Falkonercentret, Copenhagen, Denmark, November 22, 1962.
The rare 1962 Copenhagen concert by the classic
John Coltrane quartet in its entirety (not to be
confused with the 1961 and 1963 performances).
Among the many highlights of this performance,
which presents excellent sound quality, is a
long and delightful version of “Bye Bye
Blackbird”, a tune he rarely recorded after his
time with Miles Davis.
By 1962, the John Coltrane Quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy
Garrison and Elvin Jones was a solid musical unit. For a while, in
1961 and early 1962, the quartet evolved into a quintet with the
addition of reedman Eric Dolphy. This quintet (with Reggie Workman
on bass) had visited Europe in November 1961. In mid-November
1962, the quartet (minus Dolphy; with Garrison on bass) began a
new European tour. Fortunately, many concerts from that tour were
recorded by local radio stations and devoted fans. Performances
by Coltrane in Paris (November 17, two concerts), Stockholm
(November 19; two concerts), Helsinki (November 20), Copenhagen
(November 22), Graz (November 28), and Milano (December 2)
exist (with varying degree of sound quality) and have been issued,
at least partially on LP and/or CD form. This double set contains
the complete Copenhagen concert, which only appeared before in
its entirety on a long out of print edition more than a decade ago.
Coltrane hadn’t been playing Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon’s
composition “Bye Bye Blackbird” since his time with the Miles Davis
Quintet in the mid-fifties, but he revived the tune with his quartet
for this European tour. He stopped playing it after March 1963 (at
least he would never record it again).
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