This Day in Music

December 26th

Happy Boxing Day! Coltrane is free, The Rolling Stones are cheeky, and Elvis is on leave, all on this day in music.

Releases

1966: With specific date unknown, it was in December 1966 that John Coltrane released the album “Live at the Village Vanguard Again!” Recorded during his performances at the famous Greenwich Village jazz club in May of 1966, it is a three-track collection of free-jazz numbers, including “My Favourite Things,” “Naima,” and “Introduction to My Favourite Things,” a fully-improvised piece that segues into its famous namesake song, bringing the tune to a full 26 minutes of aural pleasure.

Lauded for its extended solos ad lib, critics were near unanimous in rating the record with their highest evaluations. DownBeat gave it 5-stars, The Penguin Guide to Jazz gave it 4-stars (out of 4 stars), and The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide also assigned it 5-stars.

Jazz writers were particularly impressed by the performances of drummer Rashied Ali, who had the monumental task of replacing the great Elvin Jones, and Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone and flute, for his magnificent improvisations, including alongside Coltrane. JC himself plays mostly soprano sax, but also tenor, flute, and bass clarinet. Rounding out the sextet were the talented Alice Coltrane (nee McLeod) on piano, who was John’s wife of one year at the time and an established jazz cat in her own right, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Emanuel Rahim on percussion.

Events

1964: The Rolling Stones place a cheeky ad in the New Musical Express that wishes all the starving hairdressers a Happy Christmas, the reference being to the new fashion of wearing “long” hair. It would only get longer of course.

1967: BBC-TV 1 broadcasts The Beatles movie Magical Mystery Tour in black and white. As with all Beatles projects, the music was fabulous, with an accompanying double-EP released earlier in the month on December 8th. Unfortunately, the movie was a flop. The concept was for The Beatles to load into a bus and travel the English countryside getting into adventures. The only problem? They encountered no interesting adventures, and 52 minutes of the Fab Four frolicking for the camera was not a worthy substitute.

1970: “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison becomes the first song by a former Beatle to top a major record chart. In this case, the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard 100. George would score two more No. 1 singles in his career, “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” in 1973, and “Got My Mind Set on You” in 1987. He would come close another time with his friends Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne, when the quintet known as The Traveling Wilburys peaked at No. 2 in 1988 with “Handle With Care.”

The Daily Elvis

1958: While in West Germany during his army service, Elvis travels to Frankfurt to attend a “Holiday on Ice” show.

Pictured: John Coltrane’s “Blue Train” photograph from 1958.