Customer Reviews

Soultrane

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

 

 

I'm surprised at the casual dismissals of this recording by some reviewers. The playing of everyone on the date is as strong as that on "Blue Trane" or, for that matter, any of the dates preceding "My Favorite Things." In fact, I can think of more expendable recording sessions by Coltrane after "Giant Steps" (definitely indispensable) than his always fresh and daring earlier work on Blue Note, Prestige, and Columbia. Beginning with "My Favorite Things" Coltrane's music would find a larger audience, especially among young listeners who, though strangers to the jazz tradition, became fascinated by the urgent, spiritual dimensions of Coltrane's playing, which could be numbingly repetitious (thank goodness that the 33-rpm format put time limits on it),

For musicians who had followed the music from Armstrong to Hawk to Lester to Bird, it was sessions like "Soultrane" that established Coltrane's credentials and "entitled" him to the innovations and experiments in his music 1960-1967, a time during which there was no shortage of pretenders assembled under the "free jazz" banner. The opening track, Tad Dameron's "Good Bait," is one of Coltrane's complete and satisfying performances, a comparatively short solo in which his harmonic-melodic vocabulary is exhaustive and his sound never more penetrating yet controlled. The next track, Billy Eckstine's "I Want to Talk About You," is a tune that would obsess Coltrane right up to 1965's "A Love Supreme." The lyrical and lovely performance of the ballad on "Soultrane," Coltrane's first recording of it to my knowledge, is a revelatory complement to the especially memorable performance on "Live at Birdland" (Impulse, 1963), on which the tenor giant concludes the tune with a breathtaking, absolutely stunning cadenza (his best performance on record, imo). Still, it's possible to begin with the later recording and to be equally appreciative of the earlier performance on "Soultrane."

"Soultrane" is also a reminder of the brilliance of Red Garland, before he was all but forgotten during the sonic assaults of the 60s. Though not as harmonically advanced as Coltrane, he turns in a double-time solo on "Good Bait" that's suggestive of Bud Powell at his best. Finally, "Soultrane" might be thought of as the "master takes" of the session that also produced "Traneing In." Both recordings, moreover, feature Coltrane layering mighty sheets of sound on Irving Berlin tunes ("Russian Lullaby" and "Soft Lights and Sweet Music").

This album does not contain the song "Soultrane" written by Tad Dameron as an honor to John, but the tunes on this album makes the listener understand how "soul" and "Trane" are to be juxtaposed if not merged into one.

Trane is a perfectionist: Everything he does has to be "tight' to work, and that's the case here. This is a lesson he apparently learned from Miles. No one slacks around on a John Coltrane set: He sets the tone, the sound and the spirit, and all are "dialed in" at high intensity.

Red Garland and Art Taylor understand Trane's sentimentality and his soul; they don't have a choice. And that's why this is one of the best albums in Jazz. Trane demands the same discipline of his sidemen as he demands of himself and that is to "go all out, at all times."

This is probably the last album before Trane went off into another direction, into his sheets of sound and trying to milk a chord out of every note. After this album, it gets deep.

Ten Stars

1957 was the watershed year for John Coltrane -- on earlier recordings with Miles Davis and others, he occasionally sounded tentative or overambitious. But by the time he went into the studio in February '58 to record Soultrane, he had made the transition from being just another hard bop saxophonist to becoming one of the most revolutionary musicians in jazz. He sounds confident and full of fresh ideas on each of the five selections here, his playing has increased in density ("sheets of sound"), and his rhythm section (Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Art Taylor) always swings. The quartet takes Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait" at a bouncy, mid-tempo pace. Coltrane's first recording of Bill Eckstine's "I Want to Talk About You" is also on the record; it's beautiful and respectful but lacks the passionate intensity of later live versions. The album closes out with a moving elegy to alto saxophonist Ernie Henry ("Theme for Ernie") and a torrential version of Irving Berlin's "Russian Lullaby". This isn't a masterpiece on the level of Blue Train, but it is one of Coltrane's best recordings on the Prestige label and features him at the beginning of his "sheets of sound" period. It also provides a nice complement to the classic Milestones album which he recorded at about the same time with the Miles Davis sextet.

[This review is based on the K2 20-bit remaster, which had great sound. I have not heard the 2006 reissue. The tracklists are identical.]

