This video of John Coltrane playing, “On Green Dolphin Street,” is less of a music video and more of a music documentary. What it lacks in production value is made up for in historical value. There are no expensive props or dazzling visual animations— just four musicians playing a simple 32-bar form, show tune. Because the context of their performance is so spontaneous and evidently casual (because the leader missed the session), each musicians talent is showcased brilliantly and without distraction.
The quartet’s first musical decision is to start the tune off with a rubato piano intro featuring one complete statement of the melody. Paul Chambers accompanies him with the bow which sets up a nice contrast for the pizzicato petal-point figure he plays when Jimmy Cobb brings the time in. The staging and camera work reflects the musical decisions made by the quartet perfectly. The video opens with an overhead shot of Wynton Kelly’s hands on the piano. They pull the camera back to reveal Paul Chambers, then Jimmy Cobb, and finally John Coltrane, but just his silhouette. Once Coltrane brings in the melody, the lighting shifts and the horn player has the spotlight.
During the saxophone solo, we have some subtle camera movement to add liveliness and motion to the shot. A wavelike animation also appears right by the bell of Coltrane’s saxophone. The first time I watched this video, I was mystified by the animation that fades in around 2:18 until I read mobuisII’s comment which points out that the animation was generated using an oscilloscope. The waves are entertaining and they offer some variation to an otherwise static shot, but they don’t do much for me. I find myself not paying too much attention to them while they are visible and I certainly don’t miss the when they fade out.
While the decision to include the oscilloscope animation was questionable on the videographer’s part, all the decisions they made with the lighting were excellent. Jakob Kurup says in the comment section that the, “musicians almost look divine.” The image of these legendary musicians playing against a solid black background is quite powerful. The spotlight illuminates each one of them when they take a solo casting dramatic shadows over their concentrated expressions. Sometimes it even appears as though the musicians are glowing when the camera goes slightly in and out of focus temporarily blurring the picture.
The first two cuts in the video happen at the end of the saxophone solo into the piano solo. We see Coltrane’s profile for the entirety of his solo and towards the end a three quarter shot gets overlayed with the profile shot. The profile shot quickly fades out and the viewer gets to watch Coltrane finish his solo from the three quarter angle. The next transition is a slower one which shows the back of Wynton Kelly sitting at the piano. All of the video editing described previously happens in about 15 seconds and is done very smoothly. The video is certainly deserving of Chris Lawrence’s praise, “So incredibly polished and professional. Like something out of a movie. Breathtaking stuff.”
The “no-frills” vibe of this video combined with the greatest playing the history of jazz has to offer makes this production something that belongs in an archive. Watching this video as a musician is a truly educational, and equally inspiring, experience because we get to understand how Coltrane and his contemporaries carried themselves on stage through visual means. We’re not left guessing how Wynton Kelly’s hands looked on the piano, or how Paul Chambers held his bow all thanks to the skilled recording engineers at work that day.
Killin!…yea Drew, great post. You cant get much better than Coltrane videos. I really enjoyed how you made sure to referenced the context of the performance, with miles being absent that night. I also really enjoyed how you highlighted the simplicity of the recording. Compared to todays intricate videos, this is a performance relying solely on the incendiary swing coming through Coltrane’s horn…these are the CATS! truly an incredible video.
Nice video, I enjoyed watching and reading about this performance. I liked how you talked about the camera angles and the lighting. There are a lot of camera effects whether it was intentional or not that really makes this video so unique and representative of the natural, flowing performance of this jazz session.
Hi Drew,
I really enjoyed reading your blog on the live performance of Coltrane. I absolutely love listening to this recording, I had no idea that Miles was missing, but it totally makes sense after seeing the personnel. Right from the start, I was interested that you took the typical expectation of how a music video might bring new aspects to the music and went a different route by calling it a music documentary. The difference of it being a music documentary was that the video increased the authenticity of what was already there in the live performance of the music. I like how you gave a great review while connecting it to visual cues in the video and how it pairs with the music, and the comments from the video you choose supported that as well. I thought that the bulk of your blog supported your argument on technology and liveness very well. One part that was slightly confusing was what seemed like part of your thesis in the second sentence where the lack of production was made up for historical value. I think there could have been more historical context given in this blog, since the “historical value” was not really discussed and seemed more focused on the technology/“liveness” aspect. I agree with your conclusion that the performance is definitely inspiring. It is also greater musical experience with this video and allows us to careful study some of the best jazz playing live, great!
-Emiel