The story goes that the brilliant pianist and composer Monk once witnessed Miles Davis scoff at his band member Coltrane and that, after seeing this, he offered the saxophonist a job in his quartet. The two jazz icons ended up playing together for nine months in 1959, but only recorded three songs in the studio. How well-matched the duo was, especially those who had seen them play live, especially
… at their permanent place the Five Spot Café, knew. With these recently discovered and crystal clear live recordings, everyone can finally have a say in how good they were. And how good they were! The angular and chunky playing of Monk contrasts beautifully with the flowing and ethereal series of notes of Coltrane and sometimes the two twirl around each other in a tense fashion to suddenly merge into a striking interplay again. This essential jazz album has only one flaw and that is that with fifty minutes it is way too short. Please dig through those archives! (MR)more
