By Larry Grogan

Ralph J. Gleason was one of the great ‘facilitators’ in West Coast music history. For decades he was one of America’s preeminent jazz and pop journalists, for Downbeat, the San Francisco Chronicle (for 25 years), then as one of the co-founder’s (with Jann Wenner) of Rolling Stone. He was also a co-founder of the Monterey Jazz Festival (with DJ Jimmy Lyons), an author, and later in life an executive Vice President of Fantasy Records.

One of the more interesting aspects of his life’s work was the television program, ‘Jazz Casual’ which ran on public television station KQED from 1960 to 1968. Here Gleason presented some of the day’s premiere jazz artists in an intimate and restriction-free setting. The presentation was decidedly no-frills (the studio is littered with folding chairs and the boom microphone operator is in constant view), and Gleason was an amiable, knowledgeable presence, always hovering on the fringes of the action.

Rhino Video, with the help of Ralph’s son Toby Gleason has resurrected some of these amazing programs for the home video market.

The first in the series, which features the John Coltrane Quartet in a performance from December of 1963, is surely one of the best. Featuring the ‘classic’ quartet (Coltrane on tenor sax, McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums and Jimmy Garrison on bass) in their prime (having played together long enough to gel, but previous to Trane’s move to the ‘outside’), this episode of Jazz Casual is superb.

Unlike other episodes, Gleason speaks only during a brief introduction, and the Quartet is allowed to work their magic on three numbers (Mongo Santamaria’s ‘Afro-Blue’ and Trane’s own ‘Alabama’ and ‘Impressions’).

All of the performances are fantastic, but special mention must be made of ‘Impressions’. It is in this performance that it is immediately obvious why this group was revolutionary. To watch Tyner’s fingers dance madly over the keys, to see the sweat dripping off of Garrison, to hear him sing/grunt along with himself as he plays from a position completely ‘inside’ the music, or to hear Trane and Jones ‘speak’ to each other in a duet (the drummers power is immediately evident – you half expect the set to crumble beneath the assault), is to be witness to masters operating at the peak of their power. It helps that the picture and sound are crystal clear, making this an indispensable document to fans of the Coltrane Quartet, and of powerful music in general.

For more information about the Jazz Casual video series, read last month's article by Toby Gleason.