John Coltrane – Live At The Half Note: One Down, One Up (200g 2LP)

The First Authorized Release of this landmark 1965 session! Classic Records 200 Gram Quiex SV-P Super Vinyl Profile Audiophile Pressing!

Coltrane and his legendary band – McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums – regularly played at downtown New York’s Half Note in the mid 1960s. The group used the club’s flexible set times to accommodate Coltrane’s musical suites and far-reaching improvisations. As Half Note founder Mike Canterino said, “I just wanted the music and to let the guys go ahead and do what they want to do.”

The importance of these influential performances has grown throughout the years as musicians – especially saxophone players – passed around bootleg and lo-fi copies taken from the 1965 radio broadcast. It was a time when Coltrane was pushing his musical boundaries, and one can hear the evolution of his style on these recordings. As his son Ravi Coltrane says, “You can hear everything that came before and begin to hear where the music was going.”

The music captured on Live At The Half Note features the songs “One Down, One Up” (perhaps the highlight of the collection), “Afro Blue,” “Song of Praise,” and “My Favorite Things.” The unparalleled performances showcase a band filled with fiery passion and a master at the crossroads of his musical path.

These live recordings capture the classic John Coltrane Quartet at full strength in what would prove to be its last year of existence. The 1965 Half Note recordings, taken from late-night radio broadcasts and until now available only as inferior-quality bootlegs, have long had legendary status among aficionados – especially the extended performance of “One Down, One Up”, regarded by many as one of Coltrane’s greatest recorded improvisations. Newly transferred from Coltrane’s personal master tapes, these remarkable performances can at last be heard with the fidelity they deserve.