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What is immediately noticeable upon listening to this delicately and superbly remastered version of Miles Davis classic first -- and only -- album with his original sextet is how deep the blues presence is on it. Though it is true that the album's title cut is rightfully credited with introducing modalism into jazz, and defining Davis' music for years to come, it is the sole selection of its kind on the record. The rest is all blues in any flavor you wish you call your own. For starters, there's the steaming bebop blues of "Dr. Jackie" -- recorded in 1955 for a Prestige session with Jackie McLean. Davis is still in his role as a trumpet master, showing a muscularity of tone that reveals something more akin to Roy Eldridge orLouis Armstrong than Dizzy or Fats Navarro. The tempo is furious as all the members of the sextet solo except for Jones. The saxophonists trade choruses and come off sounding like mirrored images of one another in the slower, post-bop blues that is "Sid's Ahead." With a slippery melody line that quotes two harmonic lines from early New Orleans-styled blues, Davis drives the band into the rhythm section's garage. It's Coltrane first with his stuttered, angular lines, hiccuping halfway through the interval before continuing on with a squeak here and the slightest squawk there. Next up is Davis, blowing fluid and straightened lines, ribbons through the rhythm section's center as Red Garland lays out and leaves it toPaul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones to provide the earnest, time-keeping 4/4 that Davis sidles to in the tune. When Adderley solos, all best are off as he plays as pure a blues as he was capable at the time. Nonetheless, there are the long lines of slurred notes, smattered against Garland's harmonies and he slips into quoting "Skip to my Lou" before knotting it back down to the basics and even then not for long.Coltrane was already exploring the edges of mode and harmony; he used an intervallic invention in the choruses to juxtapose his solo against the rhythm section and it worked -- but it must have made Davisraise an eyebrow. Chambers' solo is as tasteful and as breezy and free as only he could be. His contrapuntal soloing rides the rhythm out, Garland striding along quietly until the tune returns.

"Sid's Ahead" is followed by the track "Two Bass Hit," written by Dizzy and John Lewis. It's an off-kilter blues with a wide middle section, no doubt for Lewis' piano to fill. It's a wonderful ensemble showcase but Davis blows his ass off in his solo, riding through the two saxophonists and challenging them at the same time. But then comes "Milestones" with its modal round and interval, where harmony is constructed from the center up. It is a memorable tune for not only its structure and how it would inform not only Davis' own music, but jazz in general for the next seven years. It would also changeJohn Coltrane's life. The exploratory style of soloing was already revealing itself in Trane's playing, but he loosens it up even more here. More importantly, this is the first place we get to see it in Davis, where there is no goal at the end of the rainbow, there is merely the solo itself in the heart of the mode. The alternate take of this tune, which is featured at the end of the album, tagged on with two others of "Two Bass Hit" and "Straight, No Chaser," has an even longer and weirder solo by Davis where he plays notes he probably never played again. The album's closer is Monk's "Straight, No Chaser," which became a signature tune for the sextet even when Garland and Jones left to be replaced by Bill Evans and Jimmy Cobb and later Evans by Wynton Kelly. Like "My Funny Valentine," it was a Davis staple that accented how intuitive the band was with unusual harmonic structures like Monk's. The Adderley solo is remarkable for its fluid, bebop-style runs over Garland's extended chords and flatted sevenths.Cannonball quotes the melody in a myriad of ways and goes off the deep end each time he does, taking the new rendition to its limit, always returning it to the blues root. Davis plays it cool, slithering around the rhythm section staying firmly in blues phraseology, even quoting a reverse harmonic melodic read of "When the Saints Go Marching In," bringing it in and out three times while pushing the blues line to its edge. Coltrane's solo is all over the place, slurring notes as he plays weird scales all over the blues and triple times the rhythm section. But he knows the tune better than anyone here -- he spent six months with Monk just previous to this playing it every night. Coltrane knows how much he can stretch the intervals without breaking apart the body. He inserts his own modal interpretation on the blues halfway through his solo before slipping into the straight, swinging groove of his Blue Train album, finished only two months before. Garland, oddly enough, is the one to travel the furthest from Monk here, coming off with a Bud Powell-esque blues muscle that shifts the entire tune into a straight bebop blues before sifting in a few Errol Garland quotes as the bass solos and then the front line comes in to take it out. The alternate take is even stranger as Garland falters in his time not once but twice and has to find his way back in.

Legacy has done it proud on this series of reissues, as the sound is as fine as technology can currently make it, the notes are terrific, and the alternate takes offer additional delights to fans of the original recordings. They should also be commended for leaving them at the bottom of the album instead of placing them in with the original album's sequence, a practice that though widely used is distracting nonetheless. This is a fine issue of a classic, and treated like the piece of art it is.

:::Review by Thom Jurek:::

Miles Davis - Milestones (1958)

1. Dr. Jackle (5:47)

2. Sid's Ahead (12:59)

3. Two Bass Hit (5:13)

4. Miles (5:45)

5. Billy Boy (7:14)

6. Straight, No Chaser (10:41)

Credits

- Miles Davis / Trumpet, Piano (on Sid's Ahead)

- Cannonball Adderley / Alto saxophone

- John Coltrane / Tenor saxophone

- Red Garland / Piano

- Paul Chambers / Double bass

- Philly Joe Jones / Drums

John Coltrane - The Mastery Of John Coltrane / Vol. III Jupiter Variation (1967)

1. Number One (11:58) John Coltrane
2. Peace On Earth (7:12) John Coltrane
3. Jupiter (variation) (6:49) John Coltrane
4. Leo (11:02) John Coltrane

Credits
Rashied Ali - Drums
Alice Coltrane - Piano
John Coltrane - Sax (Tenor)
Charlie Haden - Bass
Pharoah Sanders - Tambourine, Flute (Wood), Shaker

Notes
Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, N.J on March 7, 1967 (A1), February 22, 1967 (B1, B2).
Peace On Earth recorded at Coast Recorders, San Francisco on February 2, 1966.
Alice Coltrane replaced her piano part and Charlie Haden replaced Jimmy Garrison's bass part at Village Recorders, Los Angeles in April, 1972.
Previously released on AS-9225 with a string section overdubbed in April, 1972. It is released here without the strings.

Cosmic Music, a jazz album by John Coltrane and his wife Alice Coltrane, was released shortly after the death of John Coltrane. The album has the following tracks: "Manifestation", "Reverend King", "Lord Help Me", and "Sun". Reverend King is a tribute to the famous Martin Luther King Jr.  John Coltrane's two tracks, among his last, were recorded in 1966 and Alice's two tracks were recorded in 1968. True to the name of the album, Cosmic, the music is intense, spiritual, soul searching and moving, with the common perception that John introduced fundamentals of Indian philosophy into jazz. The album has John Coltrane on the saxophone and Alice Coltrane playing the piano.

:::Review by www.vinylrevinyl.com:::

Alice And John Coltrane – Cosmic Music (1966)

A1 Manifestation 11:14
Percussion – Rashied Ali, Ray Appleton
Written-By – John Coltrane

A2 Lord, Help Me To Be 7:11
Percussion – Ben Riley
Written-By – Alice Coltrane

B1 Reverend King 10:45
Percussion – Rashied Ali, Ray Appleton
Written-By – John Coltrane

B2 The Sun 3:50
Flute [Traces Of Pharoah's Flute Can Be Heard In The Distant Backround], Vocals [Invocation] – Pharoah Sanders
Vocals [Invocation] – John Coltrane
Written-By – Alice Coltrane
Percussion – Ben Riley

Credits
Bass, Violin – Jimmy Garrison
Flute, Tenor Saxophone – Pharoah Sanders
Piano – Alice Coltrane
Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet – John Coltrane

This is one of the most highly underrated entries in Coltrane's voluminous catalog. Although the same overwhelming attention bestowed upon My Favorite Things was not given to Coltrane's Sound upon its initial release, both were actually recorded during the same three-day period in the fall of 1960. So prolific were those recording dates, they informed no less than five different Coltrane albums on Atlantic. The title could not have been more accurate, as each of the six pieces -- eight if you count the CD bonus tracks -- bear the unmistakable and indelible stamp of Coltrane's early-'60s style. "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" and "Body and Soul" -- the only tracks not penned by Coltrane -- are given unique and distinctive voices. Animating the arrangements on these sessions were Coltrane (soprano/tenor sax), Steve Davis (bass), Elvin Jones (drums), and McCoy Tyner (piano). It's perhaps Tyner's recollection of the quartet as "four pistons in an engine" that most aptly explains the singular drive heard during Coltrane's extended runs on "Liberia." Tyner flawlessly complements Coltrane with full resonating chords that cling to his volley of sound. The rhythmic gymnastics of percussionist Jones is also showcased as his double-jointed bop swing and military band precision are distinctly displayed on the blues "Equinox." The opening six bars give Jones a chance to make a contrasting statement -- which he takes full advantage of. The two CD bonus tracks -- "26-2" as well as an alternate take of "Body and Soul" -- are also available on the Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings box set. Regardless of the format, these recordings remain among Trane's finest.

:::Review by Lindsay Planer:::

John Coltrane - Coltrane's Sound (1960)

1. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes 6:42
Written-By – Buddy Bernier, Jerry Brainin
2. Central Park West 4:12
3. Liberia 6:45
4. Body And Soul 5:35
Written-By – Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green, Robert Sour
5. Equinox 8:33
6. Satellite 5:48
7. 26-2 6:09
8. Body And Soul (Alternate Take) 5:57
Written-By – Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green, Robert Sour


Credits
Artwork By – Marvin Israel
Double Bass – Steve Davis
Drums – Elvin Jones
Piano – McCoy Tyner (tracks: 1 to 5, 7 to 8)
Soprano Saxophone – John Coltrane (tracks: 2, 7)
Tenor Saxophone – John Coltrane (tracks: 1, 3 to 8)
Written-By – John Coltrane (tracks: 2, 3, 5 to 7)

Other than First Meditations, which was not released at the time, Sun Ship (reissued on CD by Impulse) was the final studio album by John Coltrane's classic quartet (with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones) before Pharoah Sanders joined the band on second tenor. At this point in time, Coltrane was using very short repetitive themes as jumping-off points for explosive improvisations, often centered around one chord and a very specific spiritual mood. Tyner sounds a bit conservative in comparison, but Jones keeps up with Trane's fire (especially on "Amen"). Even in the most intense sections (and much of this music is atonal), there is a logic and thoughtfulness about Coltrane's playing.

:::Review by Scott Yanow:::

John Coltrane - Sun Ship (1965)

1. Sun Ship 6:12
2. Dearly Beloved 6:27
3. Amen 8:16
4. Attaining 11:26
5. Ascent 10:10

Credits
Bass – Jimmy Garrison
Drums – Elvin Jones
Piano – McCoy Tyner
Tenor Saxophone – John Coltrane

This CD reissues what was arguably the finest of the John Coltrane-Pharoah Sanders collaborations. On five diverse but almost consistently intense movements ("The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost," "Compassion," "Love," "Consequences," and "Serenity"), the two tenor saxophonists, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and both Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali on drums create some powerful, dense, and emotional music. Unlike some of the live jams of 1966, the passionate performances never ramble on too long and the screams and screeches fit logically into the spiritual themes. This would be the last recording of Coltrane with Tyner and Jones.

:::Review by Scott Yanow:::

John Coltrane - Meditations (1965)

1. The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost 12:50
2. Compassion 6:50
3. Love 8:11
4. Consequences 9:10
5. Serenity 3:31

Credits
Bass - Jimmy Garrison
Drums - Elvin Jones, Rashied Ali
Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder
Producer - Bob Thiele
Saxophone [Tenor] - John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders
Piano - McCoy Tyner

Easily one of the most important records ever made, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme was his pinnacle studio outing that at once compiled all of his innovations from his past, spoke of his current deep spirituality, and also gave a glimpse into the next two and a half years (sadly, those would be his last). Recorded at the end of 1964, Trane's classic quartet of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison stepped into the studio and created one of the most thought-provoking, concise, and technically pleasing albums of their bountiful relationship (not to mention his best-selling to date). From the undulatory (and classic) bassline at the intro to the last breathy notes, Trane is at the peak of his logical yet emotionally varied soloing while the rest of the group is remarkably in tune with Coltrane's spiritual vibe. Composed of four parts, each has a thematic progression leading to an understanding of spirituality through meditation. From the beginning, "Acknowledgement" is the awakening of sorts that trails off to the famous chanting of the theme at the end, which yields to the second act, "Resolution," an amazingly beautiful piece about the fury of dedication to a new path of understanding. "Persuance" is a search for that understanding, and "Psalm" is the enlightenment. Although he is at times aggressive and atonal, this isn't Trane at his most adventurous (pretty much everything recorded from here on out progressively becomes much more free, and live recordings from this period are extremely spirited), but it certainly is his best attempt at the realization of concept -- as the spiritual journey is made amazingly clear. A Love Supreme clocks in at just over 30 minutes, but if it had been any longer it could have turned into a laborious listen. As it stands, just enough is conveyed. It is almost impossible to imagine a world without A Love Supreme having been made, and it is equally impossible to imagine any jazz collection without it. 

:::Review by Sam Samuelson:::

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (Deluxe Edition 2002) (1965)

CD1
1-1. Part 1 - Acknowledgement 7:43
1-2. Part 2 - Resolution 7:20
1-3. Part 3 - Pursuance 10:42
1-4. Part 4 - Psalm 7:05

CD2
2-1. Introduction By André Francis 1:13
2-2. Part 1 - Acknowledgement (Live Version) 6:12
2-3. Part 2 - Resolution (Live Version) 11:37
2-4. Part 3 - Pursuance (Live Version) 21:30
2-5. Part 4 - Psalm (Live Version) 8:49
2-6. Part 2 - Resolution (Alternative Take) 7:25
2-7. Part 2 - Resolution (Breakdown) 2:13
2-8. Part 1 - Acknowlegement (Alternative Take) 9:09
Bass - Art Davis
Saxophone [Tenor] - Archie Shepp
2-9   Part 1 - Acknowlegement (Alternative Take) 9:23
Bass - Art Davis
Saxophone [Tenor] - Archie Shepp

Credits
Bass - Jimmy Garrison
Drums - Elvin Jones
Piano - McCoy Tyner
Saxophone [Tenor] - John Coltrane

Notes
A Love Supreme: Studio and Live versions including some alternative takes.
Disc One and Disc Two (tracks 6-9) recorded December 1964 at Van Gelder Recording Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Disc Two (tracks 1-5) recorded July 1965 at the Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, France.

