Customer Reviews

Crescent (Dig)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first heard a Coltrane recording in 1971 and have never stopped listening nor collecting his music. In his large, distinguished, and influential discography, "Crescent," in my mind, stands out as his most completely satisfying recording.

Critics and listeners who focus exclusively on Trane's famous "sheets of sound" approach, his forays into long, modal improvisations, such as on "Chasin' the Trane" and the volcanic fury of his late work do him a disservice. He was and remains one of jazz's most lyrical players and "Crescent," originally released in 1964, displays that lyricism in its most lovely and passionate forms.

The beautiful melodicism is displayed most affectingly on "Wise One" and on "Lonnie's Lament." The title cut contains a tour-de-force solo that shows just how much drama a master player can achieve in the space of four or five minutes of improvisation. "Bessie's Blues" is an exciting straight-ahead attack, and the "Drum Thing" showcases Elvin Jones' great talent and connection with Trane's music.

Seldom do albums achieve such coherency of form, and the credit for this goes not only to Trane (who composed all the tunes), but to the rest of the great quartet. McCoy Tyner has a wonderful shimmering solo on "Wise One," and Jimmy Garrison contributes a fine bass statement on "Lonnie's Lament."

Great choice for the listener who is interested in exploring Coltrane's career or for the jazz fan who is search of 40 minutes of unadulterated pleasure.

Sandwiched between two of the John Coltrane Quartet's greatest masterpieces -- Live at Birdland and A Love Supreme -- Crescent is often forgotten. But this album of four ballads and one blues is full of understated beauty. "Crescent", "The Wise One" and "Lonnie's Lament" are three of the Coltrane's most beautiful compositions; these are some of the first ballads in the later Coltrane style, with the saxophone playing the theme in free time over the rumbling rhythm section. (There's a great 50 minute performance of "Crescent" on Live in Japan, but that's not for everyone.) The mood on this recording is similar to that on Ballads but Coltrane cuts loose a bit more. His playing can get intense at times, but it doesn't have the shrieks and screams which pop up on A Love Supreme and later albums. "The Drum Thing" is basically an excellent Elvin Jones solo, with Jimmy Garrison's bass providing forward motion and Trane's saxophone wrapping around the rhythm section. If you liked A Love Supreme, this is an excellent choice for your next Coltrane album.

Collecting John Coltrane is a challenge; he was prolific, constantly evolving, and seemed to live in a recording studio. Even so, certain landmark efforts have achieved "essential" status, for a variety of reasons. I would agree that A Love Supreme, My Favorite Things, Ascension, African Brass, Giant Steps, and the Johnny Hartman collaboration all fall into this category. Crescent does too, and I'm not certain why it is so frequently overlooked.

Like A Love Supreme, Crescent is an integrated whole, not a mere collection of "tracks." The entire effort casts a very particular spell. Maybe critics don't embrace it because it doesn't feature the trademark "sheets of sound" for which Coltrane was known, something akin to blowing the cold off of ice. The allure of Crescent is much more subtle than that.

Each selection, even the straight-ahead Bessie's Blues, aches with haunting, spiritual elegance. The solos, which do occasionally soar, never lose sight of the ground and resolve back into their themes in deeply satisfying ways. Coltrane's tone, always amazing, is especially lush and round here, almost opulent. Even at its wiggliest you're unlikely to turn down the sound, this CD wants to soothe you, not nail you to the wall.

The opening bars of the title track tell you exactly where you're about to go, straight into the sad and beautiful heart of truth. Wise One takes listeners through the entire emotional cycle, fragile longing, seeking that reaches up, reconciliation. Perfection. McCoy Tyner shines throughout on piano, especially on Lonnie's Lament, a tune lovely enough to put tears in the eyes of a serial killer. Drum Thing finds Elvin Jones conjuring up a sort of hypnotic trance; the interplay between him and Coltrane provides a transcendent conclusion to a CD of exquisite beauty.

In many ways it's unfortunate that Coltrane's reputation rests on the idea of destroying music in order to reinvent it. Listening to Crescent provides ample evidence that, in addition to being a profoundly spiritual man, Coltrane was as lyrical a player as has ever unpacked a horn.

