Coltrane Crescent

John Coltrane's 1964 album "Crescent" features his classic quartet of McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on double bass and powerhouse drummer Elvin Jones. This acclaimed set of five Coltrane originals paved the way for Coltrane's next recording, the landmark "A Love Supreme".

"Offering: Live At Temple University" documents a legendary concert by John Coltrane at Temple University in his hometown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 11, 1966, six weeks after his fortieth birthday and nine months before his untimely death. In 2014 album was restored from original master reels.

Concord Music Group will reissue a remastered and expanded edition of John Coltrane's "Afro Blue Impressions". Enhanced by 24-bit remastering by Joe Tarantino, three bonus tracks, and new liner notes, the new reissue celebrates the 40th anniversary of Pablo Records, the jazz label founded by Norman Granz in 1973.

John Coltrane arrived in Seattle on September 30, 1965 with his classic quartet pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones plus a couple of friends he'd run into in San Francisco a few days earlier. Seemingly on sudden impulse, Coltrane added to the band free-honking tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and multi-instrumentalist devotee of Eastern religions Donald Rafael Garrett. They were there to play a gig at the Penthouse, a jazz club at the corner of First and Cherry. The album that resulted, Live in Seattle, is such a relentlessly raw and abrasive document of late-period Coltrane that it can be a challenge to listen to the whole thing.

Crescent with Love features tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders accompanied by a supportive rhythm section. Although there are some passionate moments, this is actually one of his mellower sessions and he explores such songs as "Misty," "In a Sentimental Mood," "Too Young to Go Steady," "Body and Soul," "Naima," and "After the Rain" in a ballad style not that different than John Coltrane's of the early '60s. There are some heated moments on some of the other selections (such as "Wise One" and "Crescent") but Sanders' trademark screeches are at a minimum on this set.

"The Late Trane" is the powerful and commanding new album from British saxophonist Denys Baptiste, a giant of the UK jazz scene. Reimagining and reworking ten carefully chosen composition from John Coltrane’s late music (from 1963 – 1967) with a fresh and modern new interpretation, The Late Trane perfectly balances Denys Baptiste’s unique artistic vision with the visceral emotions and cosmic references that encompasses Coltrane’s late music.

"When I listen to these records now… when I listen to the Pershing, it's phenomenal, I must say. What they were doing, phenomenal, the lines and the purity. It's so pure … It was sheer joy working with these two individuals. Master musicians," writes pianist/bandleader Ahmad Jamal in the liner notes to this collection. If there ever was a subject worthy of a Mosaic box set, Jamal is it. For six decades, he has been, for several reasons, one of the most enduring and identifiable artists in jazz, or, as he prefers to describe it, "American classic music." First, there is his sound: a breathtaking amalgam of Erroll Garner's pithy touch, Nat "King" Cole's intricate horn-like, pre-bop lines, and Art Tatum's Mephistophelean technique.

This set documents Return to Forever's unplugged tour of 2009. Its tracks consist mainly of rearranged RTF tunes and jazz standards for piano trio, though there are wonderful surprises…

Ride guitarist and songwriter Andy Bell has taken yet another musical detour, this time collaborating with Essex-based duo Masal on an incredible new album of ambient, astral jazz.