Customer Reviews

Coltrane

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the first of a string of brilliant and legendary records on Impulse by the great Coltrane quartet featuring new bassplayer Jimmy Garrison. Somehow everything fell into place at once - the music has a dark, blazing intensity that is instantly recognizable and far removed from the comparatively bright and colourful recordings of the previous Atlantic-years. The real heavy spirituality would not set in for another few years - but surely this music is highly spiritual in its own way, only in a more bluesy and human way than the quartet's later records. Vintage Coltrane!

In 1984, I was a 16-year old kid who was volunteering at the local all-volunteer radio station in town. I loved my Led Zeppelin and Grateful Dead LP's and wanted to be the next Johnny Fever, so I signed up for the Tuesday 6a - 9am slot fresh out of high school.

The guy who was on Monday "overnights" was a huge jazz freak. At 5:30am on my first day, I introduced myself and he asked me what kind of music I liked. When I told him, he said, "Jerry Garcia loved John Coltrane...you ever heard of him?" I said I hadn't.

"Wait here."

He went into the library and got the LP of this recording down and played "Out Of This World." The earnestness of Coltrane's tone just grabbed me. I didn't know what he was doing from a technical standpoint, but the emotion of his playing made me take notice. I'd never heard anything like it before in my life. I stayed after my shift was over just to listen to the entire LP in one of the production studios. I found a copy of it at a used record store not long after that...my first jazz LP.

A new door was opened to me on that June morning. I've long forgotten the DJ's name who opened it for me, but I've never looked back.

Essential listening.

Sean K.

Somewhat underappreciated, "Coltrane" contains a generally acknowledged classic performance ("Out of This World"), and an intriguing mix of other tunes that show the saxophonist's classic quartet in fine form.

"Out of This World" is the CD's centerpiece, an extended work that matches the power of Coltrane's great live improvisations at the Village Vanguard, Birdland, and Newport. It goes on hypnotically for 14 minutes, spinning a whirlpool of tenor intensity. As with "My Favorite Things," "Naima," and "I Want to Talk About You," Coltrane was to resurrect this tune throughout his performing career.

Also showing the tenor's harder side is "Miles Mode," originally contributed to Coltrane, but apparently an Eric Dolphy composition. (It's entitled "Red Planet" on Dolphy's "Great Illinois Concert.") McCoy Tyner's crystalline piano leavens Coltrane's all-out attack on this cut.

The CD's texture deepens with a fine ballad vehicle, "Soul Eyes," the lilting and whimsical soprano piece, "The Inchworm," and the darkly exotic and Eastern-flavored "Tunji," which contains more than a hint of menace.

Two Coltrane originals that were not part of the original record round out the CD release. "Up 'Gainst the Wall" is a brief but intense saxophone/drum/bass workout that originally appeared on the LP "Impressions." "Big Nick," which Coltrane recorded with Ellington, is another tune that shows Coltrane's humorous side (and his improvisational genius).

The variety of compositional styles and melodic approaches make this a deeply satisfying Coltrane release. Like "Crescent," released two years later, it strikes me as a recording on which Coltrane gathered his power and summed up all he'd learned before continuing into new musical realms.

My John Coltrane collecting has been eclectic. One one hand, I've got the great jazz saxophonist's 1960 GIANT STEPS, where he showed remarkably technical proficiency within the fairly ordinary rounds of late 1950s bebop. On the other hand, I've heard his ambitious suite A LOVE SUPREME and two of his late free jazz outings, where he had become a musical visionary exploring higher planes of existence through the simple saxophone. What connected the early Coltrane and the late, I wondered. The eponymous album COLTRANE, released in 1962, provides a sort of bridge. It was his first recording for Impulse, and the first to feature the quartet with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. The turning point can be heard from the very first track, "Out of This World". Here Coltrane and his quartet preserve the musty jazz standard, but Coltrane's variations on its material are endless, like a conjurer pulling scarves out of his sleeve (the performance extends to 14 minutes long). At first these variations are fairly traditional, but they soon soar into extremes of articulation, whether proud or desperate, and using the instrument in ways that look ahead to his free jazz era.

The following two tracks are more traditional. The ballad "Soul Eyes" and "The Inch Worm" are also based on older material but not so daringly performed as the album's opening. However, the last two tracks, "Tunji" and "Miles' Modes" are Coltrane's own compositions and are quite memorable. "Tunji" is the more complex, while "Miles' Mode" is a catchy fast-tempoed closer in much the same way as "Mr P.C." from GIANT STEPS. The musicianship is astounding. I regret not acquiring more recordings by this great quartet earlier. And certainly this is one of the best engineered recordings I've ever heard, with a warmth and clarity I'm not accustomed to in jazz.

