Offering: Live at Temple University

As far as I am concerned, this was the last real concert that John Coltrane played (even though jazzdisco.org lists OLATUNJI but not the show after that of which I heard a bootleg on KPOO San Francisco). He was noticeably sicker on later dates. It is also probably (?) the last time that NAIMA was played, and this is the best rendition I have ever heard. As a young sax player in school, the song OFFERING was the first time that I heard John Coltrane (on the 3lp Impulse set "THE SAXOPHONE"). It was beautiful and painful and changed every idea that I had about jazz. It will always be my favorite Coltrane song. My friends threatened to break the record "IF YOU PLAY THAT F****** SONG ONE MORE TIME!". *** This live recording of that song is something that I thought I would never hear, and is worth the price of admission all by itself. He brings something to the avant-garde that many players do not... SKILL (Pharaoh's solos matured?). I still play as a hobby and when I do, I play as if it were the last time. I cannot play GIANT STEPS (all those changes that no one ever plays when they cover it!) but I can put LOVE SUPREME or SUN SHIP through an amp and manage to keep up with JC. Have you ever heard Archie Shepp's version of GIANT STEPS on LIVE AT THE TOTEM or the ' tenor sadness' of his duel with JC on ACK-NOWLEDGEMENT? Skill? Coltrane had to 'dumb-down' for his friend and was forced to pick it up a bit on a second take. You can almost hear someone in the control room saying "what the hell is this?". By the way, who the %#@& chose the cover shot for FOUR FOR TRANE where Arch' looks like the intellectual and JC looks like he's about to start drooling? *** As far as the sound goes, one mic is plenty when there are half a dozen drums, and it sounds great to me (even the guest altos who played better than a lot of people that Coltrane invited on stage to play). People will hate me for saying so OUT LOUD, but I can never pretend to be thrilled by 10-15 minute solos on snare and tom-toms or basses that at times seem to have only one string and have the crowd looking at their watches (Jimmy Garrison isn't even mentioned in the LOVE SUP liner notes (?) ). No one is buying Coltrane recordings for that. I don't claim to be a Coltrane-class musician (my 1st cd will be titled "Variations On Cat Molestations - A Tribute To The Afauxnt-Garde"- sorry for the bad joke, i love cats), but I will always play like the music is important to me because it is. *** BUY THIS CD! you won't be sorry (even though you just read this). *** PS- in his constant search for something different, you know that John Coltrane would have gone electric before miles davis. CAN YOU IMAGINE ?!!!

My thoughts: 1) Pharoah's solos had matured (not a qualitative statement, just temporal) on this record since he had first joined the group (say, compared to "Live In Seattle"). He had by this time become conversant in the musical language he had previously been evolving. His solos seemed in aggregate to be one narrative, a chordal one, high in the overtones, as though he told part of his story in "Naima" and another part in "Leo", and so forth, chapters in the same tale, so to speak.2) Always in evolution, there were significant new phrases, intonations, and even overall musical themes in Trane's solos. This alone makes the purchase of this record worthwhile. This seems apparent both in the title track (where his slower, more thematic approach allows the ear time to hear the new stuff) and in his approach to "Naima" especially.3) The much-vaunted Coltrane vocalizations cited in the liner notes were not new. He had employed vocals on "Om" and "Live in Seattle" (as well as "Kulu Se Mama", if I recall correctly). But I had not heard him sing before, per se. The theories on this set forth in the liner notes are interesting. My own belief is that he was exploring elements of West African traditional music and he incorporated them in this way. I do not see this as a primary commentary on the limitations of his horn, although he may have seen his singing as a more effective conveyance of his thoughts in this particular case.4) This is as spiritual a project as one might ever hear. I am uncomfortable with the deification of Coltrane (as I suspect he would have been) that occurred in some quarters after his death, but if saints are those who point us to God, to divinity; Coltrane was a saint. For me personally as well.

I was there. And Mr. Severance is absolutely correct. The drumming was a much larger part of the sound environment. For those not having experienced the avant garde jazz movement in the sixties, this will not be easy listening. There was a lot of honking, bleating and screeching then that passed for music in the name of avant garde. At the risk of alienating a lot people, I dare say, there's a lot of that here. Almost 50 years later the sounds attack the senses - even for a die hard Coltrane fan like myself. And, as the liner notes indicate, many people walked out. I had no idea that 'Trane was in poor health and would be dead within a year. But I remember even then thinking there was a lot of anguish in his playing that night. It still sounds that way to me. Whether the sounds and his health were related, we'll never know. That said, this is a historic contribution and, as such, deserves consideration. My biggest disappointment is the poor recording of the percussion. This recording is not for the faint of heart.

This CD has good quality sound of Coltrane and Pharaoh but the other members of the band are either very soft or hardly audible. What a shame. I imagine in the concert the drumming was a MUCH larger part of the sound environment, as there were many drummers. That said we don't have many live recordings from this period. The 1965 Seattle concert and One Up One Down live CDs are much better recorded but predate this which is from late 1966. If you are a fan of late Coltrane you probably need this. I especially enjoyed the version of "Leo" (I preferred it to the live in Japan version) and "Offering." On Leo at least there is there feel of a phalanx of drummers.

this is very good cd of the concert from Temple University in Nov 1966. I am a big Coltrane fan and love all of his various lineups, this one with Pharoah Sanders Rashied Ali, Sonny Johnson, and Alice Coltrane has the uniqueness of Pharoah Sanders and John playing saxes together; and how exceptional it is. 5 beautifully played jams lasting over an hour and a half. Maybe not as great as Live in Antibies or Live in France 1965 but an exceptional performance from the true Master.

Considero esta grabacion excepcional, aunque este mal registrado.Este documento fue grabado por una radio universitaria empleando solo 1 microfono situado delante del saxofon de Coltrane.Escuchandolo tienes la sensacion de como si estuvieras dentro de la campana del saxofon, delicioso, nitido y perfecto. Los demas miembros de la banda se le oye como si estuvieran en una lejania, pero presentes.Grabado poco antes de morir es un reflejo de su mejor epoca (free jazz?) siempre me pregunto si hubiera seguido vivo hacia donde hubiera evolucionado....

Aufnahme- und klangtechnisch sicher nicht heutigen Maßståben entsprechend- aber eine tolle Dokumentation eines unglaublich expressiven Auftritts. Natürlich war ich vor Allem auf Tranes Gesangseinlage in "Leo" gespannt, die wirklich toll rüberkommt. Und in "My favorite things" wird dann nicht nur erneut gesungen - es gibt tatsächlich auch ein Basssolo zu hören!

Absolutely this is a must for any jazz lover, a must for any Coltrane fan! The music on this concert is from another planet....

Excellent !

Un CD remarquable, jamais publié auparavant.