John Coltrane – Music At Newport 1961 Plus ( 1CD

John Coltrane / Music At Newport 1961 Plus / 1CD / Speak-Ezy

Music At Newport”, Newport, Rhode Island, USA 1st July 1961

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John Coltrane, ’61 live coupling board appeared in the press!

The main performance was recorded at the festival “Music At Newport” on July 1, 1961, which was recorded in the first half of the CD.
This seems to mean that the well-known festival “Newport Jazz Festival” was rejected as “Newport Jazz Festival” in 1961 due to the turmoil at the time it was held in 1960, and was instead held as “Music At Newport” by another promoter (probably).
On the day of the performance itself, I could listen to “Impressions” and “My Favorite Things” quietly from the analog LP era, but in recent years, the ultra-high-quality version including “Naima”, which is about 30 minutes or less, has been distributed and spread all at once. There are already multiple overseas titles and CDR titles for large stores, but unfortunately, most of those existing boards have been subjected to excessive hiss reduction, and the digital smell of Schwashuwa and Charincharin has become stronger. In this edition, in order not to lose the freshness of the original sound, no hiss reduction was applied, and only the minimum necessary processing such as left and right EQ, phase adjustment, pitch review, and volume adjustment was made into a CD. Occasionally, there is a slight distortion in the intro part at the beginning, but it is left there with priority given to freshness, and the clear and outstandingly fresh sound is realistically reproduced from beginning to end.
The recording itself is a monaural soundboard, and the freshness is outstanding. Coltrane’s saxophone, such as the beginning of “Impressions”, is very vivid, and perhaps because of the extreme mixing, the sound is as vivid as if you were playing right in front of you when you listened to it with headphones. Looking at the material, this “Impressions” belongs to a fairly early class as an existing performance, and the theme melody is very fresh, unlike the later performances. Also, it is a must-listen take with excellent running feeling due to the mix (instead, the snare drum is slightly off here). In “My Favorite Things”, the intro is slightly cut-in, and mistones are scattered at the beginning of the performance, but fortunately at this point, the extreme mixing has been improved, and the sound is very easy to hear.

The second half of the CD includes performances in Helsinki on November 22, 1961.
This is also a familiar live performance from several existing boards, and the official “Live Trane” board also contains live sound sources in the vicinity, but this Helsinki performance is not recorded. The sound quality feels like an FM monaural air check at the time, and it can’t be denied that it feels less fresh than the Newport recorded in the first half of this time. Regarding this part as well, many of the already-launched boards have a very dull sound with strong hiss reduction, and they were clearly inferior in freshness. This time, the hiss has been mastered with a focus on freshness. You may be surprised by the amount of hiss at the beginning, but you can appreciate it without worrying about it during the performance.
Also, in terms of recorded content, it has advantages including important points but also important points compared to the already-launched board, and for some reason the part where the interval between songs was shortened by editing in the already-launched board (for example, Blue Train and I Want To-The intro of I Want To is covered by the audience’s applause) is probably recorded as it actually is (although it suffers somewhat on this board, there is no discomfort in how it is worn). Also, in track 7 “Impressions”, the existing board does not include the footstep count at the beginning, and the performance starts with the audience’s applause, probably due to the influence of editing between songs, but in this board, after the applause, there is a small space between the venues (air), and the point is that the performance starts with the footstep count. In addition, there is a big difference in the ending on the 8th track “My Favorite Things”, and on many existing editions, the ending part is edited for less than 10 seconds and cross-faded with cheers, but this edition is uncut You can also enjoy the ending part. The cheering part after the performance is also less than 10 seconds, but it is recorded for a long time. If you have an existing board, this is a point that you should definitely listen to and compare.

In addition, only one bonus song is recorded from the Copenhagen performance on November 20, and the bonus part is also recorded with careful mastering.
About 78 minutes on one CD, the definitive edition of the ’61 live is now available!

