Live at Birdland
About this Album
Live at Birdland, released by Impulse! on January 9, 1964, pairs three performances recorded at the New York club on October 8, 1963 ("Afro Blue," "I Want to Talk About You" and "The Promise") with two studio recordings made on November 18, 1963 at Van Gelder Studio: "Alabama" and "Your Lady." Despite the title, the album is part live document and part studio statement. The quartet is John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, and the album was produced by Bob Thiele.
Critics have been warm to it. AllMusic's Scott Yanow called it arguably Coltrane's finest all-around album, and Pitchfork ranked it 128th among the best albums of the 1960s. Its most discussed track is "Alabama," widely understood as a response to the 1963 Birmingham church bombing.