John Coltrane's versions of "Body and Soul"

Recently I spent several lessons with a sax student analyzing transcriptions of John Coltrane’s version of the Johnny Green tune “Body and Soul,” as played on the “Coltrane’s Sound” album. We looked at the transcription in the John Coltrane Omnibook, as well as the transcription by Andrew White. This project led me to check out other extant recordings of Coltrane performing “Body and Soul.” (Thanks, Luke!)

There are at least five different recordings on Youtube of Coltrane playing “Body and Soul." The tracks were all recorded between 1960 and 1965. They reflect an evolution from his relatively conventional chords-based "Coltrane changes" period to his later free-jazz/abstract/spiritual approach. They are:

1)  The studio recording released on the album "Coltrane's Sound,” 10/24/60
2)  An alternate take from the same recording session
3)  Jazz Gallery, 6/10/60 (four months before the studio recordings)
4)  Live at Birdland, 6/2/62
5)  Live in Seattle, 9/30/65

Below are discussions of each recording. Be sure to listen to each track first - the music itself is what's important.

"Coltrane's Sound"

 

The first publicly-released version of Coltrane playing "Body and Soul" appeared on the Atlantic LP "Coltrane's Sound." The material for this album was recorded on October 24-25, 1960, but was not released until 1964. This track is the one I studied with my student, and the version that we will use as a basic reference in comparing other recordings. 

The musicians are Coltrane, tenor saxophone; McCoy Tyner, piano; Steve Davis, bass; and Elvin Jones, drums. With the exception of Steve Davis, this is Coltrane's "classic quartet," with whom he recorded and performed for the next five years. McCoy had been a member of the group since May 1960; Elvin had joined the band just a month before the recording session, in September 1960.  

Coltrane had left Miles Davis' group in April 1960, and was just beginning to establish himself as a leader. His "Giant Steps" album, recorded in 1959, had already been released, in February 1960. The songs and arrangements on these two albums represented much of the repertoire for his new quartet. "Body and Soul" was one of several standard tunes that had been reharmonized with "Coltrane changes."

The arrangement on this album consists of:

• An 8-bar, double-time-feel vamp introduction on a concert Ebm chord (reminiscent of the intro in the 1938 Chu Berry version). Piano starts, drums join after 4 bars.
• Melody played by the saxophone, with some melodic alterations to fit the reharmonization, and fills
• Piano solo over one chorus of the form
• Return to the bridge and last A section of the melody by the sax, and 
• An arranged rubato ending, including a "chromatic third relation" chord sequence Db - A - F, and a gospel-like final cadence for the piano.

The form is AABA, same as the original tune. It is played with a "double-time feel," so the original 32-bar form feels like 64 bars. (In describing bar counts, I will assume a 64-bar format.)

The key is concert Db, as is standard in jazz renditions of “Body and Soul.” The A section is over an Ab pedal until the resolution to the tonic Db chord, with some whole tone scale suggestions set up by augmented chords over the pedal. 

The bridge goes up a half step to the key of D, as in the original song. Starting in bar 5 of the bridge, the arrangement uses a “Coltrane changes” sequence for 4 measures, with 2 beats per chord, beginning and ending on Dmaj7. The progression then goes to Dm7 in bar 9, as in the original. Bars 11-15 of the bridge are another “Coltrane changes” sequence, starting and ending on Cmaj7. The first 2 chords here, Cmaj7 and Eb7, are 1 measure each, the rest of the sequence 2 beats per chord. 

Here's a fairly serviceable chord chart.

Here's another (Coltrane changes are halfway down the page; click to enlarge). 

This original version from the "Coltrane's Sound" LP is a polished exposition of the arrangement. The mood is dignified, and respectful to the beauty of the tune and its jazz heritage. I’ve already mentioned that the intro may reference the Chu Berry recording; I hear echoes of Billie Holiday also.

Everything seems carefully planned. Judging by Coltrane’s later recordings of the tune, even some of the tenor fills were part of the arrangement. 

From Lewis Porter’s Coltrane biography:

His lovely ballad performances drew upon a repertory of unique ornamental features. Coltrane’s paraphrasing of a ballad melody did not vary much from one performance to another of the same piece, even in the specific locations and types of ornaments added…The paraphrase version became a distinct gestalt, ornaments and all.