ジョン・コルトレーン、’61年ライブのカップリング盤がプレスで登場！

メインはCD前半に収録された1961年7月1日のフェス”Music At Newport”での演奏。
これは、お馴染みのフェス”Newport Jazz Festival”が前年’60年開催時の騒動の影響により61年度は”Newport Jazz Festival”としては開催は却下、代わりに別のプロモーター(多分)により”Music At Newport”として開催された、ということのようです。
当日の演奏自体はアナログLP時代から「Impressions」、「My Favorite Things」がひっそり聞けましたが、近年になり「Naima」も含めた約30分弱ながら鮮度抜群の超高音質バージョンが流通、一気に広まったことで、さまざまなタイトルを生み出しました。既に大型店舗向けの海外製タイトルやCDRタイトルなど複数が存在しますが、残念ながらそれら既発盤の殆どで過剰なヒスリダクションを施してシュワシュワ・チャリンチャリンといったデジタル臭が逆に強くなってしまったり、AMラジオのような深みに欠けた薄っぺらいサウンドとなってしまったり、あるいはピッチの狂ったままだったりで決定的なものは皆無な状態でしたが、今回盤でそれら既存盤の問題点もほぼ解決した決定盤と言えるものとなっております。今回盤では原音の鮮度を落とさないよう、ヒスリダクションは施さず、左右のEQと位相の調整とピッチの見直し、音量調整など必要最小限の処理に留めCD化。出だしのイントロ部などで僅かな歪みなどが時折入りますが、そこも鮮度優先で敢えて残し、クリアで鮮度抜群のサウンドが終始リアルに再現されています。
録音そのものはモノラルのサウンドボードで、鮮度は抜群。「Impressions」の出だしなどコルトレーンのサックスも非常に鮮烈なうえに、ミキシングが極端なせいか、ヘッドフォンで聴くとビックリするくらい目前で演奏してるかのような生々しいサウンドです。この「Impressions」は資料を見ると現存する演奏としてもかなり初期の部類にあたり、テーマメロディーが後の演奏とも異なりとても新鮮。またミックスのせいか疾走感も抜群(かわりにここではスネアドラムがオフ気味)の必聴テイクです。「My Favorite Things」ではイントロが若干カットイン、また演奏出だしでミストーンが散見されますが、この時点では幸いライブ出だして極端だったミキシングも改善されており、非常に聞きやすいサウンドが展開されます。

CD後半は’61年11月22日ヘルシンキでの公演が収録されています。
こちらも複数の既発盤でお馴染みのライブであり、公式”Live Trane”盤にも近隣のライブ音源が収録されていますが、本ヘルシンキ公演は未収録。音質は当時のFMモノラルのエアチェックと言った感じで、今回前半に収録のNewportに比べると鮮度の落ちる感は否めませんが、それでも決して多くはない「Blue Train」のライブテイクなど、当時の”Lost Trane”音源としては十分に価値ある音源と言えます。この部分に関しても既発盤では強めのヒスリダクションでコモッた極めて抜けの悪い濁ったサウンドとなっているものが多く、明らかに鮮度の劣るものばかりでした。今回はやはりヒスには目をつぶり鮮度を優先したマスタリングが施されています。出だしなどではヒスの多さに驚くかも知れませんが、演奏中は意外と気にならずに鑑賞頂けます。
また収録内容面でも既発盤にくらべ細かいポイントながらしかし重要なものも含むアドバンテージを有しており、既発盤ではなぜか曲間が編集で短くなっていた部分(例えばBlue TrainとI Want To-曲間では観客の拍手にI Want Toのイントロが被っている)が恐らく実際通り(今回盤でも若干は被るが、そのかぶり方に違和感がない)収録されていたりします。またトラック7の「Impressions」では既存盤では曲間編集の影響なのか、出だしの足踏みカウントが入らず観客の拍手が被って演奏スタートしますが、今回盤では拍手の後に若干の会場の間(空気)があり、さらに続けて足踏みカウントで演奏がスタートするものポイント。さらに8トラック目の「My Favorite Things」ではエンディングで大きな違いがあり、多くの既存盤ではエンディング部で10秒弱が編集でカットされ、歓声とクロスフェードされていますが、今回盤ではノーカットでエンディング部分も堪能できます。演奏後の歓声部分も10秒弱ですが長く収録。既存盤をお持ちの方は是非聞き比べて頂きたいポイントです。

さらにボーナスで1曲のみ、11月20日のコペンハーゲン公演から収録、ボーナス部分も丁寧なマスタリングで収録。
CD1枚で約78分強、’61年ライブの決定盤が登場です！

CD(78:11)
“Music At Newport”, Newport, Rhode Island, USA 1st July 1961
1. Introduction
2. Impressions
3. Naima
4. My Favorite Things

Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland 22nd November 1961 (second show)
5. Blue Train
6. I Want To Talk About You
7. Impressions
8. My Favorite Things

Bonus Track
Falkonercentret, Copenhagen, Denmark 20th November 1961
9. Every Time We Say Goodbye

Lineup (Tracks #1-4)
John Coltrane : Tenor and Soprano Sax
McCoy Tyner : Piano
Reggie Workman : Bass
Elvin Jones : Drums
Art Davis : Bass (on Track #4)

Lineup (Tracks #5-9)
John Coltrane : Tenor and Soprano Sax
Eric Dolphy : Alto Sax and Flute
McCoy Tyner : Piano
Reggie Workman : Bass
Elvin Jones : Drums

Speak-Ezy. SPE-061