RARE COLTRANE VIDEOS

With Miles in 1959 and his own Group at Newport, 1966

How many times have I watched this video, where Miles and Trane play So What? It never gets old. How could it.

I first encountered this clip during a jazz film program curated by the late David Chertok at the long departed New York Jazz Museum, housed in a two-story building at 236 West 54th Street in 1976.

I was captivated by Miles and his music and when I moved to Manhattan in 1968, I met him once, at Sunnyside Gardens in Queens. We were both there for a boxing match. He was soft spoken but friendly. I heard four of his groups live after the groundbreaking releases, In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. What a great time to be in New York. I saw Miles twice at the Fillmore East, but recorded and released, once at the Cafe Au Go Go, when Richard Pryor opened for him, and once at Harvard Stadium.

I became aware of Coltrane's music in the early 60s, but it was too advanced for my understanding. My true appreciation of Trane's work began in 1969, following an experience with mushrooms, during which I listened to "A Love Supreme." Unfortunately, I never had the chance to see him perform live, as he passed away in 1967, prior to my arrival in New York the next year.

So I was really excited about seeing this video at David Chertok’s Jazz Museum program.

Back in those days, well before the era of YouTube, accessing classic jazz videos wasn't as straightforward as it is today. The late David Chertok was a central figure in this regard; he owned an extensive collection and his passion for jazz drove him to organize screenings of jazz films at various locations worldwide.

Seeing Trane actually play totally blew my mind. I just couldn’t believe it. How did he do it? Well he practiced, all the time, for starters.

I know two other musicians like that. Sonny Rollins and Michael Brecker.

Sonny practiced many hours every day, starting when he was twelve years old in his mother’s bedroom. I was backstage before a gig he played at an Arts Center in Cerritos, CA in 2005. He started practicing when we got there at 3pm, five hours before the concert was scheduled to begin. He stopped for a few minutes during the sound check, and then continued until ten minutes before show time. Sonny told me music was his meditation.

Dave Liebman said the only time Michael Brecker stopped practicing is when he had to go to a gig.

Archie Sheep said that Trane would practice himself to sleep. And the first thing he did when he woke up was put the horn in his mouth.

This video performance of So What is from a 1959 CBS-TV special The Sound of Miles Davis, featuring the Kind of Blue band: Miles, Trane, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Cannonball didn’t make the gig.

Trane was noted for his long solos. Miles once asked him why he was doing that and Trane replied that he couldn’t figure out where to end it. Miles told him, “take the horn out your mouth.”

His solo on So What demonstrates that Trane was equally adept at delivering shorter, impactful solos.

The next year, Trane decided to form his own group, and he played one last European tour with Miles. That music is also nothing short of astounding. I highly recommend the Stockholm concert, and the concert at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, both in 1960, from their last tour together. Here are both performances, in their entirety.

There are only a handful of audio interviews with Coltrane available. This collection features snippets from interviews conducted in Japan and Sweden, as well as Frank Kofsky's interview with Coltrane, which took place in Coltrane's car near Dix Hills, Long Island, in 1966.

Here’s footage from an 8mm home video of Trane at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival paired with audio from the actual performance. It’s out of sync but gives us some idea of how Coltrane and his group looked while they were performing at this time. The band included Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums. We hear Pharoah Sanders on the audio, but he is not seen in this video.