Another quote from Porter:

Tom Dowd, Coltrane's recording engineer at Atlantic Records, remembers Coltrane's warmup routine: "John usually showed up about an hour before the session...he would stand in a corner, face the wall, play, stop, change reeds, and start again. After a while he would settle on the mouthpiece and reeds that felt most comfortable to him, and then he would start to work on the 'runs' that he wanted to use during the session. I would watch him play the same passage over and over again, changing his breathing, his fingering, and experimenting with the most minute changes in his phrasing."

The transcription of the album version in the Coltrane Omnibook is nicely done, though I do have some minor disagreements about rhythm here and there, and a couple of notes are shown in the wrong octave. The transcriber is not credited. Coltrane played the tune with a double-time feel, so each measure of the original tune shows as two measures in this transcription. The transcription seems to get the reharmonized chord changes pretty much right. The link above is to the Bb edition; concert key and Eb editions are also available.

Andrew White’s transcription of Coltrane’s solo (unavailable since Andrew passed away, as far as I know) is meticulous, as were all his transcriptions. The solo is notated in tenor key (concert Db, Eb for tenor sax). Andrew did not change the song’s original measures to fit a double-time feel, so his note values appear twice as fast (e.g., where the Coltrane Omnibook shows eighth notes, Andrew shows sixteenths). I like his rhythmic representations a little better than those in the Omnibook. 

The New Real Book Vol. 3 (Sher Music) has a lead sheet for the Coltrane arrangement, with a somewhat different take on how to represent the chords. Double-time feel is represented the same way as in the Omnibook. 

Alternate take

 

This alternate take, also from the 11/24/60 recording session, was released on a 1999 CD reissue of the album. It was recorded first, before the take that was selected for the original LP. The take originally chosen for release is more polished, and more carefully played. This alternate (first) take has a 16-bar vamp intro, where the second take tightens it to 8 bars. Coltrane's presentation of the head in the second take is somewhat pared down as well. Some of the sax fills and embellishments are nearly identical in the two takes. The rubato coda is exactly the same, including the piano's gospel-like final cadence.

Jazz Gallery 6/10/1960

This live recording is the earliest Coltrane version I've seen; it preceded the Atlantic recording session by four months. Personnel are Coltrane, tenor; McCoy Tyner, piano; Steve Davis, bass; Pete LaRoca, drums. In the Youtube track below, "Body and Soul" starts at 1:00:10.

 

McCoy Tyner had just joined the band, about two weeks earlier. Elvin Jones had not joined yet. The "Body and Soul" arrangement had already been in the band's book; according to Porter, McCoy's predecessor Steve Kuhn remembers playing it with the group.

Comparing this performance to the album version, we can hear that the arrangement had not quite jelled yet. There is no introduction, although McCoy plays a similar vamp figure for the A sections. Coltrane takes a solo chorus after playing the head. His playing is in general a lot busier, with more virtuosic display. Perhaps this was because of the energy that comes with a live club situation; perhaps it was because Coltrane was trying things out, exploring approaches to the tune.

Still, this was one of the mellower tunes played that night - compare this 7-minute “Body and Soul” to the 30-minute over-the-top version of “Liberia” (based on “A Night in Tunisia”) that is at the beginning of this recording. “Body and Soul” and "Every Time We Say Goodbye" were the ballads providing some variety in an otherwise up-tempo, high-energy set.

The coda as played here is pretty much the same as in the studio recordings. Even in this early version, it was already a composed, permanent feature of the arrangement.

Regarding McCoy's role in the band, here is a quote from an interview cited by Porter:

My playing, I believe, possessed also this metronomic rhythmic accuracy [McCoy is here comparing his playing to Monk's]...because I have a good strong left hand, John knew that he could count on this rhythmic foundation, on this carpet, and that even when he threw himself into his wildest improvisation, he would always have behind him, unshakeable, the regular tempo of his pianist.

Live at Birdland 6/2/62

The next recording we have is from two years after the studio recording - June 2, 1962. It was recorded from a radio program called "Live at Birdland." The full half-hour broadcast is here. (Note: This is not the Coltrane album called "Live at Birdland.")

The band is Coltrane’s classic quartet, with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones.

This version has the energy of a live club performance. The group follows the arrangement, but is freer with it. There is a 12-bar intro; the vamp is looser than in the previous recordings. Coltrane plays the head, including fills that are similar but not identical to the worked-out fills in the 1960 LP version, then takes an additional chorus. Tyner takes two choruses, and Coltrane plays the head from the bridge. 

In this sax solo, I hear Coltrane displaying virtuosity in the service of conveying emotion. He's mostly inside the harmony, with what I'd call some outside overlays. In a couple of spots he splits overtones to produce a chord, a technique not heard on the earlier versions. McCoy, as usual, lays down a solid rhythmic foundation. Elvin and McCoy constantly anticipate each other's rhythmic kicks. There is a terrific band rapport.

Live in Seattle 9/30/65

The last recording that we have of “Body and Soul” is from September 30, 1965. It was released on the 1994 CD reissue of the album "Live in Seattle" (the LP was originally released in 1971, four years after Coltrane's passing). It is the longest version we have, at 21:25 minutes. The personnel is the quartet (Pharoah Sanders and Donald Garrett also participated in this gig, but do not appear on this track).

This is a much more radical, abstract version. We can hear a conflict between structure and freedom. Coltrane is testing the traditional boundaries of music: rhythm, harmony, melody, arranged structure. He is asking a lot out of the band, himself, and the audience.

Compared to the 1960 studio version, here are some differences and similarities:

The piece is still in Db; the eighth-note pulse is still swing.

The introductory vamp no longer uses the arranged rhythm and voicing.

The chords in the A section are "understood" - alluded to by both Coltrane and Tyner, but not necessarily stated explicitly. The "Coltrane changes" are still present in the bridge.

Solos are much longer. They are about exploration. 

The underlying beat is "understood," and downbeats are not always stated explicitly. However, there is still an implicit feeling of 8-bar units.

The AABA structure of the arrangement is mostly followed, though not always marked off as clearly as in the previous recordings. At about 14:57, in the second A of the seventh chorus, the pedal note changes from Ab to F for 8 bars. In the eighth chorus, starting at about 16:42, the bridge is eliminated (unless it's stated too abstractly for my ears). At 18:55 we hear Coltrane cue the bridge, beginning the out-head BA.

The arranged coda is almost exactly as performed in the 1960 Atlantic version. That may be the most conventional, straight-ahead moment on the album. Coltrane plays some nice split-overtone "chords" near the end.

McCoy Tyner seems to be trying to do his job of providing a chordal mooring for Coltrane.

Coltrane avoids jazz clichés like II V patterns or blues licks. For most iterations of the bridge, he plays melodically over the "Coltrane changes." McCoy's solo is much more "inside” than Coltrane’s.

Coltrane is exploring extended techniques on the saxophone - overtones, multiphonics, textures - that don’t have much to do with outlining chords. 

This period of Coltrane's music is sometimes described as "transcendent." This "Body and Soul" track, though it is much more "out" as compared to the earlier versions, is actually one of his more traditional recorded performances from this period. For example, in Cosmos, at the beginning of the Seattle album, even the concept of "beat" is challenged. 

It would seem that even in late 1965, "Body and Soul" was still being placed in the set as the ballad that provides a texture that is relatively comfortable (if that's the right word) to the audience. 

Following the Seattle gig, the group changed dramatically. In November 1965, Coltrane hired Rashied Ali as a second drummer. Presumably he was looking for a more multidimensional rhythmic tapestry. Pharoah Sanders and Donald Garrett also became regular members.

McCoy Tyner left the band at the end of 1965. Here’s a quote cited by Porter: 

What John is doing now is constructive for him, but not as compatible to me as before…I didn’t see myself making any kind of contribution to that music.

Another McCoy quote:

I felt if I was going to go any further musically, I would have to leave the group, and when John hired a second drummer, it became a physical necessity. I couldn’t hear myself. John was understanding.

Elvin Jones left the band in January, 1966. Here is a quote from a "Downbeat" magazine article:

At times I couldn't hear what I was doing - Matter of fact, I couldn't hear what anybody was doing. All I could hear was a lot of noise.

Another Elvin quote, from a radio interview, regarding Coltrane's late music:

Well, of course it's far out, because this is a tremendous mind that's involved, you know. You wouldn't expect Einstein to be playing jacks, you know?

Further reading

Here’s a great writeup about Coltrane and his music in late 1965 by Keith Raether, with reminiscences from the engineer who recorded the “Live in Seattle” album (the article is reprinted on Steve Griggs'  website, Joe Brazil Project).

