The Quintet’s Personnel
John Coltrane, tenor, soprano sax; Eric Dolphy, alto sax, bass clarinet, flute; McCoy Tyner, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Elvin Jones, drums
Dave recalls...
Want to have your musical mind completely turned around and your head lifted right off your shoulders? In about a nanosecond, this quintet did just that for a majority of its listeners!
All evening long I had one grand struggle to figure out where Trane and Dolphy were coming from and where I was in relation to what I was hearing. The result was a very uncomfortable listening experience, but—and this must be emphatically added—it was a once-in-a-lifetime creative thrill.
At times, Dolphy asserted himself as the real improvisational aggressor, the more adventurous soloist, but what he played was extremely appealing. Tyner laid out frequently behind both Trane and Dolphy. For those listeners accustomed to analyzing a solo structure with the aid of full, compatible comping, not getting lost assumed the proportions of an exercise in futility.
Point of interest: Jimmy Garrison had not yet developed a powerful stance in the rhythm section, and Elvin Jones just swamped him with a drumnastic barrage. Even in the early 60s they were close friends, but I did feel sorry for the still emerging bassist.