The Impulse record company has done much valuable work in documenting contemporary developments in jazz. Perhaps their finest achievement to date has been the compilation of nine volumes of John Coltrane’s playing since 1960. They deserve to be commended for continuing to release the work of this important musician in the face of much adverse criticism.
The latest release in this series (Coltrane Live At Birdland: Impulse a50) is especially welcome, containing music from sessions in October and November of 1963, the most recent yet recorded. Though the album contains nothing with the grandeur of Impressions (Impulse a42) or Out Of This World (a21) all five pieces show Coltrane’s regular group playing with their customary involvement and intensity. The most interesting tracks are those on which Coltrane plays soprano—Afro-Blue, a blues in 6/8 and 3/4, The Promise and Your Lady. The soprano saxophone is a notoriously intractable instrument and Coltrane’s first recorded attempts at playing it (My Favourite Things, Atlantic 1361: Olé, Atlantic 1373) show that he found it difficult to pitch accurately and to maintain an even tone throughout his range. On this record, however, he demonstrates complete control; the distortions of tone and pitch are now planned and deliberate. Particularly remarkable on these tracks is the way in which he imbues his long, torrential demisemiquaver runs, the so-called ‘sheets of sound’, with variation of tone colour so that they take on a spiralling quality and added depth. Coltrane’s struggles with this horn seem to have led him to the discovery of the various vocal effects which have enriched his tenor saxophone playing in recent years.