Here's my account of the only time I saw John Coltrane live, in January 1966, after McCoy Tyner had left, but while there were two drummers, Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali (actually three, counting percussionist Juno Lewis).

This post draws a fair amount of material from the biography John Coltrane: His Life and Music by Lewis Porter, and from The John Coltrane Reference by Chris DeVito, Yasuhiro Fujioka, Wolf Schmaler, and David Wild, ed. Lewis Porter. Both are excellent works of jazz scholarship. Click for the Amazon links:

    

"Body and Soul" - What was the original key?

Recently I spent several lessons with a student analyzing transcriptions of John Coltrane's version of "Body and Soul," as played on the "Coltrane's Sound" album.

As often happens, that effort brought up some questions. One was, why do we play it in Db? Was that really the original key? 

One of my college teachers, Eddy Flenner, who had been an arranger in the 1930s, told me that the tune was originally written in the key of C, but was often taken up a half step “to brighten it up.” This idea seemed questionable to me, as it would assume that most listeners can somehow perceive the difference in keys. I don't think that people generally have perfect pitch, even subliminally.

It turns out that the 1930 sheet music was indeed in the key of C (click to enlarge):

"Body and Soul" was originally written for the British singer Gertrude Lawrence, but she apparently never recorded it.

The website jazzhistoryonline.com lists 17 early versions of “Body and Soul,” all from the year 1930, with sound files of each recording. Five are in Db, 3 in C, 3 in Bb, 2 in Eb, 2 in F, and one each in G and Ab (I'm leaving out some modulations within the arrangement). 

True, different keys would have often been chosen to fit a vocalist’s range, or could be the result of inaccurate recording speed or playback speed. But with the sheet music in C, and with so many early recordings in Db, I have to consider that perhaps Eddy was right after all.

In one of these 1930 versions, Louis Armstrong begins in Eb with trumpet, modulates to C for his vocal, and finishes in F#. Louis uses a different set of lyrics, as explained in the article:

Some other early jazz versions:

Red Allen	1934	solo in C, modulates to Ab
Benny Goodman	1935	Db
Django Reinhardt	1937	Eb
Chu Berry and Roy Eldridge	1938	C (Chu), to Db (Roy), back to C
Coleman Hawkins	1939	Db
Art Tatum	1938, 1940, 1941	B
Art Tatum	1937, 1943	Db
Art Tatum	1953	C
Billie Holiday	1940	Ab
Charlie Parker	1942	Db
Charlie Parker	1943	Db

On the Chu Berry/Roy Eldridge recording, guitarist Danny Barker plays an intro that strongly resembles the piano vamp intro in the Coltrane’s Sound recording. I could believe that Coltrane’s intro referenced Chu Berry's. I should also mention that the modulation up a half step for Roy's trumpet solo (from C to Db) would definitely have a "brighten it up" effect within the arrangement:

Tatum’s key of B may seem to have been a glitch in recording speed or playback speed, but that's how it sounds on three different recordings. Tatum would have had no problem with that key, or any other. In 1937 he recorded it in Db, in 1953 he recorded it in C.

The key of Db for jazz versions was set in stone with Coleman Hawkins’ definitive 1939 recording, a jazz version that was also a best-seller:

In Lewis Porter’s John Coltrane: His Life and Music, there is an interesting quote from Jimmy Heath:

We were talking about the fact that the older tenor players like Hawkins and Webster played in the key of D-flat because it was the heaviest key for tenor - gets the best sound. “Body and Soul,” all those tunes were in D-flat…Trane said, “I’m going to practice in D-flat.” Being who he was, he would zoom in and practice in D-flat for the next six months.

It’s true that concert Db is a fat-sounding key on tenor, especially on the lower notes. However, though Hawkins played the head to “Body and Soul” in the lower register; Coltrane favored the higher register of the tenor, and played the head an octave higher than Hawkins did.

In the next post, I'll discuss John Coltrane's recordings of "Body and Soul" from 1960, 1962, and 1965.

To close, here's Billie Holiday in 1940. I'm including this just because it's so nice.

Lewis Porter's Deep Dive into "A Love Supreme"

Here's a terrific article: A Deep Dive Into John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" by His Biographer, Lewis Porter (Pt. 1), on the WBGO website. Porter gives some historical background to the recording, describing Coltrane's desire to record a full-album work, a "spiritual manifesto, his most personal statement," and how it was initially almost rejected by his record company, Impulse!, as not commercial enough.

