John Coltrane – Big Nick (recorded April 11, 1962)
A superb tribute to Coltrane's sax hero "Big Nick" Nicholas featuring Coltrane on soprano sax with his classic quartet that remained unreleased for two years.
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On April 11, 1962, John Coltrane and his classic quartet (McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on double bass, and Elvin Jones behind the drums) were at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
They were recording tracks intended for his forthcoming self-titled LP, which was released in August of that year on Impulse!, the jazz division of ABC-Paramount Records.
The album’s release that summer was overshadowed by an intense wave of criticism then being leveled against Coltrane. It came after he had toured with Eric Dolphy in 1961 and the musical directions they were exploring left many white audiences scratching their heads, according to jazz historian Mark Werlin:
“Hostility and incomprehension...published in prestigious American newspapers and the preeminent jazz magazine Down Beat…followed Coltrane and Dolphy's appearances at the Village Vanguard and their U.S. and European tour dates.”
In later years, the album was re-appraised by critics and given its due respect as one of Coltrane’s major works and an example of the quartet in their prime. Stand-out tracks included “Tunji,” Coltrane’s tribute to Nigerian-born drum master Babatunde Olatunji who he had become close with, and “Soul Eyes,” which was destined to become a jazz standard. “Soul Eyes” was written by the great Mal Waldron, the former pianist in Prestige Records’ house band who played on hundreds of sessions.
One of the cuts recorded that day which did not make it onto the album was the superb “Big Nick,” a tribute to Coltrane's tenor sax hero, former Dizzy Gillespie sideman "Big Nick" Nicholas. Ironically, Coltrane played soprano sax on the track.
“Big Nick” Nicholas and band, live at the West End, 1970s
“Big Nick” was re-recorded on September 26, 1962 and the new version was included on the Duke Ellington & John Coltrane LP, released in January, 1963. The original version was first released in 1964, on the Impulse LP The Definitive Jazz Scene - Volume One: a collection of rare and previously unreleased recordings (Impulse! AS-99).
It was later featured as the title track to an album released in Japan from 1981.
“Big Nick” was produced by Bob Thiele, with recording engineer and studio owner Rudy Van Gelder behind the controls.
More info:
“John Coltrane: Coltrane And Crescent — Shadows And Light,” By Mark Werlin, All About Jazz, October 12, 2016
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