Recorded over the course of three days in April of 1961, Someday My Prince Will Come is at once a curiosity and a masterpiece, a recording that not only captures trumpeter Miles Davis' group in flux but practically crystallizes the very moment of transition. As on Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959), for which the leader brought back pianist Bill Evans, Davis again turns to the past, this time calling upon two recent alumni to participate on three of the tracks. But far more than an historical document, Someday My Prince Will Come is a thing of beauty, an indispensable addition to the Davis recorded canon.
Unfortunately, a disproportionate amount of attention has been devoted to the opening, title track. Following solos by a Harmon-muted Davis, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, and pianist Wynton Kelley, the leader appears to take the tune out but instead ends on a deceptive cadence, suspending the dominant chord long enough for the tenor saxophone of John Coltrane to join the party for two undeniably dazzling choruses of alternate, extended harmonies and blistering pyrotechnics. Especially those listeners less familiar with Mobley's than Coltrane's work tend to make much of the obvious disparity between the two, interpreting it either as a sign of Coltrane's unassailable superiority or Mobley's middleweight mediocrity.
In retrospect, and especially after reading the liner notes with trumpeter Eddie Henderson's first-hand, sympathetic account of Mobley's status as the newcomer, it's difficult not to come away with some sense that Mobley was "blind-sided" on this occasion. Whereas Coltrane clearly makes the dramatic entrance of a man on a mission, Mobley is merely trying to please his boss, contributing a solo, moreover, that's based on the tight-lipped, minimalist model of the one immediately preceding him. The result is "respectable" but hardly representative Mobley. Neither a motivic power player like Rollins nor an incantatory harmonicist like Coltrane, Mobley is one of the instrument's premier bel canto "singers," an unabashed Romantic who habitually plays his heart out, rarely subjecting the inspiration of the moment to potentially life-killing (and song-ending) intellectual scrutiny. But in this rare instance he pauses—and pauses again—then again—each time up to an entire measure of empty space elapsing before, realizing his time is about to run out, he hastily inserts an arbitrary and lame closing tag.
Coltrane sits out on the tune's alternate take (not included on the original release), which finds Mobley back on his game, going repeatedly to the uppermost note of his solo until its lyric ring is unmistakable, then neatly tying it all together in unhesitating, characteristic Mobley-esque fashion. Nevertheless, the earlier Coltrane solo, while not doing any favors for Mobley, sets the stage for all that follows, elevating the session from an historical curiosity to another perpetually fresh, time-resistant classic by a Davis ensemble less "transitional" than state of the art.
"Old Folks," a ballad as sentimental and wistfully nostalgic as its title suggests, acquires unaccustomed urgency and poignancy when distilled to its essence by the steely, penetrating Davis trumpet, followed by its fleshing out in the warm, round tones of Mobley's tenor on the first of several flawless turns by the saxophonist. As Henderson's written account reveals, Davis was far from sold on the suitability of Mobley as a replacement for Coltrane—and Mobley was all too aware of his new employer's reservations. Saxophonist Sonny Stitt, another provisional member of the Davis ensemble following Coltrane's departure, had been subjected to withering criticism (or, worse, cold disregard) by his employer, especially for attempting to play bebop figures on the modal scales of "So What." But whereas Stitt stood his ground, sticking to his Charlie Parker-shaped story and then simply moving on, it's apparent that Mobley took especially seriously the question of his acceptance by jazz's frequently inscrutable Prince of Darkness.
With the exception of the released version of the title track and "Teo," a Mid-Eastern modal piece on which Davis revisits some of his upper-register work from "Saete" (Sketches of Spain, (Columbia 1959), Mobley acquits himself almost as impressively as he would on the group's on-location recordings, In Person at the Blackhawk, Vols. 1 and 2 (Columbia, 1961). On "Teo" Davis simply stopped the first take in midstream and turned once again to Coltrane for the definitive, released version of the tune. Frankly, it's unlikely there was anyone besides Coltrane capable not only of sustaining the exotic, suspended-meter spell woven by Davis' incandescent trumpet but of intensifying and deepening it, probing the darkly beautiful dimensions beneath the song's enticing angular surface.
Besides the Coltrane/Mobley meeting, the session affords the listener a unique opportunity to contrast the "new" drummer, Jimmy Cobb, with his predecessor, Philly Joe Jones, who sits in on "Blues No. 2," a track available only on the CD reissue. Cobb plays with a broad, generous stroke and a brilliant, ringing ride cymbal, creating open swinging spaces for the soloists to explore, clearly anticipating the prominent role of the ride cymbal in the playing of his successor, Tony Williams.
Jones who, like Coltrane on the title tune, sounds like a man out to prove something, favors the snare and executes with a shortened, tight stroke, perfect for the crisp, quick repartee he engages in with the leader. In that respect he's closer to Max Roach than to Cobb or Williams, yet there's an unmistakable difference. Whereas Roach, the "Dean" of modern jazz drummers, would maintain a busy polyrhythmic conversation, or "counter-chatter," with the soloists, Jones plays more like a horn player himself, his phrases intricate but relatively symmetrical, rattling off the same bebop licks as those favored by the idiom's leading exponents. In fact, listening to the drummer and his former employer on this track is not just a little like hearing some of the sparring matches between Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie as on Bird and Diz (Verve, 1950).
As might already be inferred, Someday My Prince Will Come is a Davis recording rich with contextual, historical and autobiographical significance (including the cover photo of a woman whose appearance the leader insisted upon as a condition for the album's release). Those listeners who insist on making much of the "shoot-out" between Mobley and Coltrane would do well to withhold judgment until hearing the two tenor giants going after one another on at least three other recordings, each granting the players generous amounts of solo space: Johnny Griffin, A Blowin' Session (Blue Note, 1957); John Coltrane, Two Tenors (Prestige, 1957); Hank Mobley, Tenor Conclave (Prestige, 1957). On the latter session, featuring four tenors, Mobley follows Coltrane as the consummate clean-up hitter on an especially memorable version of Irvin Berlin's "How Deep Is the Ocean?"—climaxing in a surprisingly forceful Mobley cadenza.
But Some Day My Prince Will Come is a recording that can be recommended solely on its intrinsic merits, not the least of which is the uniformly excellent playing of the trumpet player. For this reason, along with the consistently high level of the other individual performances as well as the unmistakable guiding if not shaping influence of the strong-willed, focused and visionary leader over virtually every measure of the music, it's a session that continues to acquire a strong following, having the potential, even, of pulling within striking distance of Kind of Blue.

:::Review by Samuel Chell:::

Miles Davis - Someday My Prince Will Come (1961)

1. Someday My Prince Will Come 9:04
2. Old Folks 5:14
3. Pfrancing 8:31
4. Drad Dog 4:29
5. Teo 9:34
6. I Thought About You 4:53

Credits
Bass - Paul Chambers
Drums - Jimmy Cobb
Piano - Wynton Kelly
Saxophone [Tenor] - Hank Mobley (tracks: 1,2,3,4)
Trumpet - Miles Davis
Tenor saxophone - John Coltrane (1,5)

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 such factionary distinctions are ultimately immaterial in the larger scheme of his life's work. What is widely agreed upon is the accelerated pace of his musical search in later years; a quest that found him delving deep into the religious and the emanicipatory and unveiling a recorded legacy that stands as one of the finest in the history of Jazz. There were a host of precursors and influences that shaped Coltrane's sound, but his method and vision remained wholly his own.
As one of Coltrane's final recordings this duet session with Ali is one of his most essential and unique. Not only is it the grandfather of all extended saxophone/drums duets in jazz, but it also set the standard for all that came after. Coltrane had engaged in earlier duets with Elvin Jones (see "Vigil" on Kulu Se Mama ), but in Ali he found a drummer even more willing to abandon terrestrial rhythmic boundaries and set course for uncharted space. Across these duets the saxophonist is at his most visceral exuding an overpowering confidence tempered at times with sacrosanct tenderness. Ali's interlocking pan-rhythmic patterns envelop and embrace while fervently pushing the music forward.
The synergistic rapport between the two men is in gorgeous evidence from the onset of "Mars." A brief invocation of delicate bells and the two take off like a pair of comets trailing forth incandescently twined tails. "Venus," like the deity that is it's namesake, is a creature of absolute beauty built on a melodic phrase that mollifies the ears at the same time it galvanizes them. "Jupiter" turns the tables, bursting forth in a torrential sheet of densely packed phrases. Ali's traps carve out a brawny swathe of rhythmic energy and his muscular solo that initiates "Saturn" is similarly packed with barely contained ecstatic force. Rounding out the session are two bonus tracks, both of which were included on an earlier compact disc reissue, but not on the original LP. Setting this edition apart from earlier incarnations is the superb 24-bit remastering work and several false starts that preface "Mars" (presumably aimed at Trane aficionados who must have every scrap the master committed to tape).
Much free jazz today is accorded the additional appellation "energy music"—music so suffused with strength and vigor that it rejuvenates the listener through the transfer of aural victuals. If ever there were an archetypal example of "energy music" these duets between Trane and Ali are it. As if in unanimous testament to the power of these two players together piano and bass are never even remotely missed.

:::Review by Derek Taylor:::

John Coltrane - Interstellar Space (1967)

1. Mars 10:42
2. Leo 10:55
3. Venus 8:27
4. Jupiter Variation 6:45
5. Jupiter 5:22
6. Saturn 11:36

Credits
Drums - Rashied Ali
Saxophone [Tenor], Bells, Producer [Original Recordings], Written-by - John Coltrane

Hi Everyone!

Some of you might find it very useful an interesting as I recently have updated the following links:

John McLaughlin – Extrapolation (1969)

Peter Brötzmann - Machine Gun (1968)

Guthrie Govan - Erotic Cakes (2006)

V.S.O.P. - The Quintet (1977)

Donald Byrd - A New Perspective (1963)

Keith Jarrett – My Song (1977)

Randy Weston – Tanjah (1973)

Andrew Hill – Judgement (1964)

Miles Davis - In a Silent Way (1969)

Chick Corea – My Spanish Heart (1976)

Duke Ellington - Money Jungle (1962)

John Coltrane - Giant Steps – Deluxe Edition (1959)

 

Enjoy!

This is a major set, "new" music from John Coltrane that was recorded February 15, 1967, (five months before his death) but not released for the first time until 1995. One of several "lost" sessions that were stored by Alice Coltrane for decades, only one selection ("Offering" which was on Expression) among the eight numbers and three alternates was ever out before. The music, although well worth releasing, offers no real hints as to what Coltrane might have been playing had he lived into the 1970s. The performances by the quartet (with pianist Alice Coltrane, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali) are briefer (from two-and-a-half to five-plus minutes) than Coltrane's recordings of the previous year, but that might have been due to the fact that this music was played in the studio (as opposed to the marathon live blowouts with Pharoah Sanders) or to Coltrane's worsening health. Actually 'Trane (who sticks exclusively to tenor here) is as powerful as usual, showing no compromise in his intense flights, and indulging in sound explorations that are as free (but with purpose) as any he had ever done. Coltrane's true fans will want to go out of their way to acquire this intriguing CD.

:::Review by Scott Yanow:::

John Coltrane - Stellar Regions (1967)

1. Seraphic Light 8:54
2. Sun Star 6:05
3. Stellar Regions 3:31
4. Iris 3:50
5. Offering 8:20
6. Configuration 4:01
7. Jimmy's Mode 5:58
8. Tranesonic 4:14
9. Stellar Regions (Alternate Take) 4:37
10. Sun Star (Alternate Take) 8:05
11. Tranesonic (Alternate Take) 2:48

Credits
Bass - Jimmy Garrison
Drums - Rashied Ali
Piano - Alice Coltrane
Producer, Composed By, Saxophone [Tenor] - John Coltrane

Ascension is the single recording that placed John Coltrane firmly into the avant-garde. Whereas, prior to 1965, Coltrane could be heard playing in an avant vein with stretched out solos, atonality, and a seemingly free design to the beat, Ascension throws most rules right out the window with complete freedom from the groove and strikingly abrasive sheets of horn interplay. Recorded with three tenors (Trane, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp), two altos (Marion Brown, John Tchicai), two trumpet players (Freddie Hubbard, Dewey Johnson), two bassists (Art Davis, Jimmy Garrison), the lone McCoy Tyner on piano, and Elvin Jones on the drums, this large group is both relentless and soulful simultaneously. While there are segments where the ensemble plays discordant and abrasive skronks, these are usually segues into intriguing blues-based solos from each member. The comparison that is immediately realized is Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz of five years previous. However, it should be known that Ascension certainly carries it own weight, and in a strange sense makes Coleman's foray a passive adventure -- mostly due to an updated sonic quality (à la Bob Thiele) and also Trane's greater sense of passionate spiritualism. Timed at around forty minutes, this can be a difficult listen at first, but with a patient ear and an appreciation for the finer things in life, the reward is a greater understanding of the personal path that the artist was on at that particular time in his development. Coltrane was always on an unceasing mission for personal expansion through the mouthpiece of his horn, but by the time of this recording he had begun to reach the level of "elder statesman" and began to find other voices (Shepp, Sanders, and Marion Brown) to propel and expand his sounds and emotions. Therefore, Ascension reflects more of an event rather than just a jazz record and should be sought out by either experienced jazz appreciators or other open minded listeners, but not by unsuspecting bystanders.

:::Review by Jack LV Isles:::

John Coltrane – Ascension (1965)

1. Ascension - Edition II (40:23)
2. Ascension - Edition I (38:31)

Credits
Bass - Art Davis , Jimmy Garrison
Drums - Elvin Jones
Mastered By - Kevin "Mirabile Dictu" Reeves*
Other [Original Liner Notes] - A. B. Spellman
Other [Reissue Liner Notes] - Lewis Porter
Photography [Original-lp Photographs] - Chuck Stewart
Piano - McCoy Tyner
Producer [Original Recordings] - Bob Thiele
Recorded By - Rudy Van Gelder
Saxophone [Alto] - John Tchicai , Marion Brown
Saxophone [Tenor] - Archie Shepp , John Coltrane , Pharoah Sanders
Trumpet - Dewey Johnson , Freddie Hubbard

Notes
Recorded June 28, 1965 at Van Gelder Recording Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

History will undoubtedly enshrine this disc as a watershed the likes of which may never truly be appreciated. Giant Steps bore the double-edged sword of furthering the cause of the music as well as delivering it to an increasingly mainstream audience. Although this was John Coltrane's debut for Atlantic, he was concurrently performing and recording with Miles Davis. Within the space of less than three weeks, Coltrane would complete his work with Davis and company on another genre-defining disc, Kind of Blue, before commencing his efforts on this one. Coltrane (tenor sax) is flanked by essentially two different trios. Recording commenced in early May of 1959 with a pair of sessions that featured Tommy Flanagan (piano) and Art Taylor (drums), as well as Paul Chambers -- who was the only band member other than Coltrane to have performed on every date. When recording resumed in December of that year, Wynton Kelly (piano) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) were instated -- replicating the lineup featured on Kind of Blue, sans Miles Davis of course. At the heart of these recordings, however, is the laser-beam focus of Coltrane's tenor solos. All seven pieces issued on the original Giant Steps are likewise Coltrane compositions. He was, in essence, beginning to rewrite the jazz canon with material that would be centered on solos -- the 180-degree antithesis of the art form up to that point. These arrangements would create a place for the solo to become infinitely more compelling. This would culminate in a frenetic performance style that noted jazz journalist Ira Gitler accurately dubbed "sheets of sound." Coltrane's polytonal torrents extricate the amicable and otherwise cordial solos that had begun decaying the very exigency of the genre -- turning it into the equivalent of easy listening. He wastes no time as the disc's title track immediately indicates a progression from which there would be no looking back. Line upon line of highly cerebral improvisation snake between the melody and solos, practically fusing the two. The resolute intensity of "Countdown" does more to modernize jazz in 141 seconds than many artists do in their entire careers. Tellingly, the contrasting and ultimately pastoral "Naima" was the last tune to be recorded, and is the only track on the original long-player to feature the Kind of Blue quartet. What is lost in tempo is more than recouped in intrinsic melodic beauty. Both Giant Steps [Deluxe Edition] and the seven-disc Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings offer more comprehensive presentations of these sessions.

1. Giant Steps (4:43)

2. Cousin Mary (5:45)

3. Countdown (2:21)

4. Spiral (5:56)

5. Syeeda's Song Flute (7:00)

6. Naima (4:21)

7. Mr. P.C. (6:57)

8. Giant Steps (Alternate Version 1) (3:40)

9. Naima (Alternate Version 1) (4:27)

10. Cousin Mary (Alternate Take) (5:54)

11. Countdown (Alternate Take) (4:33)

12. Syeeda's Song Flute (Alternate Take) (7:02)

Bass - Paul Chambers (3)

Drums - Art Taylor (tracks: 1 to 5, 7) , Jimmy Cobb (tracks: 6)

Engineer [Recording] - Phil Iehle , Tom Dowd

Piano - Tommy Flanagan (tracks: 1 to 5, 7) , Wynton Kelly (tracks: 6)

Producer [Supervision] - Nesuhi Ertegun

Saxophone [Tenor] - John Coltrane

Written-By - John Coltrane