Coltrane Jazz [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

John Coltrane

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 20, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1960
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B00004TJ7W
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #254,302 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Little Old Lady

2. Village Blues

3. My Shining Hour

4. Fifth House

5. Harmonique

6. Like Sonny

7. I'll Wait and Pray

8. Some Other Blues

9. Like Sonny [Alternate Version]

10. I'll Wait and Pray [Alternate Take]

11. Like Sonny [Alternate Take 5]

12. Village Blues [Alternate Take]

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice transitional album, December 7, 2005

By	G B (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This was one of Coltrane's transitional LPs, released between two of his best-known albums (Giant Steps and My Favorite Things). In fact, the original album draws from sessions that made up both albums -- one track ("Village Blues") from the My Favorite Things/Coltrane Plays the Blues/Coltrane's Sound sessions (October 1960), and the other 7 from the sessions that also produced one classic tune for Giant Steps ("Naima", December 1959).

As you would expect, the album has a transitional feel, fitting in between its better known neighbors. While most of the performances are very good, few of them have the bracing impact of the best Coltrane Atlantics and I wouldn't put this one in the first tier. (My personal favorites are Coltrane's Sound, Coltrane Plays the Blues, and Giant Steps.) "Village Blues" was most listeners' first taste of the McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones rhythm section, and sounds similar to another minor blues recorded around the same date ("Equinox", on Coltrane's Sound).

The 1959 tunes are divided between more traditional, conservative tunes and more radical experimentation, all with the great Wynton Kelly/Paul Chambers/Jimmy Cobb rhythm section as backup. The best of the experimental tracks is "Fifth House", based on Tad Dameron's "Hot House". Like "My Favorite Things", "Ole" and many other noteworthy performances, Coltrane spends much of his time improvising intensely on one vamp. "Harmonique" is another interesting tune -- Coltrane incorporates saxophone multiphonics (playing more than one note at a time) into the song's melody, providing an exotic sound. I feel the song is hamstrung a bit by the more traditional rhythm section, which sounds a little too tight. Out of the more straightforward tracks, "Some Other Blues" is a very nice preview of the Coltrane Plays the Blues album (even if it doesn't quite match the heights of that album); "Like Sonny" is a very catchy tune that combines Latin and straight-ahead rhythms; "I'll Wait and Pray" is a beautiful if not quite top-of-the-line Trane ballad performance; and "Little Old Lady" and "My Shining Hour" are two nice bouncy performances.

As far as the bonus tracks, the most interesting are two takes of "Like Sonny" from the March 1959 (pre-Giant Steps) session. Lex Humphries and Cedar Walton (I think) replace Cobb and Kelly, making the rhythm section a little more beboppish.

If you like Giant Steps, Coltrane's Sound, and My Favorite Things, Coltrane Jazz is definitely worth picking it up, though it probably isn't the most essential of the Coltrane Atlantics.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen to it and Listen to it and Listen to it..., July 6, 2000

By	john challenger (Winnetka, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

Many of the songs on this extraordinary album were recorded during the "Giant Steps" sessions, a landmark CD that often unfairly overshadows this record. It's innocuous title, "Coltrane Jazz," causes many to overlook it, but don't fall into the same trap. I've been listening constantly to this CD for the past three or four months and I cannot take it off my playlist. It is phenomenally beautiful music. It lasts and lasts and lasts!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coltrane Jazz, January 1, 2008

By	finulanu ""the mysterious"" (Here, there, and everywhere) - See all my reviews

This is a bit of a marking-time effort, with Trane scaling back his approach in some places, even covering a cutesy Hoagy Carmichael tune ("Little Old Lady") which is the only weak song in the batch - the other two covers, a heartfelt take on "My Shining Hour" that is justly one of Coltrane's most acclaimed performances; and "I'll Wait and Pray", almost a distant cousin to "Naima" - are much better; and the bebop "Some Other Blues", a good song that recalls elements of his tenure with Miles Davis; the classic "Like Sonny" has him refining his "sheets-of-sound" technique and allowing Paul Chambers to play a lengthy, memorable bass solo. Other songs show him pushing the envelope further, with him experimenting with Asian modes on "Fifth House", arguably the best track on the album; playing multiple notes at once on the European-sounding "Harmonique". I think "Village Blues" has a proto-free jazz sound, though to be honest I don't find that song all that memorable. This isn't as experimental or diverse as my favorites from the Atlantic years - Giant Steps, My Favorite Things and Coltrane's Sound - but it's a very heartfelt, accessible album.