Live at Birdland (John Coltrane album)
{{Infobox album
| name = Live at Birdland
| type = Studio
| longtype = / Live album
| artist = John Coltrane
| cover = Coltrane Live at Birdland.jpg
| alt =
| released = {{start date|1964|1|9}}
| recorded = October 8, 1963 (#1–3)
November 18, 1963 (#4–5)
| venue = Birdland, New York City (#1–3)
| studio = Van Gelder (Englewood Cliffs) (#4–5)
| length = 38:54 original LP
43:35 CD reissue
| label = Impulse! A-50
| producer = Bob Thiele
| prev_title = John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
| prev_year = 1963
| next_title = Coltrane's Sound
| next_year = 1964
}}
Live at Birdland (titled on the cover Coltrane live at Birdland) is an album by the jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. It was released on January 9, 1964 through Impulse! Records.{{Cite book |last1=DeVito |first1=Chris |title=The John Coltrane Reference |last2=Fujioka |first2=Yasuhiro |last3=Schmaler |first3=Wolf |last4=Wild |first4=David |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-John-Coltrane-Reference/Porter-DeVito-Wild-Fujioka-Schmaler/p/book/9780415634632|isbn=9780415634632 |editor-last=Porter |editor-first=Lewis |editor-link=Lewis Porter |location=New York/Abingdon |page=689}}{{cite news |editor-last1=Ostrow|editor-last2=Howard|editor-last3=Lichtman|editor-first1=Marty|editor-first2=Ira|editor-first3=Irv|title= ABC-Par's 33 New Albums Is a Record-setting Issue|page=9|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Cash-Box-IDX/60s/1964/CB-1964-01-18-OCR-Page-0009.pdf|archive-url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Cash-Box-IDX/60s/1964/CB-1964-01-18-OCR-Page-0009.pdf|archive-date=Oct 8, 2022|url-status=live|work=Cash Box|location=New York |publisher=The Cash Box Publishing Co.|date=January 18, 1964}}{{cite web |last1=Bailey |first1=C. Michael |title=John Coltrane: Live At Birdland |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/john-coltrane-live-at-birdland |website=All About Jazz |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806192438/https://www.allaboutjazz.com/john-coltrane-live-at-birdland-by-c-michael-bailey.php |archive-date=6 August 2015 |url-status=live |access-date=30 May 2019}} Three of its tracks were recorded live at the Birdland club and two are studio recordings. Among them is "Alabama", a tribute to four black children killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, a white supremacist terrorist attack in Birmingham, Alabama.
The album's original pressing accidentally included a false start–– this was corrected in later copies, but restored in CD editions. The album also features a live recording of "I Want to Talk About You", a song Coltrane had recorded on his 1958 album Soultrane, this time with an extended cadenza.
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-birdland-mw0000076846 |title=John Coltrane Live at Birdland |last=Yanow |first=Scott |website=AllMusic |access-date=October 1, 2020}}
|rev2 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz
|rev2score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite book|last1=Cook|first1=Richard|author-link1=Richard Cook (journalist)|last2=Morton|first2=Brian|author-link2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer)|year=2008|title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings|edition=9th|publisher=Penguin|page=289|isbn=978-0-141-03401-0}}
| rev3 = Record Mirror
| rev3Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{Cite magazine |date=25 July 1964 |title=John Coltrane: Live At Birdland |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/60s/64/Record-Mirror-1964-07-25.pdf |magazine=Record Mirror |issue=176 |page=9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715204249/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/60s/64/Record-Mirror-1964-07-25.pdf |archive-date=2022-07-15|access-date=15 August 2022}}
| rev4 = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide
| rev4Score = {{rating|4|5}}{{Cite book
|editor-last=Swenson
|editor-first=J.
| year = 1985
| title = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide
| publisher = Random House/Rolling Stone
| location = USA
| isbn = 0-394-72643-X
| pages = 47
}}
}}
Reception
Scott Yanow's five-star AllMusic review calls the recording "[a]rguably John Coltrane's finest all-around album". A review in All About Jazz states: "Coltrane Live at Birdland showcases 'The Great Quartet' in excellent form: Elvin banging and cursin', McCoy a steady force maintaining the form, Jimmy Garrison pacing the beat and Coltrane stretching out into space filling the void... A definite collectors' item."{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/coltrane-live-at-birdland-john-coltrane-impulse-review-by-aaj-staff.php |title=John Coltrane: Coltrane Live at Birdland |date=June 1, 1997 |website=All About Jazz |access-date=October 1, 2020}} Reviewer C. Michael Bailey wrote: "If the listener wishes to hear the master in transition, look no further than Coltrane Live at Birdland." LeRoi Jones wrote: "There is a daringly human quality to John Coltrane's music that makes itself felt, wherever he records. If you can hear, this music will make you think of a lot of weird and wonderful things. You might even become one of them."{{cite book | last =Jones | first =LeRoi | author-link =Amiri Baraka | title =Black Music | publisher =Akashi Classics | year =2010 | pages=66 }} In 2017, Pitchfork ranked the album as the 128th best of the 1960s.{{Cite web |date=22 August 2017 |title=The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s: 140-121 |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/?page=4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822174643/https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/?page=4 |archive-date=22 August 2017 |access-date=24 March 2023 |website=Pitchfork}}
The journalist Ben Ratliff wrote of "Alabama": "It is a striking piece of music. If anyone wants to begin to understand how Coltrane could inspire so much awe so quickly, the reason is probably inside 'Alabama'. The incantational tumult he could raise in a long improvisation, the steel-trap knowledge of harmony, the writing—that's all very impressive. But 'Alabama' is also an accurate psychological portrait of a time, a complicated mood that nobody else could render so well."{{cite book | last = Ratliff | first = Ben | author-link = Ben Ratliff | title = Coltrane: The Story of a Sound | publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux | year = 2007 | pages=86 }}
Track listing
All songs written by John Coltrane except as indicated
- "Afro Blue" (Mongo Santamaria) – 10:50
- "I Want to Talk About You" (Billy Eckstine) – 8:11
- "The Promise" – 8:10
- "Alabama" – 5:09
- "Your Lady" – 6:39
;Compact Disc bonus track
- "Vilia" (Franz Lehár) – 4:36
"Vilia" is a jazz arrangement of Franz Lehár's "Es lebt' eine Vilja, ein Waldmägdelein" from The Merry Widow. This track was first released on a 1965 compilation by Impulse!{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Definitive-Jazz-Scene-Volume-3/release/707281|title=The Definitive Jazz Scene Volume 3 (1965, Vinyl)|website=Discogs}}
Personnel
References
{{Reflist}}
{{John Coltrane}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Live At Birdland}}
Category:John Coltrane live albums
Category:Live avant-garde jazz albums
Category:Impulse! Records live albums
Category:Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio
Category:Albums recorded at Birdland
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