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In Reply to: WARNING: Coltrane gets, uh, difficult later... posted by clarkjohnsen on December 02, 2002 at 08:03:48:
My opinion of the late Coltrane is the same as posted about Ornette Coleman below. Hey, I'm not trying to start any fights here with the free jazzers. I'm perfectly willing to leave it at "I don't get it". I would suggest that it might not be a great place for a jazz newcomer to start...My favorite Coltrane is "Blue Trane", (Well, actually my favorite Coltrane is the stuff he did with Miles). Blue Trane kind of strikes me as a both complex yet melodic and has moments of sheer genius. It's what I'd recommend to a Coltrane newbie.
Follow Ups:
When I first heard "My Favorite Things", it reminded me of the Miles Davis track that is on the Sony SACD sampler (I believe it is off Kind of Blue). So do I want to look for the recordings from the late 50's and early 60's?
Yes, you'd probably like 50's/early 60's Trane, during his intermittent associations with Miles. This period was the height of his "inside" or hard bop development, and only slightly pre-dates "My Fav Things," which is near the beginning of his more "free" experimentations.During the 50s/early 60s, Trane recorded quite a bit on Prestige (reissued on the Original Jazz Classics label) and on Atlantic. There absolutely no recordings from this period that are less than fantastic, and most are recorded well. His sound is centered and full (this is before he screwed up some mouthpieces), and his playing is "inside" the chord changes---albeit often in his "sheets of sound" approach. Some of the best of these have been recently reissued on SACD (so says the email flyer i got last week from tower records; I myself can't tell you which ones are available on SACD).
This period also gave us some exquisite albums in which Trane collaborated with other jazz legends, especially Milt Jackson ("Bags & Trane"), Monk ("Thelonious Monk meets John Coltrane"), and Kenny Burrell ("Freight Trane"). These are all must-haves.
Once Trane migrated to the Impulse label, things got more experimental; "Favorite Things" is a long-form, modal excursion. ("Modal" jazz is a general term to describe when the musicians base longer improvisational phrases on a single scale and/or its derivatives. Miles' "Kind of Blue" was the first really popular modal jazz record. Don't get too hung up on such labels though, as most jazz musicians approach music modally in some way or another, as every chord has a scale or mode that relates directly to it, with lots of derived substitutions available.)
Personally, my taste in Trane is that I love everything he did up through and including his classic quartet. "Crescent" is my all time fav; it's a bit more complicated than "Fav Things" but I'd be surprised if you didn't love it. It's a wonderfully complex work, full of mathematical harmony, yet one of the most soulful albums ever recorded.
Trane's early Impulse period also gave us three albums in which the experimentations were reigned in significantly, with delightful results. "Ballads," "with Johnny Hartman," and "meets Duke Ellington" are delectable anachronisms and easily listenable, even if your chick is around.
Finally, I forget which Impulse album it's from (maybe "Chim Chim Cheree"), but it's on several compilations such as "The Gentle Side"(also a must have); my personal all-time favorite tune, Mal Waldron's "Soul Eyes," a heartbreakingly beautiful, soulful ballad.
..as are Relaxin', Workin', Steamin' and Cookin', all done under Miles. Last four are on Fantasy labels, look for the K2 remaster logo. Blue Train is on Blue Note, and JC is the leader. A true classic. Oh yeah! Round About Midnight, Miles Davis (w/ Trane), on sacd. Started on MD and JC just over a year ago. What a great trip!http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Ap7evad5kt8wn
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Ap7evad5kt8wn
http://www.fantasyjazz.com/catalog/davis_m_cat.html
the collaboration of Davis, Coltrane, et al. paved the way for the free form jazz that can be difficult to understand. I love the early bop period when an instument was used to mimic another instument, vocalists became incredibly creative in trying to make their voices "flavored" like the instument of choice (I have an early jazz compilation that is the essence of that idea...I'll try to find it and give you the title and ISBN number).It is out of that era that the modalities of Davis' contributions to jazz grew To fully understand any of music that developed within the Kind of Blue era, you should listen to mid to late 40's jazz...at least a bit of it.
NOW, you're seeing how complex a question like yours can be! I'll send this post and go look for that compilation.
"Jazz of Two Decades" Emarcy DEM-2The piece that is on the album, "East of Suez" was recorded in 1947. Vocal (singing like a horn) is Buddy Stewart, tenor saxaphone is played by Charlie Ventura, on piano is Lou Stein, who composed the piece, with a solo by Kai Winding, drums played by Shelly Manne.
According to the liner notes, this piece is available on "Boning up on 'Bones" Emarcy MG36038
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