John Coltrane
American saxophonist and jazz composer John Coltrane was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. His early recordings capture a musician in the relatively conventional confines of bebop and hardbop, but his enduring legacy primarily rests on the modal jazz pioneered by his classic quartet (1960-64) and by free jazz explorations late in his career. He recorded more than fifty albums as a leader and appeared as a sideman on many other albums, performing with other giants of jazz like Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. As his life progressed, his music and outlook became increasingly spiritual. After his death he was proclaimed as a saint by the African Orthodox church that took his name.
American saxophonist and jazz composer John Coltrane was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. His early recordings capture a musician in the relatively conventional confines of bebop and hardbop, but his enduring legacy primarily rests on the modal jazz pioneered by his classic quartet (1960-64) and by free jazz explorations late in his career. He recorded more than fifty albums as a leader and appeared as a sideman on many other albums, performing with other giants of jazz like Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. As his life progressed, his music and outlook became increasingly spiritual. After his death he was proclaimed as a saint by the African Orthodox church that took his name.
Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane 1957 (Revisited)
“Working with Monk brought me close to a musical architect of the highest order. I felt I learned from him in every way – through the senses, theoretically, technically. I would talk to Monk about musical problems and he would sit at the piano and show me the answers just by playing them.“ – John Coltrane
Bahia
Another one of the albums that Prestige would issue several years after it was recorded, Bahia is drawn from a couple of sessions that the iconic tenor saxophonist recorded for the label in the late 1950s, during a time in which he was exploring different genres with various players, including pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, plus drummers Jimmy Cobb and Art Taylor. The album has plenty of Trane hallmarks in the saxophone lead, and there is noteworthy contribution from trumpeter Wilbu…
Stardust
During the late 1950s, the iconic tenor saxophonist John Coltrane was exploring different milieus with various associates, most notably reconnecting with Miles Davis during a time when the latter was working with pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummers Jimmy Cobb and Art Taylor. These players are featured on the 1958 session that would yield Stardust, released by Prestige four years later, and although comprised of four standard cover tunes, Trane’s playing is so supremely emoti…
Evenings At The Village Gate
Tip! A long-lost live recording featuring one of John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy's 1961 sets at New York's Village Gate has been unearthed for release this summer. Evenings at the Village Gate was recorded in the summer before Coltrane's legendary slate of November 1961 dates at the Village Vanguard, with a similar quintet lineup: the short-lived tandem of Coltrane and Dolphy alongside drummer Elvin Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner and bassist Reggie Workman.
While the trailblazing Village Vanguard show…
Meditations
2023 small repress. The year 1965 was a turning point in the life of John Coltrane. It was at this point that he crossed the line into the free jazz arena that he had been approaching since the early '60s. Besides his landmark Ascension, no album better illustrates this than the awe-inspiring Meditations. Coltrane's regular quartet -- McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums) -- is expanded here with second drummer Rashied Ali (who assumed Jones' spot after this album) …
1960-04-09 - Scheveningen – The Netherlands
Miles Davis gave two concerts at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw in 1960 as part of a Jazz at the Philharmonic package, one on April 9 and the other on October 15. Stunning european live performance from Miles with his early quintet featuring the magic of a young and talented Trane. Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (Tenor Saxophone), Wynton Kelly (Piano), Paul Chambers (Bass), Jimmy Cobb (Drums).
Live Europe 1960 revisited
'The Miles Davis Quintet of early 1960 was an endangered, embattled entity. Davis and his frontline foil John Coltrane had been drifting apart stylistically and temperamentally for months. United in the embrace and exploration of modal devices on the trumpeter’s seminal Kind of Blue album released the previous summer, bandleader and sideman were increasingly at odds as to where to go next with the celebrated innovations.' - Derek Taylor
Favorites Revisited
'The studio side of Coltrane’s catalog has greater consistency in terms of caliber of aural presentation, but fewer occasions for extended improvisation and creation. This is particularly evident in an analysis of the recordings made of his Classic Quartet comprising pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones. An ensemble that was a work in progress well before it was a finished cohort, Coltrane’s most fertile band was also best suited to the hot house environment of aud…
Ray Draper Quintet featuring John Coltrane
Recorded in 1957 by Rudy Van Gelder and released in the same year on the New Jazz label, this was a major statement from Ray Draper, who besides working with the likes of Max Roach, Jackie Mclean and Donald Byrd, he has been one of the few tuba players who have made a name as band leader. In particular this quintet date was a courageous step with Draper sharing the frontline with John Coltrane. In fact the two gave voice to a very unusual combination of tuba and tenor sax. An unprecedented instr…
A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle (2LP)
Complete rendition of the saxophonist’s famed divinely inspired suite was recorded at Seattle’s Penthouse in 1965. Despite being John Coltrane’s most celebrated album, and one of the most beloved jazz albums of all time, A Love Supreme wasn’t a record that the saxophonist touched on much in the live setting. Up until now, most Coltrane enthusiasts have only ever heard a single live performance of the literally divinely inspired four-movement suite that makes up the LP. That will change in Octobe…
My Favorite Things - Graz 1962
What these performances then, and those in Impression Graz 1962, reveal is a great artist in a period of continued exploration and uncertainties, committed to integrating the exactness of order and the abandon of ecstasy, and reconfirming his improvisational quest as a spiritual discipline. But there were profound changes still to come. - Art Longe
The four tracks on this release have been selected from the 1962 concert tape which Hat Hut Records has licensed from ORF Stelemark, Graz, Austria. I…
Impressions Graz 1962
Taking his quartet on a European tour in the fall of 1962, Coltrane's band with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on double bass, and Elvin Jones on drums performed in Graz, Austria at Stefaniensaal, the concert beautifully recorded by ORF Steiermark and here released as the first of two volumes, showing both Coltrane's lyrical origins and expanding free inclinations.
Blue World
In 1964, John Coltrane and his quartet produced two great masterpieces in Rudy Van Gelder's studios, namely the albums Crescent and A Love Supreme. Between the two sessions the quartet entered the studio for another recording: the soundtrack of the French-Canadian film Le chat dans le sac. Today, the tape of that session has been found and remastered, so finally here's the third 1964 album: Blue World. The content is extraordinary: not only do we find the classic quartet (with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy…