John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy Evenings at the Village Gate 2LP (Mono)

In August of 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played an engagement at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York. Ninety minutes of never-before-heard music from this group were recently discovered at the New York Public Library. In addition to some well-known Coltrane material ("Impressions"), 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.

...[Evenings at the Village Gate]...delivers an exciting fly-on-the-wall atmosphere, capturing the group at the apex of their transition from hard-driving modal jazz to the more avant-garde, harmonically free approach Coltrane would embrace by the middle of the decade....Evenings at the Village Gate is a testament to their profound artistry and creative synergy.