JOHN COLTRANE - Giant Steps: The Stereo and Mono Versions
Green Corner 100893
John Coltrane (tenor sax) Tommy Flanagan & Wynton Kelly (piano) Paul Chambers (bass) Art Taylor & Jimmy Cobb (drums) recorded New York, May 5th and December 2nd 1959
Jazz fans are notorious for their forensic tendencies when it comes collecting and listening. We love to pour over lists of recording dates and personnel data and compare alternative versions of a given tune. Whether we need to have side by side stereo and mono recordings of the same session-even one as important as this- is perhaps more questionable but no doubt there are `anorak ‘types out there who will be able to come up with some plausible justification. From the record company’s point of view the one that immediately comes to mind is simply that there are so many re-issue versions of this music in the marketplace that the only way of creating a unique selling point for yet another is to re-package it in this way. At a stretch one could also say that it offers some historical perspective recalling the early days of L/P production when it was common to issue an album in both formats with stereo versions carrying a price premium. Whatever the motivation, it doesn’t detract in any way from the music itself which is a landmark recording that every self- respecting collector should own in one form or another.
`Giant Steps`, which was recorded for the Atlantic label hard on the heels of Miles Davis’s epic `Kind of Blue` to which Coltrane made such a seminal contribution and helped usher in the era of modal jazz. Newly signed to Atlantic and poised to launch the career that would bring an end to his sideman assignments and establish him as a veritable giant of jazz, this was his first outing for the label as a leader and one made up entirely of his own compositions. They are played with such headlong energy and flair that one scarcely notices their simplicity of structure, being little more than scalar exercises or blues-like progressions, and can’t help being literally blown away by the torrential stream of invention stemming from them. The title tune, described by Ted Gioa as `Cherokee on steroids` is one that Coltrane rarely reprised but the almost static, hymn-like meditation, `Naima`, dedicated to his first wife, became a staple part of his repertoire for the rest of his life. It has, of course, become a highly venerated jazz standard recorded by numerous artistes over the years but this is the original.
The music was recorded over three sessions and deployed a trio of his `Kind of Blue` colleagues on `Naima` with the rest of the material featuring Tommy Flanagan on piano and Art Taylor on drums and Paul Chambers on bass who is present throughout including the session with Cedar Walton on piano and Lex Humphries on drums which was ultimately rejected and isn’t included here. If I were buying this material for the first time I would pass up the novelty of having dual versions – which don’t sound qualitively different on modern equipment – and go for the Atlantic Masters re-issue which not only offers three alternative takes from the original session with Flanagan et al but also the aforementioned rejected takes featuring Cedar Walton. On the credit side this new re-issue offers a useful 12-page booklet with art-work, original liner notes and a reproduction of the Down Beat review by Ralph Gleason.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Green Corner 100893
John Coltrane (tenor sax) Tommy Flanagan & Wynton Kelly (piano) Paul Chambers (bass) Art Taylor & Jimmy Cobb (drums) recorded New York, May 5th and December 2nd 1959
Jazz fans are notorious for their forensic tendencies when it comes collecting and listening. We love to pour over lists of recording dates and personnel data and compare alternative versions of a given tune. Whether we need to have side by side stereo and mono recordings of the same session-even one as important as this- is perhaps more questionable but no doubt there are `anorak ‘types out there who will be able to come up with some plausible justification. From the record company’s point of view the one that immediately comes to mind is simply that there are so many re-issue versions of this music in the marketplace that the only way of creating a unique selling point for yet another is to re-package it in this way. At a stretch one could also say that it offers some historical perspective recalling the early days of L/P production when it was common to issue an album in both formats with stereo versions carrying a price premium. Whatever the motivation, it doesn’t detract in any way from the music itself which is a landmark recording that every self- respecting collector should own in one form or another.
`Giant Steps`, which was recorded for the Atlantic label hard on the heels of Miles Davis’s epic `Kind of Blue` to which Coltrane made such a seminal contribution and helped usher in the era of modal jazz. Newly signed to Atlantic and poised to launch the career that would bring an end to his sideman assignments and establish him as a veritable giant of jazz, this was his first outing for the label as a leader and one made up entirely of his own compositions. They are played with such headlong energy and flair that one scarcely notices their simplicity of structure, being little more than scalar exercises or blues-like progressions, and can’t help being literally blown away by the torrential stream of invention stemming from them. The title tune, described by Ted Gioa as `Cherokee on steroids` is one that Coltrane rarely reprised but the almost static, hymn-like meditation, `Naima`, dedicated to his first wife, became a staple part of his repertoire for the rest of his life. It has, of course, become a highly venerated jazz standard recorded by numerous artistes over the years but this is the original.
The music was recorded over three sessions and deployed a trio of his `Kind of Blue` colleagues on `Naima` with the rest of the material featuring Tommy Flanagan on piano and Art Taylor on drums and Paul Chambers on bass who is present throughout including the session with Cedar Walton on piano and Lex Humphries on drums which was ultimately rejected and isn’t included here. If I were buying this material for the first time I would pass up the novelty of having dual versions – which don’t sound qualitively different on modern equipment – and go for the Atlantic Masters re-issue which not only offers three alternative takes from the original session with Flanagan et al but also the aforementioned rejected takes featuring Cedar Walton. On the credit side this new re-issue offers a useful 12-page booklet with art-work, original liner notes and a reproduction of the Down Beat review by Ralph Gleason.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
