naima by john coltrane: eleven versions of this wonderful ballad recorded in different line-ups between 1959 and 1966

 

john coltrane wrote this tune in 1959 for his first wife juanita "naima" grubbs and recorded it the same year for his groundbreaking album giant steps. in the following years this composition was a constant part of his live-set. for your listening pleasure i gathered together eleven versions of naima i found in my collection, choosing from more than twenty performances of the tune.

 

from the first demo recording in march 1959 throughout the years with the classic quartet up to one of the last performances john coltrane executed in november 1966 before his untimely death on the 17th of july 1967 you can hear that this tune obviously was always very close to his heart. and by the way: for a lot of reasons i did not include the very well known version from the 2nd of december 1959.

 

here are some of many versions of naima:

 

01 - 23rd of november 1961 / stockholm / john coltrane tenor saxophone, eric dolphy bass clarinet, mccoy tyner piano, reggie workman bass, elvin jones drums / from live trane / listen directly

02 - 1st of july 1961 / newport jazz festival / john coltrane tenor saxophone, mccoy tyner piano, art davis and reggie workman bass, elvin jones drums / from the 1961 newport set

03 - 2nd of november 1963 / berlin / john coltrane tenor saxophone, mccoy tyner piano, jimmy garrison bass, elvin jones drums / from live trane

04 - 26th of march 1959 / atlantic studios new york / alternate version 1 / john coltrane tenor saxophone, cedar walton piano, paul chambers bass, lex humphries drums / from giant steps / listen directly

05 - 3rd of november 1961 / village vanguard new york / john coltrane tenor saxophone, eric dolphy bass clarinet, mccoy tyner piano, reggie workman bass, elvin jones drums / from the complete village vanguard recordings

06 - 20th of november 1961 / copenhagen / john coltrane tenor saxophone, eric dolphy bass clarinet, mccoy tyner piano, reggie workman bass, elvin jones drums / from the complete 1961 copenhagen concert / listen directly

07 - 11th of november 1966 / temple university philadelphia / john coltrane tenor saxophone / pharoah sanders tenor saxophone / alice coltrane piano / jimmy garrison bass / rashied ali drums / from at temple university 1966

08 - 26th of march 1959 / atlantic studios new york / alternate version 2 / john coltrane tenor saxophone, cedar walton piano, paul chambers bass, lex humphries drums / from giant steps / listen directly

09 - 19th of november 1962 / stockholm / john coltrane tenor saxophone, mccoy tyner piano, jimmy garrison bass, elvin jones drums / from stockholm concerts

10 - 27th of july 1965 / antibes / john coltrane tenor saxophone, mccoy tyner piano, jimmy garrison bass, elvin jones drums / from live in france / listen directly

11 - 24th of october 1991 / warsaw / mccoy tyner solo / from live in warsaw

 

download 11 versions of naima

(mp3 / direct download)