Blue World
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| Studio album by John Coltrane | ||||
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| Label (s) | Impulses! Records | |||
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8th |
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37 minutes |
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Blue World is a jazz album by John Coltrane that was recorded on June 24, 1964 in the studio of Rudy Van Gelder in Englewood Cliffs , New Jersey . Coltrane played with his regular quartet variants of previously recorded titles from his band repertoire, which the Canadian filmmaker Gilles Groulx used for the soundtrack of his first feature film Le chat dans le sac . After the tapes from the 2018 studio session were rediscovered, Impulse released! Records initially on August 16, 2019 the title track of the album as a single or video clip ; The recordings were released by Impulse as a single CD or LP! Records on September 27, 2019.
background
The Blue World album features recordings by the classic John Coltrane Quartet , with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. The recordings were made a few weeks after the quartet had recorded two more tracks for the Impulse! Album Crescent , as a soundtrack to a Canadian art film. Since the date was not noted in the minutes of the meeting, this music was “a blind spot” for Coltrane experts, archivists and music historians, according to music critic Nate Chinen.
Coltrane's music was featured in the film Le chat dans le sac (Eng. The cat in the pocket ) - "a cool stylized, politically charged documentary" by Gilles Groulx (1931–1994), which is considered to be a landmark of French-Canadian film. Barbara Ulrich , who played the role of Barbara in the film, recalled the connection with Coltrane: “Jazz was sacred to Gilles and he had every Coltrane album that was ever released. Coltrane was an absolute master for him. "
Through a mutual acquaintance, Groulx was friends with Jimmy Garrison, which was likely the access he needed to get close to Coltrane. At the time, Groulx was working for the state-sponsored National Film Board , honing his documentary filmmaking skills . He was also under the spell of the French Nouvelle Vague - especially the work of Jean-Luc Godard , whose visually cool, direct-cut arrangements and Verité dialogues have a clear influence on Le chat dans le sac . Nate Chinen points out that there were precedents for modern jazz scores in francophone films at the time, particularly Miles Davis ' famous Ascenseur pour l'échafaud for Louis Male's Elevator to the Scaffold (1959) and Thelonious Monk's somewhat lesser-known work for Roger Vadim's Dangerous Liaisons (published as Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 ). When Groulx reached out to Coltrane with a list of possible pieces and themes, he certainly had that ideal in mind somewhere, Chinen said.
Groulx's film also deals directly with the issue of the disenfranchisement of the Francophone population of Québec and shows a parallel to the anti-colonial movements of the time. In the film, the protagonist Claude advocates radical politics that Groulx portrays positively. Gilles Groulx had prepared a list of the music he wanted for his film and gave it to Coltrane. This said:
- “Okay, I can - I can't, it's not mine. OK, I understand, I know what you want. "
Then Coltrane's band began to jam and they recorded material for the film project over several hours. Finally, Rudy Van Gelder handed the recordings over to Gilles Groulx. In fact, around ten minutes of the material was then used in the film, and none of the pieces appeared on the regular Coltrane albums of the time. Upon completion of the film, the tapes ended up in the archives of the National Film Board of Canada ; It wasn't until the beginning of 2018 that they got impulses! Records to release it 55 years after it was recorded.
Excursus: Le chat dans le sac and its soundtrack
The first feature-length film by Canadian filmmaker Gilles Groulx consisted of a series of non-professional, improvised dialogues and scenes that were intended to underline the spontaneity and authenticity of the production. At the festival des films canadiens the film received the grand prix in 1964.
Eric Fillon wrote of Coltrane's use of music in the film: “In his use of jazz, Chat dans le sac rubs against the various issues related to the exchange between sound and image. The development of the latter is not without problems. Regardless of whether music is used for its aesthetic qualities, its dramatic functions or the associations it enables, it struggles between the need to be heard and the obligation to disappear behind the image. "
But "the jazz adventure of the film Chat dans le sac " differs significantly from the two previous film scores by Miles Davis (for Louis Malle 1959) and Charles Mingus (for Shadows by John Cassavetes , 1959), according to Eric Fillon. The film's music was the result of an original recording of pieces that were already in Coltrane's repertoire. In contrast to Miles Davis and Charles Mingus, the saxophonist selects pieces and recorded them with his musicians without having seen the film. Fillon noted:
- “So it's not about a dialogue between filmmaker and composer, but rather an exchange that gives Groulx the opportunity to appropriate the material. A quarter of an hour of jazz music can be found on the final copy of the film (the pieces are segmented and divided into seven blocks). The recording of Coltrane serves as music from the trench. The latter often takes a back seat, as it is an integral part of the dialogue that Groulx has with his characters and himself. "
Therefore, this first Groulx feature film is characterized by its musical qualities, continued Fillon. The tone is set from the start, as the images follow the rhythm of Coltrane's music. Michèle Garneau writes in her diploma thesis: “The musical element does not accompany the visual image, it is the visual image that develops from it, its tempo.” This “ beat ” that Groulx is looking for is created while the film [at Cut] takes shape. Le chat dans le sac begins with a stroll, and “Naima” can be heard on the soundtrack. “This first musical sequence lasts more than four minutes and allows Groulx to introduce his protagonists. It ends a few seconds before the first scene in which we find Claude and Barbara together - this is the moment of our first confrontation. ”The music is not always contained in certain shots or sequences. "It accompanies the protagonists in their intimacy in bed or continues in their moments of escape in the city - then you can feel how the Coltrane saxophone echoes Miles Davis' trumpet," says the author. “Urban space is a symbol of modernity, but it is also associated with alienation and loneliness. Here the union of the bodies is no guarantee of closeness. ”A symbiosis of Coltrane's music with Groulx's film is not possible, as this is also not wanted, says Fillon. Coltrane's jazz appears one last time just before the film's 50th minute; “Claude and Barbara say goodbye forever to the sound of less and less haunting music. Jazz cannot accompany Claude on his exodus to the country. The music of the famous saxophonist gives way to baroque music . It is a harpsichord that carries the main character until the credits. "
This film, according to Eric Fillon, is the testimony of an intellectual who is anxious to move the foot, the film and the world around him. In Le chat dans le sac, jazz takes the place that Groulx gives it. “This music offers the director the opportunity to give his action form and rhythm. It's a kind of musical accompaniment - music that (luckily) knows how to exist alone. "
Music of the album
For Coltrane, Chinen said, that subtext of independence and freedom in Groulx's film might have been particularly appealing. But Coltrane had not seen a film clip before he recorded the soundtrack, which - probably in equal parts to Groulx's taste and the licensing requirement - consists of new versions of the material for the previously created album Crescent . Blue World contains (besides the title track) three versions of “Village Blues”, two versions of “Naima” and one version of “Like Sonny” and “Traneing In”. Coltrane recorded “Village Blues” and “Like Sonny” for the Atlantic album Coltrane Jazz (1961); the first version of "Traneing In" appeared in 1958 on the prestige album John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio .
Within the first two minutes of screen time - during the introduction of Barbara and Claude, the young idealists whose division supplies the film with narrative tension - Coltrane's quartet begins with his ballad “ Naima ”. Coltrane had already recorded his composition for the Atlantic album Giant Steps five years earlier . In the following scene, which shows the lovers in a sensual idyll, the Coltrane quartet plays a hitherto unknown piece in the background, "Village Blues". The title track "Blue World", based on Harold Arlen's "Out of This World", has been slightly modified. Giovanni Russonello wrote: “Musically, the changes Coltrane made to the piece were minimal: he only slowed it down one notch from the version he recorded for the 1962 album Coltrane, and removed a short passage in who immerses the band in Arlen's original chord. "
Track list
- John Coltrane: Blue World (Impulse!)