Using Coltrane's written notes (his score is reproduced in the article) and considering outtakes from the recording sessions, Porter describes the planned structure and development of Coltrane's four-movement suite.

Porter covers more interesting musical details than I could summarize here, but one thing I'll note is the original intended instrumentation: tenor saxophone, "one other horn," piano, drum set, 2 basses, 2 congas, and "timbali" (Coltrane may have meant "timpani" - which Elvin Jones does play at one point in the recording). For the "other horn," Coltrane brought in Archie Shepp, but the part Archie recorded was ultimately not used. Likewise, Art Davis participated as a second bassist, but according to Wikipedia, his part was also not used in the final production.

The only time I ever heard Coltrane play live was 1966, about two years after "A Love Supreme" was recorded. It was a life-changing experience; here's a post with my recollections. The instrumentation that night was expanded, in a way similar to Coltrane's original "A Love Supreme" concept: Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali, drums; Juno Lewis, percussion; Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, tenors; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; and Donald Garrett, bass and bass clarinet.

Here's a quote from Coltrane's score, that describes the way he intended to end the album: 

"To Ending - Make ending - Attempt to reach transcendent level with orchestra - rising harmonies to a level of blissful stability at end."

I'm looking forward to Part 2 of Porter's Deep Dive.

Coltrane, Morton Gould, Francis Poulenc, and Harold Shapero

A friend (thanks, Carlos) just pointed me at a great "Deep Dive With Lewis Porter" article on the inspirations behind John Coltrane's composition "Impressions." Briefly put, Porter demonstrates that the melody of "Impressions" is a paraphrase of a section of Morton Gould's "Pavanne" (1938). The chord structure, of course, is borrowed from Miles Davis' "So What." For more detail on this, check out the Porter article. It's a great read, with plenty of sound clips. I'd heard about Coltrane's use of "Pavanne" before, but the following was news to me:

In a follow-up article, Porter cites the source of the melody to Coltrane's "Big Nick": Francis Poulenc's "Impromptu #3." See Porter's article for recorded examples.

In a comment below the second article, a reader points out that the source of the melody to the first half of "Giant Steps" was pretty definitely Harold Shapero's String Quartet (1941). Check the recording below! Shapero moves his theme through quite a few transpositions, including some chromatic third relations, though he doesn't follow "Coltrane changes."


 

The second half of "Giant Steps,” both chords and melody, is definitely borrowed from Nicholas Slonimsky. This is widely known (see this previous post for an image).  It was a monumental achievement for Coltrane to combine the Shapero melody, Coltrane changes, and the Slonimsky example into a cohesive whole, not to mention working up the technique and applying the improvisational creativity necessary to perform it.

While checking other sources for this post, I ran across an assertion that the intro to "So What," written by Gil Evans, is borrowed from Debussy's "Voiles." I hear Debussy, but I don't particularly hear that piece in the "So What" intro. I also read in several places that "So What" derives in some way from Ahmad Jamal's recording of Gould's "Pavanne" - I'd have to be convinced. However, it's a fact that the horn riff in James Brown's "Cold Sweat" was derived from "So What" - as stated by Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis, who wrote the horn parts.

Update 3/28/21 - Regarding "So What," see the comments below. It seems pretty clear that Miles used the template of Ahmad Jamal's "New Rhumba" (not the Jamal "Pavanne" recording cited in Wikipedia), distilling it into the modal, ultra-cool piece that had so much to do with setting the mood of Miles' "Kind of Blue" album. 

"La Fiesta," "Someday My Prince Will Come," and "Olé"

A couple of days ago I was driving home from teaching, and turned on KCSM, our Bay Area jazz station. Miles' recording of "Someday My Prince Will Come" was playing, and I tuned in just in time for John Coltrane's solo. The first notes in the solo are pretty much exactly the beginning of the second theme in Chick Corea's "La Fiesta." I had never noticed that before.

Here's the Miles recording on Youtube. Coltrane's solo starts at about 5:50.

Here's a transcription of the solo, scrolling while the music plays. (Sorry I can't just post these videos here - apparently Sony has blocked any access except viewing them directly on Youtube.)