Of the three albums I consider essential Trane Quartet recordings, "Live at Birdland", "Crescent", and "Love Supreme", it is "Crescent" that is most accesible and evokes the most striking beauty. Often regarded by critics as the creative lull before his masterpiece "Supreme", "Crescent" is somber, reflective, and heartfelt. In many ways, it may be my favorite Coltrane album. It is the expression of sorrow and regret before the morning. Listened to in one sitting, "Crescent" and "A Love Supreme" TOGETHER make for one of the most sublime and provocative moments in modern music history.

I own about 20 Coltrane releases. They are all amazing in different ways.

But CRESCENT get played the most. Why?

CRESCENT is about having power and not using it. Trane proved he could scream and burn, years before. But here, there is a beautiful restraint...thoughtful but deeply emotional.

For example: when Trane's solo on "Wise One" builds to a peak, it sounds like he is almost accidentally overcome by emotion. It's not an intentional scream; more like he is speaking quietly, then inadvertently sobs, without planning to.

And on the title track, the intensity comes not from raw power, but from how long and winding Trane's melodic lines are....so complex, but so clear and effortless.
The clarity of his musical conception is simply staggering.

This album makes me think of someone or something looking down on humanity from above, and smiling a bit sadly, sweetly.

Really, this album is about love.
What is love?
Listen to CRESCENT and think about it.

Almost every artist of stature becomes overly associated with one work, which is often deemed to be their finest or most representative. With 'Trane, the seminal album is supposedly 'A Love Supreme'.
Those listeners who wish to look beyond the critical consensus should make straight for 'Crescent', which immediately precedes 'Supreme' and was perceptively described by a critic as 'the dark night of the soul' before the epiphany of the album that followed. As another reviewer here has pointed out, this is a deeply lyrical work, with a cool, heavy mood that makes it one of the most affecting records in modern jazz.
If you are a listener attuned to moody rock like David Sylvian, John Cale, Nico and similar romantics, 'Crescent' is the 'Trane for you. Leave the admittedely great but over-discussed 'supreme' to the trendies...or at least until you have managed to extricate yourself from the shadowy solitude of this beautiful album.

The catalogue of the classic John Coltrane Quartet 1960-65 is surely at the summit of 20th century musical endeavour.This album is at the apex of this achievement, comparing to A Love Supreme in both its unity and spiritual intensity. But here the characteristic yearning, searching, pulsating sound of the group has an altogther more melancholy, and reflective feel. The lyricism of Crescent, Wise One and Lonnie's Lament is sublime and, typically for the quartet, never sentimental. Music that shimmers like gold.

Without reservation, this is my favorite of all the multitudes of coltrane recordings. I have owned it, along with all the other classics, for 3 years now, and I would estimate that I have listened to WISE ONE over 2000 times, with LONNIE'S LAMENT not far behind. These are very unique compositions, fusing the African rhythms of Jones with the classically oriented piano of Tyner and unbounded range of Coltrane's sax. But this is all secondary - it is the immediacy of the experience I have upon listening to these pieces that is primary. Each is carefully orchestrated and seems to tell a story rather than emit the intense light of raw emotion that you find in CHASIN THE TRANE or AFRO BLUE. For that matter, it is perhaps singular in the Coltrane ouevre, and therefore essential. Do not fret from making this your first encounter with the Trane, it is second to none in its expressive power.

Crescent is a masterpiece. plain and simple. The playing of the Coltrane Classic Quartet during this period that included this recording and A LOVE SUPREME is some of the best jazz ever recorded. The selections on Crescent are stunningly beautiful and Coltrane's sound is fully developed and distinctive. These were recorded in '64 just before Coltrane embraced the free-jazz movement. The music here is haunting, experimental and yet rooted in a lyrical sense that is not true of some of his later more experimental work. If I had to recommend one Coltrane CD to a curious friend who was unfamiliar with his work this would be the one. It's more challenging than the wall of sound -Giant Steps era stuff but still highly accessable to even a jazz novice. Yet this is no simple music. It is really one of the few CDs I couldn't live without.

I think crescent is one of John Coltrane's five best albums. It's one of his first albums I got and I have always loved it. It was recorded in 1964 right before A love supreme and in my opinion it is as good. The best songs are Crescent and Lonnie's Lament. The songs are pretty long the longest being 11:45. If you don't have this album make shure it's the next album you get.