Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy

Description

In August 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played a series of gigs at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York. At that time, Coltrane's quartet had not yet achieved the notoriety it would gain a few years later. A "meteoric" fifth member joined the quartet during those evenings — the visionary multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. 90 minutes of unreleased music from this group were recently discovered at the NYC Public Library, offering a dizzying dive into the powerful music of this ephemeral quintet. In addition to Coltrane's flagship titles (“My Favorite Things”, “Impressions”, “Greensleeves”), there is a stunning Eric Dolphy bass clarinet piece “When Lights Are Low” and the only known live recording to date of the track Africa (from the album Africa Brass). This album represents a very special moment in Coltrane's career – the Summer of 1961 – a period during which he honed his ecstatic live sound, drawing inspiration from Africa.