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John Coltrane

blossomchris

I feel better than James Brown
Suggestions for an introduction to his catalogue please.

Please bare in mind my appreciation of jazz is somewhat of a newbie. I really like MD IASW and MKOB, some Roland Kirk stuff and soul/jazz.


Bloss
 
I got into him via Giant Steps and My Favorite Things. Most people speak very highly of A Love Supreme, but it remains a blind spot for me.
 
Best to think of Coltrane in three stages IMO, they are neatly defined by label:

a) Prestige. Very accessible tonal stuff, just classic hard bop really. Just buy them all in this nice budget All His Prestige Albums box. It is a bargain.

b) Atlantic. He's just starting to show signs of stretching out a bit, this work only covers a couple of sessions, but they were so productive they resulted in about seven or eight albums once out-takes etc were factired in. Buy the lot in this Heavyweight Champion box. Again it is such a bargain it is wrong not to. You will soon realise the correct number of Coltrane albums to own is all of them.

c) Impulse. This is where things start to get very interesting and maybe alienating/challenging later on. It is also a far harder period to recommend from as there isn't a nice box of the whole lot. To start off with I'd recommend
Ballads, Crescent and A Love Supreme. After that you should know where to go next (buy them all!) but I'd probably go with Live At The Village Vanguard first.

If you like jazz you will like Coltrane, he is one of the giants for damn good reason, hence my recommendation to dive right in rather than just a few bits that you will likely have to replace later as the boxes are just so much better value. Everything I've recommended is pretty tonal and accessible, i.e. I've not gone for anything after ALS which is where he really took off on the atonal free spuritual stuff that a lot of people (including myself early on) really struggle with. In many ways it is best to approach it via the historical timeline and follow his career from the start and kind of grow with him.
 
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There's a discography here. If you don't want anything too intense, maybe start with some of his earlier stuff with the Miles Davis Quintet .. Relaxin', Steamin', Cookin' ..etc. But My Favorite Things, then Giant Steps then A Love Supreme then Ascension is the true path! He was an extraordinarily intense, driven, spiritual musician.
 
Second all the above. Would say that if you especially like IASW you might do well to start off with the Impulse stuff, it's less jazz jazz.

And don't neglect Alice!
 
There are no bad Impulse masterings IMO. Two quids for Ascension has to be done. It is not an easy album, being about as fierce and out there as he got, but a great way of diving in at the deep end. I've got that CD and original US Impulse vinyl, it took me quite a while to 'get it' though I really like it now. Of the really free stuff I actually find the stripped-down sax and drums minimaism of Interstellar Space more approachable despite it being mad as a box of frogs.

PS With all this stuff, especially the Prestige and Atlantic be very wary of EU "public domain" crap, there is a lot of crap out there for sure. I've been careful only to link to stuff I not only know is legit but is well mastered too.
 
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My first Coltrane album was Sun Ship. It was also the first LP I bought (back in the 90s when Impulse did a 180g reissue of all/most of them). Remember taking it as my test disc to Billy Vee to test a couple of TTs (I hadn't yet bought one). The sales assistant was pretty shocked when it kicked off:

I've never looked back, and return to Coltrane again and again as the pinnacle of jazz (for me). Can't go wrong with Tony's recommendations, though I think the Prestige stuff isn't as great as the best of the Atlantics (Giant Steps and Favourite Things), and of course all the mind-blowing Impulse stuff. The Live at the Village Vanguard is still my fav of the Impulse.

I'm rambling here, but what I would add is that I believe the classic Qt of Coltrane, Tyner, Garrison and Jones to be where Coltrane was at his best, having three musicians of almost equal skill and importance.
 
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Start with Blue Train, his only Blue Note album. Top tunes make it accessible and Coltrane shows off his chops without going absolutely hell for leather as he did later.

And one of the great jazz covers if you get the vinyl.
 
Depending what your musical tastes are Mike Watt has a show called The Watt from Pedro, he starts every show with a Coltrane track.
I once had a bit of chat with Marshall Allen about John Coltrane, just as i suspected there is something other worldly about his playing! "...the Trane rose up!"
Happy listening!
 
Second vote for Blue Train, but try and avoid the I assume still current RVG Edition as it is just wrong, the earlier 1987 Ron McMaster Blue Note is way better. Also be wary of pirates, of which there are many.
 
My long obsession really took off with 'Coltrane' (Impulse, 1962), the album with the blue cover that is not 'Blue Train'. The opening modal version of 'Out of This World' is his most ecstatic early recording, and has a kind of freedom he didn't get on a studio recording again until 'A Love Supreme'. Coincidentally I just posted some links to a lecture by Evan Parker about this period of Coltranes work on another thread, so I'll post it again.

http://www.pointofdeparture.org/PoD9/PoD9EvanParker.html

If that takes your fancy, the boxed set of 'Live at the Village Vanguard' would be the best place to go next.

Alternatively, if you want to come from Miles and go into the Coltrane catalogue, you are probably best starting off with 'Giant Steps'. Then, of the Atlantic albums, 'Ole' is the one that shows signs of what is to come.

Of course, you could just go straight in with 'A Love Supreme', but for me 'Out of This World' was the gateway drug.

If you become interested in the later free recordings, then I'll post again with more suggestions.
 
I started with 'A Love Supreme' after first hearing it at a friends house when about 13...still my favourite but as a Tony says it's all good.
 
I started with 'A Love Supreme' after first hearing it at a friends house when about 13...still my favourite but as a Tony says it's all good.

I was a little older. I borrowed it from the local library because I liked the title and the cover. I'd no idea who Coltrane was at the time.

Regarding box sets, the Live at the Village Vanguard box is excellent - there's also a European Tour set that I have.
 
My first Coltrane album was Sun Ship.

Blimey! Did you know what to expect? I bought 'Live in Seattle', recorded around the same time, when I was sixteen. I ordered it as a US import, pretty pricey in 1971, after reading Richard Williams' ecstatic review in Melody Maker. It frightened the living daylights out of me! It still lurks in the back of a cupboard, like a scary monster.

A vote for 'The Complete Africa/Brass.' Anyone who doesn't love 'Song of the Underground Railroad' is beyond hope.
 
I think the first Coltrane that every struck me was Blue Train being played in a scene of the film The Player.

A couple of my favorite Coltrane Tracks, Elvin Jones':eek: drumming!


 
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Thanks all, plenty to investigate here tomorrow and the weekend, no doubt this will raise a few more posts from me.

Bloss
 


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