THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In August of 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played an engagement at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York. Coltrane’s classic quartet were not as fully established as there would soon become, and there was a meteoric fifth member of Coltrane’s group those nights — visionary multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. Ninety minutes of never-before-heard music from this group were recently discovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, offering a glimpse into a powerful musical partnership that ended much too soon.
In addition to some well-known Coltrane material (My Favorite Things, Impressions, Greensleeves), there is a breathtaking feature for Dolphy’s bass clarinet on When Lights Are Low and the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane’s composition Africa, from the Africa/Brass album. This recording represents a very special moment in Coltrane’s journey — the summer of 1961, when the signature, ecstatic live sound commonly associated with his classic quartet of ’62 to ’65 was first maturing, and when he was drawing inspiration from deep, African sources and experimenting with the two-bass idea both in the studio and on stage. This truly rare recording of Africa captures his expansive vision at the time.”
