August of 1965, I had the pleasure of seeing him perform at Pep’s Lounge in Philadelphia. I went to the matinee and stayed for both sets.
I was about to finally leave and Coltrane came out from the behind the curtain, playing “Afro Blue”. Told the bartender to give me another Old Hickory and Ginger Ale. You see, I was only 20 at this time, so I found that if I dressed to the nines, I could get into the jazz places without a problem. But I had to get by the bartender. Hence, I ordered “Old Hickory” and was never carded.
Their performance was out standing. Watching Elvin Jones on the drums with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and never missing a cue from McCoy or John. Jimmy Garrison, in a trance on the bass, Coltrane, nothing but business.
Those were the good old days. Damn, who would have thought we would be in this mess now.
Was watching a Miles David documentary last night, I didn’t know Coltrane sort of came into his own on Kind of Blue. Maybe it’s not entirely accurate since he was obviously extremely talented if Miles would let him in the band, but according to the documentary the music for the album (perhaps the best selling jazz album of all time) was never formally written out, Miles just sketched the broad strokes and let the musicians go free to play through it. Was an interesting tidbit.