Answer:
Free & Modal Jazz with a touch of Indian Ragas
Explanation:
Although I´m a jazz music fan I find it hard to listen to this interpretation of My Favourite things from The sound of music. The main reason is that John Coltrane takes this sweet melody to its limits, improvising and using his famous <em>layers of sounds</em>.
So to start with Coltrane: his solo can be best described as the ultimate free jazz solo in which he applies the Indian Raga idea of exploring the melody thoroughly. With one difference: where in Indian music this exploration is generally the slow introduction and rhythm free-improvisation called <em>Alap, </em>in this case his solo is a fast and technical showcase that reminds me of the heydays of bebop (the fast playing of arpeggiated chords)
However, McCoy Tyner speaks a different tone: he establishes a modal vamp by repeating the chords of the melody with his pedal point in the bassover over and over, and uses this to solo in a much more relaxed way.
In short, he sticks more to the melody while playing modal jazz, in a similar way as Miles Davis did on the Kind of Blue record.
My recording from 1963 doesn´t mention Steve Davis as the bass player, but Jimmy Garrison. He entered the scene well after the first recording of My favourite things. Garrison, with McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones, were called the classical quartet of John Coltrane.
Elvin Jones, an excentrical jazz drummer, is playing jazz on this recording but at the same time he exhibits some fills and accents that sounds more like a Indian Tabla player.
So when Coltrane plays it sounds like bebob and free jazz, too free if you ask me. When McCoy Tyner plays it sounds more like modal jazz, i.e. the use of non-progressive armonic chords that allows for more melodic freedom. That´s more of my liking.
