JOHN COLTRANE - Trane 90
ACROBAT ACQCD7105 (4 CDs)
CD1 Stablemates: Coltrane the Sideman:
Stablemates (Miles Davis Quintet); Trane’s Blues (Miles Davis Quintet); Dear Old Stockholm (Miles Davis Quintet); Well, You Needn’t (Miles Davis Quintet); Monk’s Mood (Thelonious Monk Trio); Trinkle Tinkle (Thelonious Monk); Straight, No Chaser (Miles Davis Sextet): So What (Miles Davis Sextet); On Green Dolphin Street (Miles Davis Quintet).
CD2 Straight Street: Coltrane the Leader:
Straight Street; Moment’s Notice; Good Bait; Giant Steps; Naima; Blues to Bechet; Africa; Chasin’ the Trane.
CD3 Just Friends: Coltrane Collaborations::
Tenor Madness (Sonny Rollins); Bob’s Boys (Prestige All-Stars); Soultrane (Tadd Dameron Quartet); Two Bass Hit (Red Garland Quintet); Pristine (Art Blakey Quintet); West 42nd Street (Wilbur Harden Quintet); Manhattan (George Russell & His Orchestra); Just Friends (Cecil Taylor Quintet); Bags & Trane (Milt Jackson & John Coltrane); Grand Central (Cannonball Adderley Quintet).
CD4 Impressions: Coltrane Broadcasts and Private Tapes:
Birk’s Works (Dizzy Gillespie Septet); Don’t Blame Me (Johnny Hodes & His Orchestra); Max is Making Wax (Miles Davis Quintet); Tune Up (Miles Davis Quintet); Bye Bye Blackbird (Miles Davis Quintet);; My Favourite Things; Impressions; Body and Soul.
This collection takes its name from the fact that on the 23rd September 2016 John Coltrane would have been 90. This year, another anniversary, 2017, is fifty years since Coltrane died. An unusual aspect is that ‘Trane 90’ has included tracks from the various labels for whom Coltrane recorded: there are examples from his Impulse! sets as leader; the Atlantic sides; plus, material from Columbia, Prestige, Riverside, Savoy, Decca and Bethlehem. There is also unreleased material.
Strangely the anthology only goes to 1962, five years before Coltrane's death. After that time, 1962, Coltrane entered a phase that few followed. Nevertheless, it is a gap.
The collection does give a time for reflection. As soloist in his final years he did reach a place that not many have managed to equal or go beyond. The collection enables us to see how he reached that point. It also provokes the question: did Coltrane drive jazz into a cul-de-sac? It could be argued that the interesting thing about Coltrane is the journey not the endpoint.
Here is most of that journey. Who is the audience for this collection? Is it for those new to Coltrane who need a guide to the phases of his musical life? It is all here. There is his early work with Dizzy Gillespie and Johnny Hodges. There are some of the superb sides that he created with Miles Davis. There are his compositions ‘Naima’ and ‘Giant Steps’. There is a live version of ‘My Favourite Things’ a composition that he played year after year. There are recordings that he did with others such as George Russell, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Cecil Taylorand Cannonball Adderley.
The music throughout is magnificent. The stint that Coltrane had with Monk was one of the key moments in his development. That is represented by two tracks showing how Coltrane dealt with the music of the great eccentric. One track, ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ with Miles Davis is taken from a concert in Stockholm on their last tour together. Coltrane did not want to make that tour, he wanted to work independently with his own musicians. Davis’ solo is relatively brief and conventional. Coltrane sweeps in with a long declamatory solo. The applause is sparse probably indicating that the audience were perplexed. When the group played in Paris the audience weren’tpuzzled, they were actively hostile to Coltrane’s new, uncompromising, direction, booing his solos.
The move to Impulse brought about the album ‘Africa/Brass’. The track ‘Africa’ propelled by Elvin Jones features a large group. The heaving, powerful music is arranged by Eric Dolphy. This is Coltrane with two basses and brass. It shows a direction that he could have taken but never did.
The inevitable ‘My Favourite Things’ which Elvin Jones claims they played about 1500 times is taken from the Newport Jazz Festival in 1961. ‘Impressions’ from later that same year is from the European tour that eventually played in Walthamstow!
Undoubtedly, Coltrane is one of the most important creators in jazz. He remains an enigma. His work is now obscured: wrapped in sanctity, myth, mysticism, sixties spirituality and zeitgeist. This collection shows us three-quarters of the Coltrane story.
