John Coltrane’s Solo on “The Last Blues” (1965)
PDF of Coltrane’s Solo on “The Last Blues” (Bb)
Of the five tracks on John Coltrane’s posthumously released album Living Space, “The Last Blues” is an outlier. The album, which was released in 1998, is made up of five songs that were recorded on June 10 and 16, 1965, as part of the same sessions that would result in the album Transition. While the other songs on Living Space are more typical of the era—long, modal tunes with freer structures—“The Last Blues” showcases Coltrane in a surprisingly traditional setting. The recording is also significant in that it is (as the title suggests) Coltrane’s last recorded blues. In many ways, this session marked the end of a more traditional style in Coltrane’s recorded works. Just over two weeks later, he would record Ascension, an album often referenced as being the first in Coltrane’s “avant-garde” period.
In addition to its more traditional structure, “The Last Blues” is unique in the context of the album because it was recorded in a trio setting, without McCoy Tyner. It was not the first time that Coltrane recorded a blues in a chord-less trio setting. Prior examples include “Trane’s Slo Blues” from the 1957 album Lush Life, “Blues to You” from Coltrane Plays The Blues (1960), and “Chasin’ the Trane,” from Live at the Village Vanguard. Additionally, on “Take the Coltrane,” Duke Ellington doesn’t comp behind Coltrane’s solo, and on “Bessie’s Blues,” McCoy Tyner only comps for part of Coltrane’s solo.
It is interesting to consider the possible reasons Coltrane chose this configuration so often when playing the blues, and what the possible effects are. Not having a chording player allows the soloist more harmonic freedom, though in this case Coltrane doesn’t stray far from the harmony and is very deliberate about when and how he does it. Perhaps this is the reason he preferred the trio setting—because it allowed him to have complete control over any alterations to the harmony, and to be able to freely move between a more dissonant harmonic outlook, and one that is based on simpler blues or pentatonic vocabulary.
Harmonically, Coltrane’s playing is relatively straight-forward throughout the solo. Much of the melodic vocabulary that Coltrane draws on is triadic in nature—emphasizing the root, 3rd, 7th and 9th of the dominant chords. When he does move away from the diatonic harmony, he often does so at the same places in the form. For example, Coltrane frequently introduces more dissonance in the 3rd and 4th measures of the 12-bar form. In choruses 1, 2 and 4 (mm. 37-38, 49-50, 73-74) he seems to be simply playing an altered dominant, emphasizing the b13, b9, #9 of G7.
In the 5th chorus, (mm. 84-87), Coltrane outlines descending minor 7th chords moving down in half-steps (see below). He then ends with a line that again implies a G7 altered sound.
This melodic idea—descending 7th chord moving down chromatically—is common in Coltrane’s playing. He plays it with some regularity, including on “Take the Coltrane,” (at 1:25), another blues in the key of G.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the “The Last Blues” is the level of rhythmic intensity and interaction. The songs tempo allows for a variety of rhythmic subdivisions. Coltrane’s playing in the transition from the melody to the solo emphasizes the 8th note-triplet, establishing an almost 12/8 feel. However, already in his first chorus, Coltrane is switching between 16th note, 8th note and triplet subdivisions—which he continues to do throughout the entire solo. Just as Coltrane implies different rhythmic subdivisions, so do Garrison and Jones—resulting in a layered polyrhythmic effect between the three of them. Two prominent examples of this occur in mm. 75-78 and mm. 104-105.
In the first instance, shown below, Elvin plays steady 8th note triplets for four measures, accenting the third triplet of beats 2 and 4 with the bass drum, while Coltrane plays a line that switches between 16ths, 8th notes and triplets. The shift in rhythmic subdivision is emphasized when Elvin suddenly switches to a back-beat in measure 79, hitting beats 2 and 4 with the snare drum while playing the triplet pickup up and down beat of 1 and 3 in the bass drum.
In mm. 104-105, while Coltrane is playing primarily 16th notes, Jones is playing continuous 8th note triplets and Garrison is walking steady quarter notes. In each instance, the three opposing rhythms are all played with clarity and intensity. It is noteworthy that the rhythmic intensity, which is a hallmark of Coltrane’s quartet—is just as present at this tempo as it is on a much faster, modal tunes like “Impressions.” It is this level of intensity and infectious swing-feel from all three players that makes the rhythmic aspects as impressive as the harmonic elements.
“The Last Blues” is the last in a long list of impressive recordings of Coltrane playing the blues. In all these recordings, it is clear that, regardless of the evolutions in his musical style or group configuration, Coltrane’s playing was always deeply rooted in the tradition of the blues.