John Coltrane Live at Birdland (Impulse! 1963)

# by request: repost,

In the early morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, a gaggle of malcontents planted 12 sticks of dynamite in a window well outside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

The dynamite exploded eight hours later killing Denise McNair, 11, and Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins, all 14, in the process galvanizing the Civil Rights Movement.

Three months later, on November 18, 1963,
John Coltrane stepped up to the microphone in fabled Englewood, NJ studio of one Rudy Van Gelder and over a McCoy Tyner Tremolo,

blew his searing and definitive statement on the subject of the bombing— “Alabama.”

“Alabama” is the single most provocative piece on what is considered one of the most well rounded John Coltrane live recordings Coltrane Live at Birdland. The piece is most certainly why this Coltrane live recording was chosen for this series. (continued here..)