COLTRANE, John: Live in '60, '61 and '65 (NTSC)

Product Description Jazz Icons: John Coltrane provides an epic 95-minute overview of a true giant of 20th-century music. Three separate shows reveal Coltrane's ascending creative arc from hard bop innovator as a member of the Miles Davis Quartet in 1960 to consummate bandleader in 1961 to unrivalled jazz visionary in 1965. This DVD not only features Trane's classic quartet with Elvin Jones (drums), Jimmy Garrison (bass) and McCoy Tyner (piano), but also spotlights him onstage with other jazz legends including Stan Getz, Eric Dolphy and Oscar Peterson. Includes mind-blowing versions of his signature tunes "My Favorite Things" and "Impressions". Amazon.com As Ashley Kahn points out in his informative liner notes, there aren't many visual recordings of jazz giant John Coltrane in circulation--or, possibly, in existence. In capturing the saxophonist in three different phases in his too-brief career, this installment in the inestimable Jazz Icons video series performs a valuable service. The 92-minute DVD includes a 1960 performance in Dusseldorf, Germany, featuring Coltrane on tenor with his mates from Miles Davis's rhythm section, jamming on Miles's tunes; a 1961 performance in Baden Baden, Germany, with Coltrane on soprano and tenor, and Eric Dolphy on alto sax and flute, backed by pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and super-drummer Elvin Jones; and a surpassingly intense 1965 Belgium performance by "the Classic Quartet," with Jimmy Garrison replacing Workman. The black-and-white footage, some of it from broadcast sources, is sometimes striking, sometimes too shadowy (the dated camera effects, while evincing a certain period charm, still don't help). And a rare meeting of Coltrane and tenor great Stan Getz at the end of the Dusseldorf set is compromised by the poor miking of Getz. But we'll put up with such imperfections to hear the primal force of Trane's playing cut through the years, on songs ranging from "Autumn Leaves," to "Impressions," to "My Favorite Things." Trane lives. --Lloyd Sachs Review "Jazz Icons is doing for jazz what the Criterion Collection has done for classic and important films". -- Jazz Times Jazz Icons gives us the most detailed studies to date of this pioneer of the avant-garde. -- THE BOSTON PHOENIX, 11/26/2007, By JEFF TAMARKIN Jazz Icons represents the new millennium's most welcome shot in the arm for the music's soul -- Newsday.com, October 14, 2007, Gene Seymour This DVD wondrously highlight's the saxophonist's artistic progression -- www.jazzreview.com, November 2007 Viewing these three sets is like watching the wheels of change transforming jazz itself. . . Each set is breathtaking and inspiring, and when viewed together, deadly awesome. -- Bass Player Magazine, November 2007 watching Montgomery perform should be deemed essential for guitar students, seasoned vets and jazz aficionados in general . . . ad witnessing the guitarist glide across his strings amid sinuously crafted harmonics and eloquent melodic developments is pure music magic -- eJazzNews, Tuesday, October 30, 2007