Here's Chick Corea's tune. The second theme (the part in question) starts at 1:45:

Both tunes are in 3/4 time, and the chord progressions are the same for four measures. The Miles recording was done in 1961; "La Fiesta" was recorded in 1972. It seems pretty clear that Corea got some initial inspiration from the Miles/Coltrane recording. 

As you might expect, I was not the first person to notice this. Here's a discussion from 2003; check out the first comment from Mike Fitzgerald (fourth comment from the top), with some very good information on this question. The comments also point out the similarity of the first theme of La Fiesta to the Coltrane tune "Olé" (recorded in 1961 also). Coltrane's "Olé" definitely uses the same chord progression as the first theme in "La Fiesta," but as Fitzgerald points out (quoting Lewis Porter's Coltrane bio), the progression was not original with Coltrane. 

The song "El Vito" is a likely source, both for "Olé" and for the first theme of "La Fiesta":

An Incredible Jazz Concert, 50 Years Later

One of my formative early musical experiences was a concert I attended in 1966, my last year of high school. I was a dedicated jazz fan, and a fairly decent high school musician. I played tenor in the school jazz band, but my musical education was more on classical clarinet at that point.

In the 1965-66 academic year, Stanford University (a few miles from my house) booked a series of "Jazz Year" concerts - an amazing lineup that included Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and other major jazz figures. I persuaded my parents to buy us tickets to two of the concerts. The first one, on January 23, 1966, was a double bill with Thelonious Monk's quartet and John Coltrane's ensemble.

Here is how I remember it, almost exactly 50 years later:

The concert was in Stanford's Memorial Auditorium. MemAud seated about 1600, and was sold out. Monk came on stage 30 minutes late with his quartet (Charlie Rouse, tenor; Ben Riley, drums; Larry Gales, bass). The band sounded great, and it was a thrill to hear all the tunes played live that I had only heard on record. At one point during an extended Charlie Rouse solo, Monk got up from the piano bench to "stroll," i.e. walk around a bit and stretch his legs, while Rouse's solo continued with just bass and drums accompanying. Monk seemed to be having some trouble walking straight. It actually looked to me as though the stage was slanted, sloping down toward the audience. After doing a little recent internet research, I think that this may very well have been the case - Memorial Auditorium has a "proscenium stage," which could have included a "raked stage" feature. Monk played a set and two encores.

After an intermission, John Coltrane took the stage with his group: Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali, drums; Juno Lewis, percussion; Pharoah Sanders, tenor; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; and Donald Garrett, bass and bass clarinet.

This was early 1966, after "A Love Supreme" had been released (I'd worn out the grooves playing that record), but before the release of "Ascension" or "Meditations." I was unprepared for what was coming.

Coltrane's group played an incredibly intense set, lasting an hour and 20 minutes. There was just one pause in the music; I guess that means there were two songs, maybe. It wasn't clear what the tunes were; there was no announcement, and I heard just a few recognizable pieces of melody. I could say that much of it was in triple meter, but with those three drummers, there were often different meters going simultaneously. Lewis Porter's The John Coltrane Reference quotes Phil Elwood's review in the San Francisco Examiner, listing the pieces as "Peace on Earth" and "Afro Blue." Ralph Gleason, in his San Francisco Chronicle review, listed "My Favorite Things" and "Crescent." For what it's worth, I remember hearing a fragment of "Afro Blue."

It was music at a high spiritual level and a high energy level, transcendent like "A Love Supreme," but perhaps more spontaneously organized. It was not as chaotic as the "Ascension" recording that was released shortly afterward. I recall extended solos from Alice Coltrane, Juno Lewis, and Jimmy Garrison. Coltrane gave his players more solo space than he took himself.

I had no idea that music could be this powerful. Gleason's review described "ensemble climaxes of stupendous intensity." Gleason called the concert "one of the most intense and exhilarating musical experiences I have ever had." It hit me the same way. I walked out of there a changed person. My parents were at the concert with me; I can only imagine what their reaction might have been. I don't think we discussed it.

This was one of the last times that Elvin Jones performed with the group. Some more details on this concert, and Coltrane's gigs immediately after, can be found in these pages of Porter's book.

While doing some internet searching for this post, I ran across this article in the Stanford Alumni Magazine by one of the organizers of the "Jazz Year." The author describes the audience as "underwhelmed" and "tepid." I don't recall, I was too blown away to notice. There was no encore; no encore was necessary.

