After the divine A Love Supreme, the Coltrane Quartet kept moving forward, radically expanding their range. In 1965 the Quartet released Love Supreme, The John Coltrane Quartet Plays, Ascension, and New Thing at Newport. If A Love Supreme can reside pretty comfortably on most turntables as Classic Jazz, Ascension is the free jazz revolution writ large, with 7 horn players doing the big band thing like it ain’t been done before. It’s in this run of albums that we find Coltrane taking over "Chim Chim Cheree," turning yet another children’s song sung by Julie Andrews toward free jazz. The collective energy of the Quartet is astonishing. And as much as I love Coltrane’s solos, especially when he comes screaming in after McCoy Tyner’s piano solo, it’s Elvin Jones’ cat quick drumming that I can’t take my ears off of.
John Coltrane Quartet - Chim Chim Cheree [buy]
Contemporary jazz giant Joe Lovano has a review/remembrance of this song over at jazz.com.
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