Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy

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The shows included on Evenings at the Village Gate were shot by photojournalist Herb Snitzer, who claimed that the room was half empty; he imagined Coltrane had made five or “maybe ten bucks” from the concert. This is another major John Coltrane discovery of a quintet performance at the Village Gate, New York City during August, 1961. Recorded with the same line-up as this album, it’s a euphoric, exploratory masterclass in what Coltrane was capable of in 1961. Accompanied by pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and bassist Steve Davis, he released a profound take on Richard Rodgers’ “My Favorite Things” that got so much airplay it revitalized the soprano saxophone.

Africa/Brass was Coltrane’s most unusual album in the busy year of 1961, and it landed on shelves near the end of his run at the downtown venue. He adapts it for another soloist, and rebuilds it into other tracks, one of which he dedicated to Africa. Coltrane’s current release at the time was My Favorite Things, on Atlantic, also released as a single, which was doing well, pulling sales for album in. The contributions by Coltrane and multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy are clear, as is Elvin Jones‘ drumming, but McCoy Tyner‘s piano and Reggie Workman and Art Davis‘ basses can be indistinct, especially when other instruments are soloing.

It’s Tyner’s arrangement, and the Coltrane/Dolphy mutual admiration society push each other to compelling effect.The sound from the stage is an elemental force blasting through the soporific climes, shaking the empty seats. Then again, Coltrane once said that he considered “My Favorite Things” to be the best recording he ever made. Against Jones’s driving polyrhythmic be-bop patterns Coltrane niggles away at a tiny harmonic idea reminiscent of Miles Davis’s So What, before turning the whole thing upside down and inside out, Dolphy cutting in on incendiary agitated alto sax, the duo reaching for something ancient and primal as Tyler seemingly scales the walls with his glittering keyboard runs.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Then, in April, the then 36-year-old saxophonist became the first artist signed to Creed Taylor’s new Impulse! Eighty minutes of never-before-heard music from this group were recently discovered at the New York Public Library. Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy was commercially successful, debuting at No. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights.

Critics tout Coltrane’s soprano saxophone as the key that unlocked the door to spiritual jazz, yet Dolphy’s similarly unconventional instrumentation greased the hinges.