Tuesday, December 17, 2024

John Coltrane plays Greensleeves

The tune is old. From Wikipedia:

"Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song. A broadside ballad by the name "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves" was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationers' Company in September 1580, and the tune is found in several late 16th-century and early 17th-century sources, such as Ballet's MS Lute Book and Het Luitboek van Thysius, as well as various manuscripts preserved in the Seeley Historical Library in the University of Cambridge.

Coltrane generally played in a quartet. Here is playing with a large group:

John Coltrane - Soprano Sax
Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard - Trumpet
Julian Priester, Charles Greenlee - Trombone
Eric Dolphy - Alto Sax & Bass Clarinet
McCoy Tyner - Piano
Elvin Jones - Drums
Paul Chambers, Reggie Workman - Bass

Note the use of two bass players. I believe this was arranged by McCoy Tyner.

Coltrane is playing soprano sax. He comes in on the melody at about 0:50 along with simple horn backing figures. Notice the little embellishments, like hiccups, he puts at the end of the first strain (0:59), and then early in the second strain. And then we have a leap up at 1:10, where Coltrane will riff into a full-blown solo statement. Now he's in a brooding mood, 2:21, evokes the melody at 2:37 and then returns to it at 2:47, hiccups included. Back to riffing at 3:04. Coltrane's out at 3:47 and McCoy Tyner takes over on piano.

And so forth. At 6:17 Tyner comes in with a straightforward statement of the melody, but now in a major mode, where before it had been minor. He's backed by strumming on the bass. The horns enter at 6:32 followed immediately by Trane wailing on the soprano. And so forth.

* * * * *

Here's a more traditional, and certainly more British, realization of the tune. Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on Greensleeves, performed by Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner.

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