I wonder if somewhere there is a recording of that concert.

The "Jazz Year" series also included concerts by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington with Ella Fitzgerald, the MJQ, Dizzy, Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, and Miles Davis. The Miles event (with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter) was the only other one I made it to. It was a privilege to have been at that event too, but Miles was pretty subdued and straight-ahead, in comparison.

Coltrane and the "Delta" Symbol for Major Seven Chords, part 2

Just to not leave the job unfinished, I've looked at the rest of the thumbnails of John Coltrane manuscripts from the jazz auction catalog, mentioned in my last post, to see if there was a clue as to when Coltrane might have started using the "△" symbol to indicate major 7 chords (Yusef Lateef asserted that Coltrane introduced this usage to jazz). The evidence is inconclusive.

(Click here for Part 1)

The manuscript name and the symbol used for "major seven" chords are shown below. While I was at it, I checked for "minor seven" chord symbols also:

A Love Supreme:   △
Saida's Song Flute:  △, mi, mi7
Like Sonny:  maj, maj7 (recorded 1960)
Naima:  △
I'm a Dreamer:  maj, maj7, -7 (This is the chart with chords in concert, melody transposed for Bb. Recorded 1958.)
Unidentified (chart for King Kolax):  maj7, mi7
Swinging Seventh:  m, m7, -
Handwritten Chord Progressions:  maj7
From Diz to Tadd:  maj7, -7
Moody Speaks:  ma7, mi7
Apollo:  Eb (letter only), maj7, -7

The catalog also showed thumbnails of several Tadd Dameron charts, presumably written out by Dameron, but including a "Lady Bird" chart that I had thought might have been in Coltrane's hand:

Tadd's Delight:  maj7
Choose Now:  maj7
Milt's Delight:  ma.7
Smooth as the Wind: maj7
Lady Bird:  △ (Byline "signature" similar to Tadd's other charts, but treble clef in a different style; this is the only chart in the Dameron group using the "△" symbol.)

The catalog also showed one lead sheet written by Wayne Shorter:

Africaine (Wayne Shorter):  △7, -7 

So, the charts using the "△" symbol were:

A Love Supreme (recorded 1964)
Saida's Song Flute (recorded 1959, released on the "Giant Steps" record with the misspelling "Syeeda's")
Naima (1959, on the "Giant Steps" record)
Lady Bird (chart perhaps written out by Coltrane; if by Dameron, it would be the only use of the "△" symbol in the catalog's Dameron group of charts; date impossible to know)
Africaine (chart by Shorter; this tune was recorded in 1959 with Art Blakey)

I'm not sure we can draw any conclusions here, but FWIW, it looks as though both Coltrane and Shorter were using the symbol by 1959. In Coltrane's case, perhaps not earlier. Wayne used a "△7", Coltrane just a  "△". Coltrane was inconsistent in using "mi7" or "-7" symbols.

If any readers know of any use of the "△" symbol for major 7 chords pre-1959, please leave a comment. Trivia? Maybe, but it's interesting.

Coltrane and the "Delta" Symbol for Major Seven Chords, part 1

A friend sent me a copy of Yusef Lateef's Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns a few months ago (thanks, Bill!). I've been having some fun with it, playing through some cool patterns, just splashing around on the surface of this obviously very deep book. I'll get around to reviewing it at some point (it's been around since 1981, but it's new to me). But this post takes off from just one brief sentence in the book:

"DELTA (△) SYMBOL. Introduced into music notation to symbolize a major seventh chord by the late John Coltrane."

Really? John Coltrane invented the delta symbol for major seven chords? Well, Yusef was as fallible as any of us, but then again, he was a friend of Coltrane's. Yusef was one of the greats, and had been around jazz for a long time (b. 1920), so maybe he knew what he was talking about.

Then I remembered that I had a copy of the catalog for the 2005 Guernsey's Jazz Auction, with thumbnails of a number of Coltrane manuscripts that were up for bidding. Below is a chart for "Lady Bird," possibly in Coltrane's hand, showing the delta symbol (I commented on this chart in a previous post, in connection with the turnaround). This chart was not advertised as being in Coltrane's hand, and was grouped in the catalog with some Tadd Dameron charts that had been owned by Coltrane. However, the manuscript style looks similar to other charts that are definitely in Coltrane's hand (see below), and looks not at all like the other Dameron charts. Click to enlarge.