- Naima (Take 1)
- Village Blues (Take 2)
- Blue World
- Village Blues (Take 1)
- Village Blues (Take 3)
- Like Sonny
- Traneing In
- Naima (Take 2)
review
According to Nate Chinen ( National Public Radio ), Blue World offers - like Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album - "an unexpected glimpse of a crucial phase in the band's development." A typical example is the Blue World theme song ; “This powerful performance, excerpts of which can be seen in the last section of Le Chat , unfolds in an irregular waltz rhythm in which Tyner strikes dark-colored block chords against Jones' polyrhythmic hum of cymbals and toms. Garrison is the linchpin that holds the center of the piece without preventing an excursion. "
Coltrane's tenor is a revealing voice in this piece; he composed 'Blue World' using an existing harmonic framework according to the standard 'Out of This World' by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer . In fact, he had recorded this song in the same key and rhythmic arrangement at a brighter tempo in 1962 for the album entitled Coltrane . “The harmonic language Coltrane uses in his improvisation and the solid weight of his phrases are very different from the earlier version of the song. There are moments in his tenor solo on Blue World that clearly point in the direction of A Love Supreme , which the quartet would pick up months later in December 1964. Coltrane's methodical but unscripted urge into different sound centers, expressed as a form of evocative fervor, should be familiar to anyone who has ever been enchanted by 'Acknowledgment', the first movement in the suite 'A Love Supreme'. "
Giovanni Russonello ( The New York Times ) wrote about the previously published title track and Coltrane's changes to the Arlen standard: “That gives us a cool, swinging, medium-paced groove in Coltrane-like 6/4 time. Jimmy Garrison's bass plays a big role, as if he wanted to emphasize the earth and the salt of the world - as well as the liquid blues. "
Ashley Kahn noted in the album's liner notes that Blue World offered the special opportunity to compare the individual versions of the pieces with the previous versions, “and in doing so, to reveal Coltrane's personal development as well as the interactive consistency and tonal details that the had firmly established the classical quartet and made it their collective distinguishing feature by 1964. "
For Hank Shteamer ( Rolling Stone ), this session stands out among many other Coltranes for impulses! out. Usually the saxophonist used his studio appointments to record new pieces, but Blue World consists of re-recordings of pieces he had previously recorded, including the classic ballad "Naima". The author particularly emphasizes the six-minute title track on which the saxophonist plays at medium tempo with slow intensity over a hypnotic waltz vamp .
Marc Myers ( Jazzwax ) mentions that some critics have accused the Verve label of positioning the music as a "lost album". They argued that this collection of short sequences was not designed or executed as an overall package, including that Coltrane and his quartet did not participate in it. Others found that the tracks were remakes of existing studio material. Myers, on the other hand, thinks this criticism is a bit unfair. Blue World is just as much a soundtrack album as Sonny Rollins ' impressionist compositions for Alfie (1966) or Charles Mingus ' three hours of music recorded in 1958 for John Cassavetes ' original version of Shadows (1959). When you see the film and hear the music with the pictures, Coltrane's music makes perfect sense. “You have to ask yourself why the jazz scores weren't used more in the films. Album or no album, Blue World is a beautiful, atmospheric work. "
Blue World was named Historic Album of the Year at the Down Beat Critics Poll 2020 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Giovanni Russonello: The Playlist: Unreleased John Coltrane, and 9 More New Songs. The New York Times, August 16, 2019, accessed August 17, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Nate Chinen: A Lost Album From John Coltrane Is Found, Thanks To A French-Canadian Director. National Public Radio , August 16, 2019, accessed August 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Cat in the Sack in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Gilles Groulx in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ a b Hank Shteamer: Hear John Coltrane's Previously Unreleased 'Blue World' From 1964 Soundtrack Session. Rolling Stone, May 6, 2018, accessed December 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Le chat dans le sac at ONF
- ↑ a b c d e f Eric Fillon: Le chat dans le sac: Jazz et transcendance selon Gilles Groulx. Horscamp, August 22, 2010, accessed August 17, 2019 (French).
- ↑ U. a. by François Couperin and Antonio Vivaldi ; see. Cinémas canadien et québécois: notes historiques by Pierre Pageau, Yves Lever. Collège Ahuntsic, 1977, p. 52
- ↑ Marc Myers: John Coltrane: Blue World. Jazzwax, October 3, 2019, accessed October 3, 2019 .
- ↑ Terri Lyne Carrington Tops 2020 DownBeat Critics Poll