Viewing entries tagged
john coltrane

"Bags & Trane" by Milt Jackson & John Coltrane on Atlantic 1368

Comment

"Bags & Trane" by Milt Jackson & John Coltrane on Atlantic 1368

A great combination of tenor and vibes.

Wonderful album here with Milt Jackson and Coltrane on Atlantic. The rest of the group consists of Hank Jones on piano, Paul Chambers on double bass and Connie Kay on drums.

The music is classy and the combination of Bags and Trane really works superbly. Is this the only time Trane recorded with a vibraphonist? Can’t think of any other album with that setting. Please correct me if I’m mistaken.

The sound on this session is not top tier. I put on Donald Byrds “The Cat Walk” on Blue Note straight after and what a striking difference. Such amazing punch, power and a clear distinctive sound. The sound of Philly Joe Jones drums knocks you out compared to the meager, closed in and tinny sound of Connie Kays drums. Not overly impressive session from him overall. I think this is very interesting, how big the difference is between different titles on different labels with different sound engineers. You wonder sometimes what some of them were doing.

At the moment I’m searching high and low for original mono pressings within my very tight budget. It’s very stimulating to explore and discover titles on several labels which I haven’t given much attention to before, like Verve, Mercury, Mode, Dawn and so on. Plenty of less expensive stuff there to try and find.

Comment

"Impressions" by John Coltrane on Impulse! A-42

8 Comments

"Impressions" by John Coltrane on Impulse! A-42

Impulse! is synonymous with Coltrane.

Any Coltrane LP on Impulse! will offer the listener some very special jazz. These are classic albums. I’m aiming to collect quite a few more. This one is “Impressions”, and it features both live takes and studio recordings spanning about one and a half years. Outside of the the classic Coltrane quartet, three other cats are featured. On the first tune “India”, Eric Dolphy plays the bass clarinet, which is always a good thing. Reggie Workman also make an appearance on the first tune. On the final tune Roy Haynes plays the drums. All the tunes are great but if I had to choose a favorite it would probably be the ferocious title track. It’s a brilliant display of improvisational prowess. Of course, “India” is very engaging as well. I love Coltrane’s playing on this and Eric Dolphy really brings the music to an even higher plane. The sound on the live takes feels quite natural. It feels like you sit there in the club with the band in front of you. It’s not perfect by any means. It just feels honest.

Like I said, this is a classic and I’m very happy to have been able to find it. These original first pressing Impulse! titles are not entirely easy to find. But, they are at least a bit cheaper than many original Blue Notes and Prestige titles for example. I guess they have risen in value quite a bit in recent years though. This particular copy was not cheap. I feel Impulse! is just as important as Blue Note, Prestige or Riverside. The label promoted new exciting paths for jazz, going into the future.

Questions for my readers: If we’re talking important record labels that helped shape modern jazz, do you have a favorite? Of all the recorded live material featuring Coltrane as a leader, which albums or tunes stand out to you the most?

Feels like spring is here in Stockholm and I’m happy to spend some relaxing days now together with my family over Easter. I hope you guys will have a nice Easter and keep safe. Stay tuned for more great titles from my shelves, cheers!

8 Comments

"A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane on Impulse! A-77

21 Comments

"A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane on Impulse! A-77

Let him take you to another place…

Kicking off 2020 in style with a true classic. It’s extremely difficult to find a 1st pressing of this with the non-suffix catalogue number on the labels. Let alone a white label promo copy. So I’m over the moon to have secured one. John Coltrane have become a massive figure for me the last couple of years. He has always been a favorite but now that I’ve dug deeper into his later catalogue he’s become even more important to me. I love his later work on the Impulse! label. I’ve also started to explore his Atlantic catalogue more in depth. I have “Giant Steps“ since way back in the collection and I’ve listened to “My Favorite Things” but there’s more to enjoy. Just bought another LP of his on Atlantic. It’s due in Stockholm on Monday. Looking forward to receiving that one and hopefully it will make the grade upon listening to the condition of it, so I can post it here on the site later.

This album is of paramount importance to most jazz fans and I couldn’t agree more. It’s his masterpiece. It’s so searching and spiritual in nature. Beautiful music that really stands out from the crowd. It makes you happy to listen to and for me, it makes me stronger tackling everyday life when I hear it. I just wish I had been able to see this classic quartet live back in the day. That sure would have been a spiritual awakening I could imagine.

I can’t pick a favorite tune on this album because I consider it as one piece. One statement, one expression of how wonderful jazz is. I would think that my readers have a long history together with this album, and I would very much like to hear what this album means to you?

I’ve been focusing on getting more albums that I love into the collection from the Impulse! and Atlantic labels for example. There are plenty of really great albums on those labels that are much cheaper than buying 1st pressing Blue Notes, Prestige, Riverside etc. I’d like to build up a larger collection faster so there’s more to choose from. Cause buying 4-5 extremely expensive albums a year is not going to do the trick. It’s rewarding as hell to be able to secure that stuff but I’ve been doing it that way for a long time and I have a lot of top collectibles, but just for a while I’d like to buy more albums during a year. 1st pressings only in great condition of course. But it’s hard not to be tempted and buy a beautiful Blue Note for example. Maybe I could mix it up a bit and try and get my hands on a couple of more expensive albums and spend the rest on the cheaper titles. Also, this has come naturally for me, focusing on these Impulse! and Atlantic albums, because they feature artists that I’ve been interested in exploring and hearing more from, like Coltrane and his sidemen, Ornette Coleman and Charles Mingus.

I hope 2020 will bring a lot of nice albums onto my shelves that I can enjoy and share with you guys. I’d like to thank everyone who is commenting and visiting the site and I hope we will continue to have some great exchanges here during this year and beyond. A belated happy new year to everyone. Stay tuned… cheers!

21 Comments

John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" on Atlantic

15 Comments

John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" on Atlantic

John Coltrane's masterpiece "Giant Steps" on Atlantic 1311

This is the original 1st pressing of John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" on the deep groove black labels of Atlantic 1311. Wonderful condition on both vinyl and cover, with both being M-. What can you say about this album, other than it's a masterpiece. John Coltrane's playing is nothing short of superb on this beautifully recorded album from 1960. It's his debut album for the Atlantic label and was his breakthrough album as a leader.

It's just a phenomenal example of Coltrane's brilliance on the tenor saxophone. And a brilliant example of his ability to write superb original compositions. My favorite picks are the medium tempo effort "Spiral" and the title track. Great jazz by a master of his craft. The stellar ensemble that backs him up on this are; Tommy Flanagan on piano, Wynton Kelly piano on "Naima", Paul Chambers on double bass, Art Taylor on drums, Jimmy Cobb drums on "Naima".

I have quite a lot to catch up on when it comes to Coltrane. There's a lot of albums I don't have, both early ones and the later stuff on Impulse! records. That's something I'll need to remedy sooner rather than later. I dig him a lot. So, a lot of Coltrane on the wants list for sure. I'm really looking forward to exploring his works more. Can't wait. Most jazz lovers probably have this album in their collection, but if you don't, get it posthaste.

Which Coltrane album is your favorite?

15 Comments