John Coltrane: Ole Coltrane (1961)

Mike Perciaccante

CD/DVD Reviewer since 2002

Mike Perciaccante has been contributing to All About Jazz since 2002. He also contributes to many other magazines across the country.

Recent articles (116 total)

Published: June 7, 2002

Following his classic releases Giant Steps, Coltrane Jazz, My Favourite Things and Coltrane Plays The Blues in the Coltrane catalog, Ole Coltrane was the master's final recording for Atlantic before moving to the Impulse! label.

Perhaps that is why this album seems to be one of his most overlooked recordings. Ole which was originally released in 1962, was recorded in between the two sessions that formed the Impulse! release Africa/Brass.

It appears that with Ole, Coltrane was continuing the experimentation of his earlier Atlantic recordings. In this case Coltrane was trying to explore the larger group format. Ole features Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Art Davis, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman and Elvin Jones, and of course Coltrane himself — a septet...quite a large band/ensemble.

With only three tracks, plus an additional "bonus" track, it is hard to pick singular standout performances. Each piece of music is wonderful in its own accord.

Rhino has taken meticulous care in remastering the music (the sound is better, brighter and more vibrant than the original CD issues and cleaner than the vast majority of the old vinyl copies that have been beaten-up in the last 40 years), recreating the original album artwork/liner notes into a mini album sleeve and adding additional liner notes by Neil Tesser, author of The Playboy Guide To Jazz as well as the original liner notes by Ralph J. Gleason.

Although this is album appears to have been considered a throw-away (from an artist departing their roster) by Atlantic, this is one of the greatest transitional recording of all time. It is essential.

Track Listing: 1. Ol

Personnel: Art Davis - Bass Eric Dolphy - Flute, Sax (Alto) Elvin Jones - Drums McCoy Tyner - Piano John Coltrane - Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor) Freddie Hubbard - Trumpet Reggie Workman - Bass

Record Label: Atlantic Jazz
Style: Straight-ahead/Mainstream