On October 21, 1960, John Coltrane took a new rhythm section into Atlantic’s New York studio for the first time: McCoy Tyner, Steve Davis and Elvin Jones. Per the Jazz Discography Project, the day’s first master was “Village Blues,” followed by the title piece of My Favorite Things, a modal reworking of the Rodgers and Hammerstein waltz that later filled all of side one at 13:41. Two more tunes, “Equinox” and “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” were logged and rejected. Atlantic then spread the day’s output around. “Village Blues” went onto Coltrane Jazz, an LP otherwise made up of 1959 sessions with Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers; the title piece became the album and, edited into two parts, a radio single. “Equinox” was cut again on October 26 and held until Coltrane’s Sound (1964). Sources disagree on how to date some of the week’s tracks, so treat the day-by-day split as discography, not gospel.
John Coltrane arriving at Schiphol Airport, Netherlands, October 26, 1963. Photo: Hugo van Gelderen / Anefo, Dutch National Archives, CC0 1.0; taken three years after the session.
Sources: Jazz Discography Project — John Coltrane: Atlantic Studios, NYC, October 21, 24 and 26, 1960 (masters 5118–5121, 5400–5401) , Wikipedia — My Favorite Things (John Coltrane album): sessions of October 21, 24 and 26, 1960; 13:41 title track; edited radio single , Wikipedia — Coltrane Jazz: “Village Blues” recorded October 21, 1960, the one track not from the 1959 sessions
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