Jazz Articles about John Coltrane

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John Coltrane: Side Steps

by Chris May
October 16, 2009

John Coltrane Side Steps Prestige Records 2009 The 5-CD Side Steps follows two other Prestige box sets--the 6-CD Fearless Leader (2006) and 5-CD Interplay (2007)--which together catalogue saxophonist John Coltrane's recordings for the label 1956-58. The three boxes, each packed with extraordinary music, chronicle on parallel paths the years during which Coltrane's revolutionary style began to emerge, but before he achieved iconic status first, from 1959, on Atlantic, and then, from ...

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John Coltrane: Kulu Se Mama

by Chris May
October 7, 2009

A vibrant and accessible album from saxophonist John Coltrane's late-middle period, Kulu Se Mama has been only fitfully on catalogue since its original release in early 1967, and has tended to be overlooked in favor of near contemporaneous works like A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965) and Ascension (Impulse!, 1966), elements from both of which it reprises. Kulu Se Mama was included in Verve's Originals series' five-disc box set, John Coltrane: The Impulse! Albums Volume 3 earlier in 2009, and is ...

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Coltrane Tributes: Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Khan Jamal, Azar Lawrence & Joel Holmes

by Marc Medwin
September 5, 2009

Jamaaladeen TacumaColtrane ConfigurationsJazzwerkstatt2009 Khan JamalImpressions of ColtraneSteepleChase2009 Azar LawrenceLegacy and Music of John ColtraneClarion Jazz2009 Joel HolmesAfrican SkiesBlue Canoe2009 John Coltrane was revered during his all-too-brief career and in the 42 years since his death, his legacy has ...

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John Coltrane: The Impulse! Albums - Volume Three

by Chris May
January 21, 2009

John Coltrane The Impulse! Albums - Volume Three Impulse! 2009

With this latest edition of the Originals box sets collecting saxophonist John Coltrane's albums for the Impulse! label, the series reaches the critically-polarised period immediately following the release of A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965). Five albums are included--The John Coltrane Quartet Plays, Ascension, New Thing At Newport, Kulu Se Mama and Meditations.

All these albums were recorded during 1965, and ...

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Thelonious Monk: Thelonious Himself

by Stuart Broomer
January 18, 2009

When producer Orrin Keepnews undertook this album for Riverside in 1957, Thelonious Monk had recorded relatively little as a solo pianist--nine tracks for French Vogue in 1954 and single tracks on Prestige and Riverside LPs. While the Vogue had emphasized Monk's originals and the single tracks were all old tunes, Thelonious Himself (Riverside/OJC, 1957) balanced his unique approach to standards with striking performances of originals. Whether fragmented, dissonant or oddly hesitant, Monk's probing (the usage is literal, heard in the ...

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John Coltrane: Dakar

by Chris May
October 4, 2008

Often cited as saxophonist John Coltrane's first album as leader, Dakar--recorded on April 20, 1957--is a usurper. Originally credited to the Prestige All Stars (and released as part of a short-lived experiment with 16-rpm discs), it was only credited to Coltrane on its re-release in 1963, when the saxophonist's star was firmly in the ascendant. The Dakar session was one of several Coltrane appeared on as a sideman that week--on the 16th with pianist Thelonious Monk, on the 18th with ...

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John Coltrane: Turning Point

by Nic Jones
April 18, 2008

The music collected here comes from a period of Coltrane's career, namely the closing years of the 1950s, which so many tenor sax players have latched on to in the decades since. At that stage in his own musical evolution Coltrane's playing was developing that singular edge that was to be the hallmark of the final decade of his life, albeit whilst working within the hard bop parameters he was destined to move well outside of. He ...