Alabama (John Coltrane song)

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This article is about John Coltrane's 1963 composition. For uses of Alabama, see Alabama (disambiguation).

"Alabama" is a musical composition by the American jazz artist

African-American girls: Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11).[1][2][3]

History

Jazz historian

Dr. Martin Luther King."[3][4][b]

Coltrane, Tyner, Garrison, and Jones, again, recorded "Alabama" – along with "Afro Blue" and "Impressions" – for a 30-minute TV episode of Jazz Casual, hosted by Ralph J. Gleason. The group recorded it December 7, 1963, at KQED TV in San Francisco. The episode was broadcast February 19, 1964, on WNET TV in New York, and February 23, 1964, on KQED TV in San Francisco.[5] The quartet had been performing a twelve-day gig at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, nightly, from November 26, 1963, through December 8, 1963.

Recording by legacies of the original artists

"Alabama" was one of the tracks on

Berlin Jazz Festival
, November 5, 2016 and again at a free concert in Central Park on June 16, 2019 which lasted 5:17 minutes and can be seen below.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cengAvBU928bvQcxjrZ1YbOg

Selected sessionography

Recording date Artists Takes Notes
November 18, 1963
(afternoon)
(released January 1964)
John Coltrane (tenor sax); McCoy Tyner (piano); Jimmy Garrison (bass); Elvin Jones (drums)
"Alabama"
––––––––––––––––––––
    Matrix
  1. 90018-1 (unissued)
  2. 90018-2 (unissued)
  3. 90018-3 (unissued)
  4. 90018-4
    Impulse!
    (2:42) A-50
  5. 90018-5
    Impulse!
    (2:23) A-50; IMPD-901
  6. takes 4 & 5
    Impulse!
    (5:05) A-50; AS-9200-2
   Selected session releases of the 1963 recording
      "Alabama" take 5 (2:22)
      1. The Gentle Side Of John Coltrane
        1. Impulse! IMPD-901 (released as 2 LPs
          1975)
        2. Impulse! ASH-9306-2 (released as 2 LPs
          1975)
        3. CD
          )
        4. CD
          )
      "Alabama" takes 4 & 5 (5:08)
      (audio via YouTube; take 4: 0:00–2:42; take 5: 2:45–5:02)
        1. Impulse! A-50 (released as an LP
          January 1964)
        2. CD
          1996)
        1. Impulse!
          AS-9200-2
        2. ABC AS-9200-2
      3. Afro-Blue (released as an LP April 1971)
        1. Probe SBP-1025
        2. ABC ABCL-5012
      4. A John Coltrane Retrospective – The Impulse! Years (released as 3
        CDs
        1992)
        1. GRP GRD-3-119
        2. Impulse!
          GRD-3-119
      5. CD
        1997)
      6. CDs
        ): Coltrane – The Classic Quartet – Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings (released November 3, 1998)
      7. CD
        2001)
      8. CDs
        ): John Coltrane – The Impulse! Albums: Volume Two (released 2008)
      9. John Coltrane – 1963: New Directions (released as 3
        CDs
        December 12, 2018)
        1. Impulse!
          0602577020186
        2. UMe 0602577020186
        3. Verve 0602577020186
        4. Verve UCCI-9312/4
        5. Impulse!
          UCCI-9312/4
        6. UMe UCCI-9312/4[5]
October 2015
(released June 5, 2016)
Matthew Garrison (bass); Jack DeJohnette (drums
)
"Alabama"
––––––––––––––––––––
ECM 2488
    Recorded at
Avatar Studios in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan. Released on Jack DeJohnette's album, In Movement
.

Videography and filmography

  • Jazz Casual, Recorded in San Francisco at KQED TV December 7, 1963. The session was broadcast February 19, 1964, on WNET TV in New York, and on February 23, 1964 on KQED TV in San Francisco. The program was "Jazz Casual" with host Ralph J. Gleason.
John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); McCoy Tyner (piano); Jimmy Garrison (bass); Elvin Jones (drums)
OCLC 62319387, 48873091, 52033321, 318274404, 473671591, 904024420
.
(video via YouTube)
  • CD
    December 10, 1992, on:
The film score used the fifth take from the November 18, 1963, session: matrix 90018-5
  1. Quest WPCP-5094
  2. CD
    )
  3. Qwest Records 9 45130-4 (cassette)
  4. CD
    )
  5. Qwest Records 9362-45130-1 (LP)
  6. CD
    )
  7. CD
    )
  8. BMG Direct Marketing, Inc. D 100372
OCLC 32489850 (all editions)

See also

Bibliography

Original copyright

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Music – Current and Renewal Registrations. Library of Congress, Copyright Office
.

Annotations

  1. ^ Music journalist Francis Davis – more than thirty-four years after Coltrane's death – stated in The New York Times that he was unable to find any corroborating evidence that Coltrane had intended for "Alabama" to be about the tragedy. (Davis; September 23, 2001)
  2. ^ Journalist Matt Micucci, on November 18, 2016, stated in a Jazziz essay, that "Coltrane was inspired by Martin Luther King's speech, delivered in the church sanctuary three days after the bombing [September 18, 1963], and patterned his saxophone playing on it. Like the speech, 'Alabama' shifts its tone from one of mourning to one of renewed determination for the struggle against racially motivated crimes". (audio of MLK's speech via YouTube) (Micucci, November 18, 2016)

Notes

  1. ^ Bailey, August 10, 2005.
  2. ^ Muhammad, June 17, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Cole, John Coltrane, 1976, p. 150.
  4. ^ Stucky, pp. 4, 27.
  5. ^ a b Lord (jazz discography).

References

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