.
Coltrane plays tenor sax on this tune, and Eric Dolphy performs
on bass clarinet. The two reeds’ combined statement of the
melody on “Naima” is really noteworthy, and one of the most
unusual parts of the concert, as well as the two false starts on
“My Favorite Things”, which are common occurrences during
studio sessions, but are quite rare during live performances.
After that, Coltrane apologizes on the mike and then offers the
audience (and us) a breathtaking almost half-hour reading of
the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein tune that closes the show.
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