Richard Alderson was a New York recording engineer in 1961 when he was enlisted to check out a new sound system being installed at the Village Gate. It happened that saxophonist John Coltrane was appearing at the club for the month of August, with various musicians invited to join him on stage. That’s the basic back-story behind the scintillating Impulse! release of Evenings At The Village Gate, with eighty minutes of John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy plus McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. The tapes were lost and found, and then lost again until this recent rediscovery, and every jazz fan should be thankful for the appearance of this music, no matter how belated it might be. Coltrane and Dolphy started working together earlier in 1961, on Olé for Atlantic and Africa/Brass for Impulse. They teamed up again in November at the Village Vanguard (eventually collected on the 4-CDs of The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Sessions), and then took off for a series of concerts in Europe. Some of those performances came out on bootlegs and a few appeared later on Live Trane, a 7-CD set on Pablo. The repertoire is largely familiar, starting with My Favorite Things, a rare jazz “hit” and a popular song frequently associated with Coltrane who played it very often. Here it features some prime Dolphy flute. Next up is When Lights Are Low, which might have been a Dolphy suggestion, since ‘Trane had recorded it just once, with Miles Davis in 1956. Featuring his highly expressive bass clarinet playing, this Benny Carter-Spencer Williams composition became a Dolphy favorite, and he performed the tune at his European concerts immediately following the Village Gate shows. The traditional melody Greensleeves, which Coltrane played a lot that year, gets a real workout in a sixteen minute extravaganza with a killer Dolphy solo on alto, followed by a Coltrane soprano solo that makes you almost forget the first solo. The sequencing saves the best for last, with an extended version of Coltrane’s Africa, the only known live performance of this number from the Africa/Brass sessions. Coming out of a typically volcanic Elvin Jones solo, the last five minutes with both horns wailing is the most thrilling music I’ve heard in many a moon. While the drums are too loud, and Workman’s bass is down in the mix, I imagine the system still passed the test as far as the club was concerned. The Village Gate finally closed its doors in 1994, but this music will be prized as long as there are ears to hear it. Evenings At The Village Gate is a treasure, and one of the most important releases of this or any year. Absolutely recommended.
Impulse!; John Coltrane (ts, ss) Eric Dolphy (as, fl, bcl) McCoy Tyner (p) Reggie Workman, Art Davis* (b) Elvin Jones (d); NYC, August 1961; My Favorite Things/ When Lights Are Low/ Impressions/ Greensleeves/ Africa*; 80:15. www.impulserecords.com/#/