This chart for "Naima," also from the auction catalog, is definitely Coltrane's. The catalog leads us to believe it is in his hand, and it came to the auction from the family of Juanita Coltrane (John's first wife; Naima was her middle name). Coltrane recorded "Naima" in May 1959. If you have ever wondered about the correct changes to this song, this chart should help.

But then, this chart for "I'm a Dreamer! Aren't We All?" uses "maj 7" rather than the delta symbol. Coltrane recorded "I'm a Dreamer" in 1958. The coda to "Dreamer" seems to be an arranged addition, and matches the end of Coltrane's 1958 recording. (Interestingly, the melody in the "Dreamer" chart is transposed to tenor key, while the changes appear in concert pitch. Why?)

Some observations about these charts:

1) The treble clefs in "Naima" and "Dreamer" are the same. "Lady Bird" clefs are a little different. See my "Lady Bird" post.
2) In "Naima" and "Dreamer," Coltrane mostly doesn't bother with bar lines at the left- and right-hand sides of the page. In "Lady Bird," bar lines appear at the beginning and end of each line.
3) Coltrane recorded "Half Nelson" (changes based on "Lady Bird") in 1956, "Dreamer" in 1958, "Naima" in 1959.

I thought for a moment that the chronology of the charts might help us figure out when Coltrane started using the delta symbol (1959?), but it's not that easy.

1) The "Dreamer" chart seems to be from around 1958, judging from the coda "arrangement" and the date of the recording, but might be earlier.
2) The "Naima" chart might date from 1959, the date of the recording, but could be earlier. Coltrane and Juanita were married in 1955.
3) The "Lady Bird" chart could be from any time at all. I'd assume that Coltrane knew the tune well enough to not need a chart. "Lady Bird" goes back to at least 1947.

The discrepancies in the treble clefs, bar lines, and in "△" vs. "maj7" can be explained by plain old personal inconsistency. Speaking for myself, I'm sometimes inconsistent when handwriting chord symbols - for example, m7 vs.  -7, m7b5 vs. ø, and △ or △7 vs. maj7.

So while it's an interesting exercise to try to figure out when Coltrane started using the "delta" symbol, I don't think these charts really give us an answer, except to say that he was using it in 1959 for sure, and maybe earlier.

If any readers know of any pre-1958 examples of the use of the delta symbol, by Coltrane or anyone else, please send in a comment!

For your listening pleasure, here is the Coltrane recording of "I'm a Dreamer! Aren't We All?" using the ending from the chart above. Coltrane just burns.

And here's "I'm a Dreamer" in its original setting:

Update 10/8/15 - I looked at some more charts in the auction catalog - Click here for Part 2 of this post.

Lewis Porter Articles

On Do the Math, Ethen Iverson's very cool blog, I ran across a link to a group of articles by jazz scholar Lewis Porter. Did you ever wonder what the original bridge to "Impressions" actually is? Did you know the source for the melody to "Big Nick"? Read the most recent article.

They are all interesting: a 1906 recording of flute music from the Congo that really does sound like American blues licks, a survey of slap-tonguing, origins of the word "jazz," and more. Check them out!

Mike Morris' Coltrane Story

Here's a story from my friend Mike Morris. Mike is a terrific tenor player, whose playing career has included work with Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Blue Mitchell, Isaac Hayes, Tom Harrell, Manhattan Transfer,  and many more. This story is from around 1962, when Mike was a high school kid.

John Coltrane was appearing at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, and Mike went to hear him. (Note: I remember that club, on Broadway in SF. I used to stand outside on the sidewalk to listen, as a high school kid.)

Mike said that Coltrane practiced all through every break - he was playing continuously for 4 hours. After the show was over, Mike walked up to Coltrane.

Mike: "Mr. Coltrane, that was great. You play so many great ideas. But can I ask you a question?"

Coltrane: "Sure."

Mike: "Do you really know everything that you're doing?"

Coltrane (in a friendly manner): "Yes, I do."

Mike: "I play the alto."

Coltrane: "I used to play the alto, but I gave it up. Charlie Parker already did everything there was to do on the alto. Nobody has figured out a way to play the alto that's any better. But the tenor is wide open. There's so much you can do on the tenor."

Mike: "Then I guess everyone else is going to have to play baritone!"

Coltrane: (laughs)