Post by greblracrWell John Coltrane and Miles Davis and Sun Ra and probably lots of other
folks
Post by greblracrwere famous for 60+ minute continuous songs.
It's believed that Coltrane reailly only did the 60 minute songs during the
last year or two of his life, as heard on Live In Japan, though even before
that, he did have a tendency to stretch his improvs to great lengths.
I can never remember who it was, but I saw a documentary once where one of the
drummers who played with him was telling a story of how one night a drumstick
slipped out of his hand (I guess he was sweatier than usual due to some
especially bright lights that night or something) and hit Coltrane in the back
of his head. In the middle of a solo.
So, after the show, the drummer apologizes to Trane, tells him it was an
accident, and Trane says "Accident? I thought you were trying to tell me to
knock it off with the 20 minute solos!".
I've never heard of Miles playing songs that were anywhere near that long,
though the double live album Pangaea consists of two extended tracks (each
clocking in around 40-44 minutes). But I if you listen to the music, the mooods
and rhythms and everything change so much, one wonders if it could have just
been divided up differently.
On one of the live albums that were reissued in the mid 90's (I think it's
Live/Evil, but I'm not sure), one of the guys who was in his band at the time
said that they never had any titles for any of the pieces they played (or if
they did, Miles never said "This is called such and such"), and they never had
a set list. Miles would just start playing something and off they'd go.
I've never heard of Sun Ra playing a single song for 60 minutes, but it's not
beyond the realm of imagination to believe that he did. I have that Space Is
The Place LP where he fills the entire side of the album with the title track.
I can easily see him doing it or one of his other space chants (say, Walking On
The Moon or We Travel The Spaceways) for another 40 minutes, then giving some
cosmo-philosophical explanation of why they did it that way that particular
night.
The Scuba DIVER Presently Known As Chris
"If you have a rainy night, a bottle of gin, and a Stevie Wonder record, and
you STILL can't close the deal, give it up!"-Stuart Smith, on dating
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