Coltrane is a studio album by jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and composer

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and raise ...

. It was recorded in April and June 1962, and released in July of that same year by

Impulse! Records Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...

. At the time, it was overlooked by the music press, but has since come to be regarded as a significant recording in Coltrane's discography. When reissued on CD, it featured a Coltrane composition dedicated to his musical influence "Big Nick" Nicholas that the saxophonist recorded for his Duke Ellington collaboration '' Duke Ellington & John Coltrane'' (1963). The composition "Tunji" was written by Coltrane in dedication to the Nigerian drummer

Babatunde Olatunji Michael Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist. Early life Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nige ...

Release

The album's original

release was announced in the July 21, 1962, issue of '' Cash Box'' under the banner of "July Album Releases";

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

's ''The John Coltrane Reference'' (2013) confirms the release date as being around August 1962. According to ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'' writer Mark Werlin, ''Coltrane'' was initially overlooked in the music press, and later by music historians, because of the "hostility and incomprehension" that had met the saxophonist's controversial performances alongside fellow saxophonist Eric Dolphy at the

Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jazz ...

in 1961 and on tour in the US and Europe: "

he album He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

was intentionally shadowed—at the time of its recording—by a campaign of uninformed music criticism and personal attacks on Coltrane and Dolphy published in prestigious American newspapers and the preeminent jazz magazine ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

''." In 2002, Impulse! reissued ''Coltrane'' as a two-CD deluxe edition with the disclaimer that it used "second-generation, compressed and equalized tapes of all tracks", except "Miles' Mode", whose original master was still in existence, along with bonus tracks mastered from original recordings. In 2016, the

Verve Label Group Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, ...

rereleased the album in commemoration of Coltrane's 90th birthday, as a 192kHz/24bit digital download.

Critical reception and analysis

According to Werlin, "The music of ''Coltrane'' is

modal jazz Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece. Although precedents exist, modal jazz was crystallized as a theory by compose ...

, but far from the cerebral music advanced by George Russell or the comparatively restrained work by the Miles Davis Sextet on '' Kind of Blue''." Ultimately, Werlin regards the album as a "major" work of Coltrane and his quartet.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's Michael G. Nastos calls the album "a most focused effort, a relatively popular session to both oltrane'sfans or latecomers, with five selections that are brilliantly conceived and rendered."Nastoes, Michael G. Review: ''Coltrane''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

. Retrieved on 2010-10-05. He found Coltrane "simply masterful" on tenor saxophone with a "fully formed instrumental voice" that "shine through in the most illuminating manner", and wrote of the album's standing in his catalog: Francis Davis of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'' feels that, apart from the "modal, three-quarter time

novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

hit" " The Inch Worm", consumers should buy the album for "the gorgeous '

Soul Eyes "Soul Eyes" is a composition, with lyrics, written by Mal Waldron.Ratliff, Ben (December 6, 2002"Mal Waldron, 77, Composer of the Jazz Ballad 'Soul Eyes'" ''The New York Times''. It is a 32-bar ballad that takes the song form ABAC, and is written ...

' and a shattering ' Out of This World'."

Track listing

Side One # " Out of This World" ( Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 14:06 # "

" ( Mal Waldron) – 5:26 Side Two # " The Inch Worm" (

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser (; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', among others. He won a Tony ...

) – 6:19 # "Tunji" (Coltrane) – 6:33 # "Miles' Mode" (Coltrane) – 7:31 * Both sides were combined as tracks 1–5 on the CD reissue. 1997 CD bonus tracks #

"Big Nick" (Coltrane) – 4:04 # "Up 'Gainst The Wall" (Coltrane) – 3:13

2002 deluxe edition

Disc One # "Out of This World" – 14:04 # "

" – 5:25 # "The Inch Worm" – 6:14 # "Tunji" – 6:32 # "Miles' Mode" – 7:31 Disc Two # "Not Yet" (Tyner) – 6:13 # "Miles' Mode" – 7:08 # "Tunji" – 10:41 # "Tunji" – 7:55 # "Tunji" – 7:16 # "Tunji" – 7:48 # "Impressions" (Coltrane) – 6:32 # "Impressions" – 4:33 # "Big Nick" – 4:28 # "Up 'Gainst the Wall" – 3:15

Personnel

* John Coltrane –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

, soprano saxophone * Jimmy Garrison –

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such widely celebrate ...

– drums *

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Gram ...

– piano ;Technical * Pete Turner – photography

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coltrane 1962 albums John Coltrane albums Albums produced by Bob Thiele Impulse! Records albums Modal jazz albums Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio