ARKADIA JAZZ ALL-STARS:
Thank You, John!
Liner notes by the artists

BENNY GOLSON

"Syeeda’s Song Flute" reminds me of our early days in Philadelphia when we were trying so hard to learn how to play. It represents a side of John that often went unseen by the public. As I listen to the melody I can see John standing in front of me as a young kid of eighteen determined to go somewhere musically, grabbing hold of many different kinds of things that he thought would propel him forward. Though a quiet man, his music tapped other qualities of his personality.

"Touch Me Lightly": Though written some fourteen years ago, this melody could easily represent the more subtle and subdued part of John’s personality. This, then, would be a musical, rather than a linguistic way that John had of speaking -- things often being understated, often with a reticence of release.

DAVID LIEBMAN

"My Favorite Things" was the tune that exposed Coltrane to the wider jazz audience and what a shock it was to hear him take such a simple scalar melody and apply his whole vocabulary to it. In fact, that tune in a sense molded much of the style of the great quartet through the five years they were together, including McCoy Tyner’s use of fourth chord voicings, Elvin Jones’ polyrhythmic approach and Jimmy Garrison’s strumming concept on the bass. The amazing thing is that, after this song first hit in 1961, one could trace the evolution of the group’s concepts through their ever-evolving performances of the tune. Listen to the version live from Newport in 1964 with Roy Haynes and then in 1966 from "Live at the Village Vanguard" with Pharaoh Sanders, Rashid Ali and Alice Coltrane. The differences are incredible in just these three versions, not to mention the many live recordings of the tune which are currently available. As Elvin once said to me, he played "Favorite Things" every night and sometimes twice a night, but every time as if they may never play it again. (I calculated that this meant somewhere near 1200 times!!!) For this version, I took it away from the ¾ feel which is so associated with the Trane and sped the tempo up adding some other harmonies.

"I Want to Talk About You," was written by Billy Eckstine, but Erroll Garner’s "Misty," based on the same harmonic changes, is much better known. This tune was very important to the Coltrane repertoire because he would take an extended solo cadenza, which was a tour de force featuring heavy use of multiphonics, the altissimo register and much more. It was definitely one of the highlights of each evening’s performance and the audience came to look forward to this tune. This recording is really straight forward showcasing the lyrical aspect of the original composition itself.

BILLY TAYLOR

John Coltrane and I played together on many occasions when I was "house pianist" at Birdland. He asked me a lot of questions about Art Tatum. He was very interested in Tatum’s fast arpeggios and his unique harmonies. "He sure takes chords to some different places," John would say, then he would ask me about some particular changes I had played which reminded him of Tatum. He practiced longer and harder than any musician I knew, and though he was self-taught, he organized music and reorganized it on a personal level better than anyone I ever met. "Moment’s Notice" is one example of how he developed one idea harmonically by linking the first five chords of the tune with a common tone, while "Naima" uses suspensions in a way which is equally personal. John Coltrane’s influence is still growing after all these years.

Alberto Beserra of NOVA BOSSA NOVA

The first time I heard John Coltrane was in Brazil in 1965 when a friend asked me to check out one of his records. I said, "Wow! I like this. I’m not sure I really understand it, but I like it." It was definitely something new and different.

When Bob Karcy asked us to record a couple of tunes for this tribute album, I was immediately attracted to "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes," because the first part is Latin and the second part is jazz, and the melody and harmony come close to capturing the bossa nova feeling.

"Moment’s Notice" has a similar conception to "Giant Steps," with very challenging chord progressions and up-tempo rhythms. All I had to do was add syncopation so we could play it in our style.

TED ROSENTHAL

John Coltrane continues to be a source of inspiration to jazz (and hopefully all) musicians. His musical explorations, along with his commitment to constantly grow as an artist, serve as a benchmark for other musicians. With "Giant Steps," Coltrane single-handedly introduced new harmonic and melodic ideas that still (although almost 40 years old!) proliferate in today’s jazz vocabulary. Rather than the typical "breakneck" tempo, I tried to take a more abstract view of the piece - with a nod to tradition near the end.

Ethan Eubanks of RED TIME

The integrity, love and spirit that John Coltrane gave us through his music is a model not only for musicians, but for all of humanity.