THE MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY
Review: John Coltrane: The Paris Concert
The MHS Review 385, Vol. 11 No. 7, 1987
click on the cover to return to the table of contents
Carl Brauer, Cadence (April 1986)

The Paris Concert is a 1961 or 1962 radio broadcast of a performance .... Kicking off the album is the side-long "Mr. P.C.," a 26-minute exorcism that gives Tyner, GarÂrison, Jones, and finally Coltrane ample room to explore the inner workings of the music. One can hear (and even feel) ColÂtrane fighting with himself to express the musical vision that was still percolating inÂside of himself. Even with the less than "hiÂfi" sound (this is a mono recording), the sheer joy and abandonment of the act of musical creation is palpable. This continues unabated with "The Inch Worm"; the onÂly change is the soprano sax for the tenor and the lack of any real solo space for the others. The final "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" is a chance (in a sense) for everyone to catch his breath, and Coltrane gives a nice, but hardly out of the ordinary, rendition. Since there are many examples of the Coltrane Quartet at that time in various authorized and unauthorized recorÂdings, this does not shine any more brightÂly. However, if one doesn't have too many already, this one will do just fine.