So Many Things: The European Tour 1961

This is to some extent a sequel to our 2014 release of “All Of You: The Last Tour 1960” by The Miles Davis Quintet featuring John Coltrane, as it presents ‘live’ recordings from Coltrane’s European tour the following year. “There are so many things to be considered in making music”, John Coltrane told an interviewer during his first European tour as a bandleader in the autumn of 1961. “Many things on which I don't think I've reached a final conclusion.” Indeed, the music Coltrane made on this trip took audiences to the very cutting edge, leaving many questions unanswered, even for the saxophonist’ s most ardent fans. The impact of Coltrane and his regular quartet sidemen – pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Elvin Jones – was made doubly controversial by the leader’s last-minute decision to add the formidable multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy, a musician whom Coltrane regarded as a true kindred spirit but whose introduction to European audiences was to prove equally divisive. Playing over 30 concert appearances in under three weeks, the band criss-crossed the continent from France to Finland, taking its message to far larger crowds than could be squeezed into its club sets back in the US. While the critics thumbed their thesauruses in a vain attempt to describe the overwhelming spectacle of the Coltrane band in full flight, several of the group’s gigs were being captured for posterity, taped by various local radio stations and private collectors. These recordings have since acquired almost legendary status and have previously only been available in sporadic fashion, but for the first time ever, this new Acrobat release collates tapes made by the quintet in Paris, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm, creating a truly sundering anthology of this short-lived band at its peak. Newly remastered for optimum sound quality, along with examples of Coltrane's landmark compositions ‘Naima’ and ‘Impressions’, this collection also includes the saxophonist’s only recording of Victor Young's theme ‘Delila’h and, as a bonus, a stunning rare “second house” performance of Coltrane's transformational anthem ‘My Favourite Things’ taped in Stockholm. The booklet features photographs, concert memorabilia and press clippings, and comes complete with an extensive essay by award-winning British saxophonist and writer Simon Spillett.