Track Listing

1. Afro Blue - George Douglas, John Coltrane, Michael Cuscuna
2. I Want To Talk About You - Bob Thiele, John Coltrane, John Coltrane Quartet, Rudy Van Gelder
3. The Promise - George Douglas, John Coltrane, Michael Cuscuna
4. Alabama - Bob Thiele, John Coltrane, John Coltrane Quartet, Rudy Van Gelder
5. Your Lady - Bob Thiele, John Coltrane Quartet, Rudy Van Gelder
6. Vilia - John Coltrane Quartet, Michael Cuscuna, Bob Thiele, George Douglas, Rudy Van Gelder

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105004 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 44 minutes

CD Description
By 1963, when LIVE AT BIRDLAND was recorded, the John Coltrane Quartet had evolved into the finest working band in all of jazz, achieving an extraordinary balance of freedom and form, visceral intensity and romantic sensitivity. Each member was an innovator in his own right. From McCoy Tyner's powerful orchestrations, to bassist Jimmy Garrison's indomitablepulse and Elvin Jones' telepathic polyrhythms, this was a thrilling group at a peak of wonder and discovery.
Jones' dancing 6/8 pulse and elemental barrage of tom and cymbal colours make the quartet sound like a big band on their exciting version of "Afro-Blue". Tyner's rocking two-handed rhythms and original chordal voicings bring the tune's melodic strains to a fine boil, when Trane re-enters with a screaming, rhythmically challenging solo. The saxophonist approaches "IWant To Talk About You" as a virtuoso ballad vehicle, and the contrast between dense rhythmic/harmonic ideas and simplemelodic eloquence bring this performance to an earthy emotional peak. The dancing polyrhythms which announce "The Promise" suggest how far the quartet had reshaped the basic 4/4 rhythm of jazz. Tyner's left hand keeps the pulse churning, as he uncoils swift, graceful single-note leads and crunchingblock chords, transforming a pathetic nightclub piano into a choir of angels. Trane's soprano re-appears at an emotional crest, supporting him and Elvin with big, brassy chords that echo their conversation.
A pair of studio tracks roundout the set. Tyner's droning chorus of tears and the beckoning thunder of Garrison and Jones give the dirge "Alabama" its elemental dignity. "Alabama" is a haunting recollection of four innocents who died in a church bombing, and the tender compassion and final cry for justice in Coltrane's evocative melody is easy to recognise. The set concludes with "YourLady", an elegant idiomatic quartet treatment of a 3/4 pulse, as Trane discovers a softer, more feminine inflection forhis soprano.

Customer Reviews

COLTRANE!!!
I am compelled to write a review as there is none listed; not even the ubiquitous Amazon review!!

Why not?

This is simply one of the best all time jazz albums created.
Easily up there with Kind Of Blue and Giant Steps, Time Out, et Al. In fact I prefer it to Giant Steps which can leave me wanting in terms of communication. This is just that bit edgier which makes me want to keep coming back.

Complex and listenable at the same time; accessible yet with depth. Easy to remember 'hooks' make it accessible, yet the musicianship and development within each track make it memorable. Birdland is one of those albums which, however many times you hear it, you think ah yes, that's great! And you can slip into following it easily and relish every moment. But when its not playing, all you remember is the 'Hook' and that you enjoyed it immensly.

Truly great music.

Anyone with a head for music will love this with a passion given enough time.

There are moments of sheer exhilaration and communication which are unrivalled. And I don't mean in a crazy way, but in a coherent group, minded fashion.Picture this: Tyner builds a fantastic solo up and up with Jones frenetic drumming pushing the whole thing in to hyperdrive. It builds and builds until you think you're going to explode and there is nowhere to escape to and THEN Coltrane comes in like a true master and takes control with a searing, wailing bi-tone note which in one fell swoop, tops everything that came before and gives you the sense that it is the 'rightest' thing to have ever happened in the world of music.

Absolute genius.

And take The Promise; a McCoy Tyner piano solo holds the thing together with perfect backup from Jones and Chambers on drums and bass.Such is the power of the group as a whole, that there is really a feeling of indispensibility of all the members of the quartet.

Just get it and be rewarded for years to come.

John Coltrane's classic quartet close to its peak
This was the first Coltrane album I heard and I still find it enthralling over 40 years later. Recorded in late 1963 it captures John Coltrane's legendary quartet in brilliant form.
The three club tracks are Afro Blue, an intense and exciting version of the Mongo Santamaria classic; a heartfelt treatment of Billy Eckstine's 'I Want To Talk About You' with an astonishing unaccompanied tenor coda and, finally, 'The Promise', a soprano feature. The studio tracks include the powerfully moving 'Alabama' inspired by the killing of schoolchildren in a church bombing in Birmingham,Alabama, and the lyrical 'Your Lady' for Alice McLeod(soon to be his wife).
'Live at Birdland' is a marvellous recording of beautiful and ecstatic jazz. Anyone wanting to discover what Coltrane was all about could do no better than start listening here.

Five Stars Are Not Enough. We Need More Stars !
This is the sound of four musicians uplifted and glorifying in each others company. The men of The Quartet are not some polite, cocktail jazz outfit providing some aural backdrop to the tinkling of glasses, careless chatter and the gulping of drinks. What we have here is music that sounds like it fills the club, envelopes the audience, as well as the players themselves, bursting beyond the walls, doors and windows, out into the world like a call to the faithful to come to the temple.

By this point this band had been together some two years, they were an aclaimed unit having recorded several significant albums and toured throughout America and Europe. They were an artistic, critical and, probably in jazz terms then, a commercial success. They were a hard working band and there must have been many nights like this, but this one is different being captured in time, encapsulated here for us all to enjoy.

The word telepathy has often been used when describing the creative processes of this, The 'Classic' Quartet and indeed it's hard to avoid or deny. The drums of Elvin Jones are big, big, big and wide. The powerhouse, if you will, or the tapestry over which John Coltrane's soprano or tenor saxophone lines soar and sing. McCoy Tyner's piano forever is expanding the musical language with broad filling harmony; while can there be anything stronger than Jimmy Garrison's bass, bouncing, booming, bold, ever bold. Yes, make no mistake this here is rocking stuff !

This was one of the first John Coltrane record I bought, some thirty years ago, and one I continue to often return to and find joy in listening to. This music is beyond the boundaries of time and grading. Five stars are not enough, we need more stars !