John Coltrane / Soultrane (Prestige): A very good and enjoyable album. Not his best but one that will be played a lot. A very solid Four Star album.

I always thought I was into experimental music but at times certain musicians go beyond me. I don't understand, or maybe I should write: "I haven't learned to like most of Ornette Coleman or the later works of John Coltrane". I can understand "Why" certain Jazz musicians wanted to experiment because paintings started to experiment with Impressionism in the late 19th century which lead to many new styles in the 20th century, while Classical music opened up with Stravinsky with lead to many new styles. The time seemed right for Jazz in the late 1950's to explore its own avenue. Imagine my joy to find this jewel of jazz history, John Coltrane right after his employment with Miles Davis, the beginning development of "Sheets of Sound" yet still holding on to the jazz tradition. 3 out of the 5 songs in this CD are COOL jazz; "Good Bait", "I Want To Talk To You", & "Theme For Ernie" are just right for an evening of writing a review. The first two songs were written in the 1940's yet have a late 1950ish sound. The 3rd & last song are HOT, specially "Russian Lullaby" which ends the CD where Ira Gitler writes a review on the 180 gram 33-1/3 LP version "I'm sure this Lullaby would keep Nikita awake & swinging all night". What a contradiction for a title, but this piece reveals what is ahead for John Coltrane. If you also have a hard time with John Coltrane's later work, but love late 1950's jazz quintets, give this CD a spin. I found most of the other reviews most helpful because this is the turning point for John Coltrane & its best to get all the historical information you can before you buy.

Without offering the cool personnel line-up of Blue Train (which had Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Kenny Drew), Soultrane still manages to be the greatest of Trane's 1950s albums, striking a perfect balance between old-school swing and the new "sheets of sound" style Trane was exploring by 1958. Sure, the line-up seems a little boring: after all, Trane had recorded with Red Garland countless times by then, under his own leadership, under Garland's, and under Miles Davis's. What more could they have to say? As it turns out, plenty. Just listen to the opening cut, "Good Bait". Trane plays the head as almost an homage to Sonny Rollins, choosing to have the piano lay out as he plays the tune with a light air and a commanding tone, accompanied by the bass of Paul Chambers and the drums of Art Taylor. Garland then kicks in for the improvisations, which swing like mad but are also probing and exploratory. At the same time, Trane never leaves tradition behind, as he later would. The tune even includes that cheesy but always irrestible device, a trade of fours - but what a trade of fours! Trane allows himself to be plain weird.... honking, distorting notes, really going "out there" while clearly having a great time. And the real revelation may be the ubiquitous Taylor, who really kicks things up a notch from his usual Prestige performance, making Soultrane stand next to Benny Golson's Free as my favourite Art Taylor appearance on record. From there, it's a bit downhill, but only a little bit. All of Trane's albums are flawed, but this one less so than most -- perhaps because there is such a relaxed confidence in the playing missing from some of Trane's tenser efforts, including Lush Life and Giant Steps. The remastered version of Soultrane is also definitely revelatory after years of hearing the old OJC version. Catch this Trane.....!

3 1/2

Soultrane is another worthy addition to the venerable saxophone player's pre-immolation phase, offering something not quite old-school compelling as BT, but still packed with enough melodic soloing to require archival commitment. For fans a more unhinged sound this Trane was beginning to roll towards, the album closer alone makes purchasing important.

John Coltrane has his classics which everyone knows and talks about. Then, there are the lesser-known CD's, including a lot of his early Prestige records. Soultrane is one of the better ones in the latter category. The songs are all jazz standards - nothing fancy - better Coltrane's playing is in top form. "Good Bait" goes at a steady lope. In addition to Coltrane's solos, Red Garland takes a long solo, and Art Taylor has some breaks to solo over. The bassist is Paul Chambers. It's a good backing group, but not spectacular. "I Want To Talk About You" and "Theme For Ernie" are ballads. The songs are about equal in goodness (i.e. pretty good) except for "Russian Lullaby", which is a step up. I simply feel the theme is catchier, and the performance is lively.

This isn't a CD that'll inspire you to make a pilgrammage to John Coltrane's birthplace or anything, but it's a good one, and recommended to Coltrane fans, or simply jazz fans who already have Coltrane's big CD's.

Not much to say beyond which Coltrane period you liked the best. I consider this a vital part of any Jazz, esp. Coltrane collection. He and Rollins changed how tenor sax was played. One of his best.