Jazz will never sound as it should when mastered on a digital format. Analog vinyl LP's or magnetic tape (as a distant second) is the best way to go. You will NEVER know what you are missing out on without a decent turntable and tube amplifier. Try listening to this or Kenny Drew's "Undercurrent" mp3 album and then find someone who owns it on vinyl and listen... you will never buy another cd or mp3 again and you may want a refund for all those mp3's you bought. Digital jazz is garbage and should only be used while jogging or when not really paying attention to the music (i.e. mowing your lawn).

Jazz aficionado since teen years; now in my 60s. My favorite Coltrane LP of which I've owned about 30.
Harry Walker
Philadelphia

To my ears, this is the genesis of the signature John Coltrane Quartet sound. From the opening rumble of Elvin Jones' engaging beat in "Out of This World", we know we are in for an exhilirating ride. In perhaps his finest tenor solo of this period, "Out of This World" is a monumental achievement that towers from Trane's Impulse era. There are other solid tunes here (the tender "Soul Eyes","Miles Mode", and groovy "Up 'Gainst the Wall"), but everything else seems to pale in comparison to the opening track, which is alone worth the price of the CD. 5 stars ... A foreshadowing of the greatness that was to follow in the next 3 years.

Simple yet complex. This is one of the best CD's the group complied. I believe this is greatest rhythm section ever formed. The artists all are craftman of the fellow instruments. Coltrane was ahead his time and this group put themselves in the history books with this CD. This was the groups debut studio CD and led to a plethora of other greats. This album is str8 to the point like the title of the CD. I mean what elsedo you need to know it's Coltrane.

Peace,
Emmanuel

There are three versions of this album on the market - a 1997 1-disc reissue, a 2002 2-disc deluxe version, and a more recent 1-disc reissue from 2008. I haven't AB'd them for sound, so if that would sway your decision I'd take my review with a grain of salt; my comment is only on the musical content. I will say the 1997 reissue sounds great to me, though I only listen to it on a mid-range system.

The 2008 disc (part of the Verve/Impulse Originals series) is probably the worst choice you can make unless you are absolutely dead-set against bonus tracks. Unlike the 1997 reissue, it excludes "Big Nick" (which is available on the Quartet Studio Recordings box, but nowhere else) and the brief but excellent blues "Up Against the Wall" (which is available on the album Impressions).

The 2002 2-disc deluxe version runs into the opposite problem - an excess of alternate takes. I don't mind hearing alternate versions when they offer something sufficiently different (for example, on the Village Vanguard box), but here it's just too much for most people who are not Coltrane scholars. It is interesting to follow the development of the tune into its final version, if you're interested in that sort of thing. In a monumental screwup, Impulse also substituted "Big Nick" from the later session with Duke Ellington for the version that is available on the 1997 issue - so you'll need to buy that tune separately if you want to hear it. That said, the 2-disc version does include the only known Coltrane studio recordings of "Not Yet" (an unremarkable Tyner soul jazz tune) and "Impressions".

In conclusion, I'd recommend the 1997 reissue for most listeners. This was the first recording to feature Coltrane's quartet with Jimmy Garrison without any other musicians; they almost instantly had very strong chemistry. "Out of This World" is one of the best things Coltrane ever recorded - that rolling Classic Quartet groove with some very intense Coltrane tenor. It's probably in my Coltrane top 10. "Soul Eyes", the Mal Waldron ballad, gets a lovely intimate reading that falls just short of the top tier of Coltrane ballad performances; "Tunji" is a nice, enigmatic minor blues with echoes of "Equinox". The other two tunes are a bit of a drag - "Miles's Mode" gets a much limper reading than it did live, and "Inch Worm" is just annoying. (Though Coltrane was able to make something worthwhile out of it live.)

Overall, this is an album that's worth hearing - but as far as classic quartet recordings, I would definitely put Live at Birdland, Crescent, A Love Supreme, and Sun Ship above it. Still, you absolutely must acquire "Out of This World" by hook or by crook. And don't buy the 2008 reissue.

It's one of the greatest works of the gratest saxophonist ever exist in this world... all the disc it's a piece of art... no words can say wath coltranes eay with his tenor....