Jazz Articles about John Coltrane

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Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Best Of Miles Davis & John Coltrane (1955-1961)

by Jim Santella
February 1, 2001

Early Coltrane and early Miles is textbook material. It’s the stuff we’re made of. All the licks, all the quotes, and some of the new harmonic ideas are there. This one-disc reissue compilation gathers Columbia’s best from its archives. An overview of Columbia’s six-disc collection, this album distills a treasured trove of classic pieces performed by classy artists.

”Straight, No Chaser” is an alternate take. The arrangement offers a clear example of the emphasis Davis placed on purity of tone. ...

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John Coltrane (JVC xrcd2 0202-2: Settin' the Pace

by Justin Gawaziuk
December 1, 2000

The rhythm section here has appeared with on several Prestige releases as the Red Garland Trio. Both Garland and Chambers have played with Coltrane in the Miles Davis Quintet, and Art Taylor did some work with Davis as well. There exists some comfort in the homogeneity of the orchestration in all these groups. Listening to the works by these fine players gives the jazz lover the chance to experience cohesive musicality seldom achieved in any genre.

Sonically, this reissue is ...

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John Coltrane: Coltrane Sound

by AAJ Staff
December 1, 2000

In all, it was a busy week. Near the end of 1960, John Coltrane owed Atlantic a bunch of albums, due at the close of the year. He did what his old boss had four years earlier: record a whole mass of material all at once. It was the start of Elvin’s stay and the end of Steve Davis’; a group in flux, but a leader in full control. The tunes were done with no album in mind: on Oct. ...

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John Coltrane / Archie Shepp: New Thing At Newport

by Derek Taylor
August 1, 2000

What better place than the Newport Jazz Festival, a historically tight-laced and conservative jazz forum, for the quartets of Coltrane and Shepp to pour out their soulful selves as libations for the masses? Prior to this 1963 concert the festival’s track record with adventurous jazz fare was checkered at best. Monk and Giuffre had played there in previous years, but the focus was undeniably on the accessible and the mainstream. Things had become so skewed that Charles Mingus, Max Roach ...

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John Coltrane: Kulu Se Mama

by Derek Taylor
August 1, 2000

John Coltrane's reverence of African culture is well documented both in his music and in the many accounts of his life, both musical and personal. His own recordings and as well as his earlier work as a sideman are rife with examples of his Afrocentric leanings. The title piece of this disc is arguably the most African-inflected of them all- a nearly twenty minute, drum-driven prayer to the Nubian spirits that blossoms like a field of the most pungent Dahomian ...

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John Coltrane: Interstellar Space

by Derek Taylor
August 1, 2000

Arguments abound as to when John Coltrane reached his creative zenith. There are listeners who look upon his Giant Steps period, documented through a string of recordings on the Altantic label as his most fertile period. Others with freer leanings point to his so-called Late Period as the source of the most musical promise and joy. There are even those who contend that his life ended before his artistic apogee was attained. Preferences run the gamut of his career but ...

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John Coltrane: Impressions

by Derek Taylor
August 1, 2000

For a cross-section of Coltrane’s muse circa the early 1960s few albums are as representative as Impressions. The disc gathers performances from both concert and studio dates and offers an assortment of compositions that together illustrate just how multifaceted the master could be. Though none of the material on this most recent edition is unissued and majority is available on a pair of recent box sets ( Complete 1961Village Vanguard Sessions and Complete Classic Quartet ) this single disc still ...