Unusual and rare!
H. Lim | Carlingford, NSW Australia | 06/15/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a review of John Coltrane's "Live at the Showboat Philadelphia", a bootleg recently released by the good people at "Rare Live Recordings Co"
The 1963 show consists of six titles, all in mediocre sound. It is a two disc set (the titles are mostly very long performances). It is clearly bootlegged. At one stage you can hear someone's voice saying: "Hey man, are you taping this??"
GOOD BAIT (19:45)
This is an extremely rare recording of this Tadd Dameron tune, which Coltrane originally recorded in 1958. Coltrane is in excellent form here. However, top honours go to Roy Haynes, sitting in for Elvin Jones. Coltrane is generous enough to give him three lengthy drum soloes, each one more amazing than the last. The third drum solo is absolutely thunderous.
OUT OF THIS WORLD (24:35)
Another rare tune for Coltrane. The performance is unremarkable.
MR PC (18:05)
A signature tune for Coltrane with a nice second solo by the leader, but otherwise much like many other performances.
FRAGMENT (0:35)
You get fifty bucks if you can guess what tune this fragment is! There are only two clues: it's a waltz, and Coltrane soloes on tenor. I'm guessing it's "Spiritual", but who can tell?
THE PROMISE (11:44)
The disc, and all known discographies, list this as Afro-Blue. But whoever identified it was in error. This is "The Promise", yet another unusual choice of tune for Coltrane. The theme is stretched out and much more violent than in the "Live at Birdland" version, but clearly recogniseable.
IMPRESSIONS (33:55)
This immense performance is the best of the set. It is almost entirely taken up by a half-hour tenor solo by Coltrane, duetting with Roy Haynes. Coltrane's mammoth solo is amazingly far-out, and shows that perhaps the style of extreme soloing found in "One Down One Up" was not entirely a 1965 development. Despite its huge scale, to me Coltrane's solo is very logical and well-balanced, leading to a nice climax.
As stated above, the sonic quality is poor. However, "Good Bait" and "Impressions" alone are terrific performances and the others aren't too bad either."
Track Listings (3) - Disc #1