Coltrane Half Note

John Coltrane's "Live At The Half Note" on the Laserlight label is an excellent look at what is arguably jazz's greatest quartet - the "Classic Quartet" of Trane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones - in an intimate club setting. It is during performances like these, where Coltrane had the ability to stretch out and play at length, improvising and creating on the spur of the moment, that he further developed his signature, searching style.

John Coltrane - One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note (1965) {2CD Set Impulse!–Verve 0602498621431 rel 2005}
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© 1965, 2005 Impulse! / Verve | 0602498621431
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

What we said: Try to imagine an over-the-air commercial radio station broadcasting a Cecil Taylor concert. You can’t? Neither can I. But that sort of thing used to happen. Here’s proof: two sets by John Coltrane’s classic quartet at New York’s Half Note, broadcast live on WABC-FM in March and May of 1965. The two-CD set captures Coltrane’s music on the cusp of major change, just weeks before embarking on the last phase of his career–during which he expunged from his music every last speck of convention. Pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones would soon depart, to be replaced by Alice Coltrane, Rashied Ali and a cast of thousands. This album documents the classic quartet near the end of its incredible run.

Elvin Jones Jazz Machine - The Truth: Heard Live At The Blue Note (2004) {Half Note rec 1999}
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© 1999, 2004 Half Note Records
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Drums

This 1999 live set features the great drummer Elvin Jones leading an all-star group. The repertoire, comprised of three jazz standards (including John Coltrane's lesser-known "Wise One"), three originals and an adaptation of a folk song, generally featuring one or two soloists on each cut. The straight-ahead and basic "E.J.'s Blues" has spots for trumpeter Darren Barrett (who sounds a bit like Freddie Hubbard) and Jones, while "Straight No Chaser" puts the spotlight on trombonist Robin Eubanks (in a J.J. Johnson mood), pianist Carlos McKinney and the drummer.

Drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts leads his quintet plus guest altoist Kenny Garrett through extended versions of four of his originals (all of which he had recorded previously in the studio) plus Bjork's "107 Steps." While "107 Steps" and "JC Is the Man" (which is more Thelonious Monk than John Coltrane) are fine, it is not until Garrett makes his first appearance on "Mr. JJ" (which is more Coltrane than J.J. Johnson) that this set really explodes. Garrett's passion inspires Watts during their midsong duet and adds a great deal of energy during the three songs on which he appears, completely stealing the show.

McCoy Tyner - Solo, Live From San Francisco (2009) {Half Note HN4541}
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© 2009 McCoy Tyner Music / Half Note Records | HN4541
Jazz / Post Bop / Solo Piano

McCoy Tyner has rarely been reliant on others, although his legendary co-dependency with John Coltrane yielded obvious spectacular and unforgettable results. The great pianist has been very favorably heard in a variety of settings, but it's been quite some time since he's released a solo album – the Blue Note label releases Reevaluations from 1988, Soliloquy done in 1991, or the 1991 Who's Who in Jazz set Live in Warsaw were all quite memorable. From the SF Jazz Festival's Spring Series in May of 2007, Tyner tackles the solo spotlight once again, as his talent rises, soars, and takes off while the program continues for some 50 minutes.

Elvin Jones Jazz Machine - The Truth. Heard Live At The Blue Note (2004) {Half Note}
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© 2004 Half Note Records | 4519
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop

This live date, recorded at the Blue Note in 1999 in commemoration of Elvin Jones's 72nd birthday, was one of the drummer's last recorded performances before his death in 2004. Jones's Jazz Machine turns in an exciting program of nervy hard bop, with nods to both the mainstream and the avant garde. The band, comprised of Michael Brecker and Antoine Roney on saxophones, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Darren Barrett on trumpet, Carlos McKinney on piano, and Gene Perla on bass, displays an impressive sense of group interplay, while not skimping on brio in the solos.

With every recording Omar Sosa releases, his horizons continue to broaden within the context of world ethnic fusion, but with Across the Divide, he's bettered himself yet again. This collection of jazz-influenced, Latin-tinged music crosses the disparate genres of country folk and tribal sounds, recognizing the migration of the banjo from Africa to the Eastern seaboard of America, and percussion from the griot village to the rural Mid-Atlantic. In collaboration with vocalist and story teller Tim Eriksen, Sosa merges rhythm and ancestry via inspiration from Langston Hughes, John Coltrane, King Sunny Ade, Pete Seger, and contemporary bluesman Otis Taylor as popular reference points.