Naima
Posted by: Dave Charlton on 20 April 2003
Just picked up John Coltrane's Giant Steps on the Warner Jazz Atlantic Masters series. Comprising the seven original's plus eight bonus tracks. Costing a fiver I could'nt resist.
So I stuck it on, lowish volume, and chilled out to be reminded of the great man's sound. Chilled out I must have been cos' I bobbed off but woke up to the sound of Naima, but not the version I know and love. A quick check found it to be track 14, alternate version two [recorded eight months earlier on March 26th 1959 with Cedar Walton piano, Paul Chambers bass and Lex Humphries on drums]. There was just something different about it. Then the penny dropped, the mix places the whole image centre stage rather than the left-right of the original. At 3m 37s this version is also alot shorter than the original. Played straight with little improvisation [Trane takes a short solo], the whole thing just feels so right. Now Iv'e found the ideal piece to play before Trane's head to head with Pharoah on Live at the Village Vanguard Again.
Dave
So I stuck it on, lowish volume, and chilled out to be reminded of the great man's sound. Chilled out I must have been cos' I bobbed off but woke up to the sound of Naima, but not the version I know and love. A quick check found it to be track 14, alternate version two [recorded eight months earlier on March 26th 1959 with Cedar Walton piano, Paul Chambers bass and Lex Humphries on drums]. There was just something different about it. Then the penny dropped, the mix places the whole image centre stage rather than the left-right of the original. At 3m 37s this version is also alot shorter than the original. Played straight with little improvisation [Trane takes a short solo], the whole thing just feels so right. Now Iv'e found the ideal piece to play before Trane's head to head with Pharoah on Live at the Village Vanguard Again.
Dave