Coltrane Jazz [Import]

John Coltrane | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Atlantic UK
• ASIN: B000002I50
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,996 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

John Coltrane's work on Atlantic Records marked both his ascent as a leader and the refinement of his trademarked "sheets of sound" improvisational style. This 1961 release features Trane with a variety of celebrated bandmates: pianists Sonny Rollins, Wynton Kelly, and McCoy Tyner, bassists Steve Davis and Paul Chambers, and drummers Lex Humphries, Jimmy Cobb, and Elvin Jones. Stylistically, Trane spans some diverse musical territory. There's his down-home and hypnotic takes on the blues, "Village Blues" and the Thelonius Monk-like "Harmonique." Coltrane and his crew poetically and rhythmically remake the standard "My Shining Hour," and "Like Sonny," a shout-out to Sonny Rollins, is a dancing Afro-Latin excursion. This date offers a preview of the important music that Coltrane, Tyner, and Jones would unleash in a few years before the saxophonist's death in 1967. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Product Description

Digitally remastered and expanded edition. Contains the complete original album Coltrane Jazz, which was Trane's subsequent album following the remarkable Giant Steps. He was backed on most of this LP by the Miles Davis rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. All other existing quartet recordings by Coltrane with Wynton Kelly have been added here as a bonus, including the wonderful 'Naima' and a live performance by John Coltrane in Germany during March 1960. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grows in stature, April 1, 2003

By 

Tyler Smith (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coltrane Jazz (Audio CD)

Overshadowed by the critical buzz generatd by "Giant Steps" and "My Favorite Things," lacking the exoticism of "Ole" or the big-name partnerships of "Bags and Trane," or "The Avant-Garde," this album is one of the least-discussed of the saxophonist's Atlantic recordings. And I did find it easy to overlook it when I first heard it many years ago.

On first listening it seemed, for some reason, to lack the usual emotion of a Coltrane recording. On repeated listenings over the years, I've come to appreciate the album much more and now consider it a very solid midlevel entry in his discography (which makes it a pretty darn good album).

True, the playing on some of the tracks (Little Old Lady"; "My Shining Hour") is not as compelling as we expect from Trane; they're certainly worth listening to, but they feel more like some of his more ordinary material from the Prestige years. And unlike the nearly perfectly crafted "Giant Steps" and "My Favorite Things," the album doesn't have that "spot-on" sound that makes you feel like he could not have produced an album that could sound better.

Still, it's a Coltrane album, so satisfying listening moments are not lacking. For the power that only a really good Trane solo can offer, there's "Harmonique," with its memorable tag in which he plays more than one note simultaneously. "Fifth House" effectively displays his interest in Eastern sounds; "Like Sonny" has a very attractive Latin-tinged line with some exciting, fluid soloing; "I'll Wait and Pray" is a typically effective ballad; and "Some Other Blues" shows once again his mastery of that form.

"Coltrane Jazz," recorded in 1959, featured Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Jimmy Cobb (drums), the next-to-the-last time that Coltrane would record with a group that did not include McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones. While those two obviously became Trane's closest collaborators over the next seven years, this rhythm section shines in its own right. Coltrane and Chambers have their usual excellent rapport, Kelly contributes a bright and swinging sound, and Jimmy Cobb, for my money, was simply one of the best drummers of the time and doesn't disappoint here.

All in all, "Coltrane Jazz" may not grab you immediately, but the patient listener will find it delivers many pleasurable moments.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a crazier step, November 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Coltrane Jazz (Audio CD)

This record is overshadowed by the one preceding it, namely the technically superb Giant Steps which blew up Bebop from inside out, and the one that came after it, the nice but tame sounding My Favourite Things with the commercial hit of the same name. But it is more experimental than the accomplished complex Giant Steps, and though the blowing there had a razorsharp edge, here the playing of Coltrane is richer, even if it has sometimes an unsure feel to it and doesn't hit as hard and fast, due probably to the unknown territory he was beginnning to explore once more. Strange harmonical effects are tried out and melodically a more exotic and diverse atmosphere is reached. Coltrane Jazz also has something wild about it that Favourite things lacks. More than once you'll find yourself exclaiming this is crazy. And beautifull... It is the first sign of the great things to come in the Impulse period.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neglected Treasure (look for the best edition), April 16, 2008

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coltrane Jazz (Audio CD)

Despite coming after the revolutionary "Giant Steps" (Coltrane's most important, musically influential album, in my estimation), this recording, also on Atlantic, features a more conservative, melodically-minded Coltrane than the previous outing (with a few harmonically adventurous exceptions such as "Fifth House" and "Harmonique"). There are three rhythm sections, with Wynton Kelly the pianist on 6 of the 12 tracks comprising my copy (a 2004 release in the Atlantic Masters series). McCoy Tyner and Cedar Walton occupy the piano chair on the other tracks, but the proceedings are especially grooving, the solos unfailingly melodic and inventive on the tracks with the always infectious, felicitous Kelly piano (Paul Chambers also deserves much of the credit). To anyone who knows the American Songbook, the performance of Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer's "My Shining Hour" (taken up-tempo) is bound to be a highlight. And Coltrane leaves his soprano in its case, which is just fine by me. This is close to being essential Coltrane--similar to the vibe of "Blue Train" but better--if only because, with only one instead of three horns, Trane gets three times the playing time.

[Even a negative vote beats the apathy normally received by Coltrane and the music itself. Whatever one thinks of this reviewer's humble attempt to represent this music accurately, don't let that be an obstacle to experiencing this music first-hand.]