One of the compelling features of the box is the booklet prepared by Simon Spillett: 46 pages of meticulously researched prose. Spillett looks at some of the literature about Coltrane including J.C. Thomas, Whitney Balliett, Gene Lees, Nat Hentoff. He features those writers who criticise as well as those who eulogise. To Spillett, Coltrane will always be ‘the greatest exemplar of the truth of jazz music’.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
ACROBAT ACQCD7105 (4 CDs)
CD1 Stablemates: Coltrane the Sideman:
Stablemates (Miles Davis Quintet); Trane’s Blues (Miles Davis Quintet); Dear Old Stockholm (Miles Davis Quintet); Well, You Needn’t (Miles Davis Quintet); Monk’s Mood (Thelonious Monk Trio); Trinkle Tinkle (Thelonious Monk); Straight, No Chaser (Miles Davis Sextet): So What (Miles Davis Sextet); On Green Dolphin Street (Miles Davis Quintet).
CD2 Straight Street: Coltrane the Leader:
Straight Street; Moment’s Notice; Good Bait; Giant Steps; Naima; Blues to Bechet; Africa; Chasin’ the Trane.
CD3 Just Friends: Coltrane Collaborations::
Tenor Madness (Sonny Rollins); Bob’s Boys (Prestige All-Stars); Soultrane (Tadd Dameron Quartet); Two Bass Hit (Red Garland Quintet); Pristine (Art Blakey Quintet); West 42nd Street (Wilbur Harden Quintet); Manhattan (George Russell & His Orchestra); Just Friends (Cecil Taylor Quintet); Bags & Trane (Milt Jackson & John Coltrane); Grand Central (Cannonball Adderley Quintet).
CD4 Impressions: Coltrane Broadcasts and Private Tapes:
Birk’s Works (Dizzy Gillespie Septet); Don’t Blame Me (Johnny Hodes & His Orchestra); Max is Making Wax (Miles Davis Quintet); Tune Up (Miles Davis Quintet); Bye Bye Blackbird (Miles Davis Quintet);; My Favourite Things; Impressions; Body and Soul.
This collection takes its name from the fact that on the 23rd September 2016 John Coltrane would have been 90. This year, another anniversary, 2017, is fifty years since Coltrane died. An unusual aspect is that ‘Trane 90’ has included tracks from the various labels for whom Coltrane recorded: there are examples from his Impulse! sets as leader; the Atlantic sides; plus, material from Columbia, Prestige, Riverside, Savoy, Decca and Bethlehem. There is also unreleased material.
Strangely the anthology only goes to 1962, five years before Coltrane's death. After that time, 1962, Coltrane entered a phase that few followed. Nevertheless, it is a gap.
The collection does give a time for reflection. As soloist in his final years he did reach a place that not many have managed to equal or go beyond. The collection enables us to see how he reached that point. It also provokes the question: did Coltrane drive jazz into a cul-de-sac? It could be argued that the interesting thing about Coltrane is the journey not the endpoint.
Here is most of that journey. Who is the audience for this collection? Is it for those new to Coltrane who need a guide to the phases of his musical life? It is all here. There is his early work with Dizzy Gillespie and Johnny Hodges. There are some of the superb sides that he created with Miles Davis. There are his compositions ‘Naima’ and ‘Giant Steps’. There is a live version of ‘My Favourite Things’ a composition that he played year after year. There are recordings that he did with others such as George Russell, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Cecil Taylorand Cannonball Adderley.
The music throughout is magnificent. The stint that Coltrane had with Monk was one of the key moments in his development. That is represented by two tracks showing how Coltrane dealt with the music of the great eccentric. One track, ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ with Miles Davis is taken from a concert in Stockholm on their last tour together. Coltrane did not want to make that tour, he wanted to work independently with his own musicians. Davis’ solo is relatively brief and conventional. Coltrane sweeps in with a long declamatory solo. The applause is sparse probably indicating that the audience were perplexed. When the group played in Paris the audience weren’tpuzzled, they were actively hostile to Coltrane’s new, uncompromising, direction, booing his solos.
The move to Impulse brought about the album ‘Africa/Brass’. The track ‘Africa’ propelled by Elvin Jones features a large group. The heaving, powerful music is arranged by Eric Dolphy. This is Coltrane with two basses and brass. It shows a direction that he could have taken but never did.
The inevitable ‘My Favourite Things’ which Elvin Jones claims they played about 1500 times is taken from the Newport Jazz Festival in 1961. ‘Impressions’ from later that same year is from the European tour that eventually played in Walthamstow!
Undoubtedly, Coltrane is one of the most important creators in jazz. He remains an enigma. His work is now obscured: wrapped in sanctity, myth, mysticism, sixties spirituality and zeitgeist. This collection shows us three-quarters of the Coltrane story.
One of the compelling features of the box is the booklet prepared by Simon Spillett: 46 pages of meticulously researched prose. Spillett looks at some of the literature about Coltrane including J.C. Thomas, Whitney Balliett, Gene Lees, Nat Hentoff. He features those writers who criticise as well as those who eulogise. To Spillett, Coltrane will always be ‘the greatest exemplar of the truth of jazz music’.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
