Coltrane Plays the Blues [Extra tracks]

John Coltrane | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: Atlantic
• ASIN: B000002I5E
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,053 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Blues To Elvin

2. Blues To Bechet

3. Blues To You

4. Mr. Day

5. Mr. Syms

6. Mr. Knight

7. Untitled Origional (Bonus Track For CD Only)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blues elevated to the sublime, June 3, 2001

By 

Ricard Giner ([e-mail]) (Brighton, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coltrane Plays the Blues (Dlx) (Audio CD)

This session was hastily put together, recorded on the same day as another album, but in retrospect it turned out to be a visionary idea. How would one of the leading experimenters of the time tackle the very roots of the music, its most fundamental form? After listening to Coltrane Plays the Blues, no one could credibly accuse the form of being monotonous, infertile or banal.

In a tribute to Sidney Bechet, "Blues to Bechet", Coltrane plays the soprano saxophone alone with bass and drums, fusing blues and Middle Eastern idioms together in passionate, incantatory figures that dance like eddies in a mountain stream. "Mr. Syms" also features Coltrane on soprano, but here he merely states the theme, opening up the central solo space to McCoy Tyner, who delivers an exquisite blues, swinging with all the majesty of a great and profound tradition.

In a time when both jazz and Coltrane himself were undergoing a period of turbulent self-analysis, this record serves as a refreshing reminder of the illuminating simplicity of the central architecture of jazz: the blues. Ironically, but perhaps fittingly, the critic Ralph J. Gleason wrote in the original liner notes to Coltrane's Sound that "this music is an extraordinary example of the complex beauty of this most complex age".

That Coltrane was able to record two albums in the same day that masterfully captured the polar opposites of simplicity and complexity without contradiction is testament to his genius.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars October 1960..., June 29, 2004

By 

"snoticus" (Morristown, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coltrane Plays the Blues (Audio CD)

October 1960 was one of those prolific times during Trane's career where in a short period he was able to turn out album after album of classic music in an extremely brief span. My Favorite Things, Coltrane's Sound, and Coltrane Plays the Blues, all cornerstones of jazz's period of transition of the early 60's were recorded in one month.
This unbelievable actuality brings me to the review of perhaps my favorite out of all of the 3. In the liner notes of Plays the Blues, Joe Goldberg describes a typical club date for Trane during this time. He states that when appearing at a club, the last set of the evening typically is devoted to the blues. Today it is hard for the majority of jazz listeners to imagine or even fathom seeing Trane at the Vanguard, the Half Note, or Birdland, but by putting Plays the Blues and closing your eyes, this album may be closest we can get to imagining a smoky club in the 60's at midnight, when the real fans come out to see Trane play the blues. The album itself is separated into two somewhat-relating halves. Blues for Elvin kicks the first half with a slow blues featuring the full quartet of the time (the classic quartet, save for Steve Davis instead of Jimmy Garrison), Trane builds a lovely, soulful solo with gorgeous accompaniment from McCoy. The next two tracks feature the trio of Elvin and Steve Davis, Blues for Bechet has Trane on soprano and Blues to You, my favorite track on the album has one of the finest solos on the blues I have ever heard.
The second half is tracks evoking other feelings of the blues. Mr. Day and Mr. Knight are much more modal examples of the blues and the best writing on the album as well as McCoy's best playing. These tunes should be considered a stepping point as to the direction of his music from then on. Compare these tracks to Chris Potter's tribute "The Source" on the fantastic Gratitude. Mr. Syms is a fascinating minor blues with jaw-dropping soprano work. Artist's ranging from Billy Bang to Mark Whitfield has covered this track.
Coltrane Plays the Blues is the most underrated masterpiece of Coltrane's early 60's transition period and has yet to take its deserved place with My Favorite Things or Africa/Brass as early classic. That withstanding, those who own Coltrane Plays the Blues, may see it as a treasure that comes as close as some can get to seeing the late set back at the Half Note in 1960

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top-notch coltrane, May 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Coltrane Plays the Blues (Audio CD)

This album is right up there amongst Coltrane's best. All six original tunes are fantastic, and like most coltrane albums, this one has varying levels of complexity so that it provides just as much pleasure after months of listening as it does the first time. Recorded around the same time as, and in a class with "My favorite things".