Sun John Coltrane

John Coltrane - Stellar Regions (1967) {2015 Japan Impulse! Classics 50 Series UCCI-9251}
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© 1967, 2015 Impulse! / Verve / Universal Music Japan | UCCI-9251
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

Unreleased gems from Coltrane – recorded near the end of his life, in 1967, with a quartet that includes Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums. The tracks are free – but not as free as work on a record like OM – more in the mode of Ali and Trane's work on the Interstellar Space LP. Titles include "Jimmy's Mode", "Tranesonic", "Seraphic Light", "Sun Star", and "Iris" – and the CD version is extra-packed with music, and includes some bonus alternate takes!

John Coltrane - Sun Ship (1965) {Impulse!, 32XD-586, Japan Early Press}
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© 1965, 1987 Impulse! / MCA / Warner-Pioneer Japan | 32XD-586
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Tenor Saxophone

Soaring work from the legendary John Coltrane Quartet – a session that was incredibly far-reaching for the time, and which originally was unissued until after the time of Coltrane's death! The record's got the group really pushing forward strongly – hitting a Love Supreme mode, but also showing even some of the sharper edges that John would explore with the group after this one – a beautiful swan song to the lineup of McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. Things soar with a hell of a lot of spirituality, yet never get too overindulgent to lose their groove.

John Coltrane - Dakar (1957) {Prestige / OJC}
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© 1989 Prestige / Fantasy / OJC | OJCCD-393-2
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Hard Bop

Digitally remastered by Phil De Lancie (Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California). Though Coltrane was already a veteran of two years with the Miles Davis Quintet and several all-star saxophone sessions for Prestige, it was his 1957 date DAKAR that found the tenor saxophonist beginning to stretch out in earnest as a leader. While his boppish Blue Note solo date BLUE TRAIN showed Trane extending on his mainstream mastery, DAKAR found this adventurous musician exploring some of the exotic sounds and inspirations which would mark his future growth.

John Coltrane & Alice Coltrane - Cosmic Music (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals rel 2011}
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© 1966, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015829-2 | LP AS-9148
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Saxophone

Issued in 1968, more than a year after John Coltrane's death, Cosmic Music is co-credited to John and Alice Coltrane. Trane appears on only two of the four tracks here (they are also the longest): "Manifestation" and "Dr. King." They were both cut in February of 1966 at Coast Recorders in San Francisco, with the great saxophonist fronting his final quintet with Alice, Pharoah Sanders, Jimmy Garrison, Rashied Ali, and Ray Appleton adding percussion. "Manifestation" is also the first recorded instance of Sanders playing the piccolo in addition to his tenor saxophone; he takes an extended solo on the instrument. "Dr. King" was written to honor the civil rights leader during his lifetime. King's assassination occurred less than a year after the saxophonist's death.

John Coltrane - Stellar Regions (1967) {1995 Impulse! 20-bit Remaster}
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© 1995 Impulse! / MCA / GRP | IMP 11692
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

This is a major set, "new" music from John Coltrane that was recorded February 15, 1967, (five months before his death) but not released for the first time until 1995. One of several "lost" sessions that were stored by Alice Coltrane for decades, only one selection ("Offering" which was on Expression) among the eight numbers and three alternates was ever out before. The music, although well worth releasing, offers no real hints as to what Coltrane might have been playing had he lived into the 1970s.

John Coltrane - Transition (1965)
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© 1993 MCA / GRP / Impulse! | GRD-124
Jazz / Avant-Garde / Post Bop

This posthumous release, recorded in June of 1965, is a perfect point upon which to delineate the TRANSITION between Coltrane quartet's golden age, and the book of revelations that followed. TRANSITION finds them on the stylistic fault line between the spiritual outreach of A LOVE SUPREME and the turbulent explorations of SUN SHIP. These performances are plenty intense, yet traditional matters of tune, tempo, tonality and time are still apparent, whereas two months later (SUN SHIP) the band was immersed in the spirit of exploration.

Trane's chanting theme to the title tune echoes elements of A LOVE SUPREME, while his development of this and other motifs foreshadows the deep contrasts between upper and lower registers he'd exploit so convincingly on MEDITATIONS. As always, Tyner holds the rumbling edifice together with dense block chords that reflect Trane's stunning flights, while his two-handed accents imply all manner of polyrhythmic revelations to Garrison and Jones. On the angelic miniature that follows ("Welcome"), Tyner resembles a chorale of church pianists, weaving harp-like clouds around Trane's lyric lightning.

John Coltrane - Afro Blue Impressions (1963) {2CD Pablo 40 Years rel 2013}
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© 1963, 2013 Pablo / Concord Music | 00 8880 723 460-5 5
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

Two-CD set commemorates both the 40th anniversary of Pablo Records and the 50th anniversary of the recordings. LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Concord Music Group will reissue a remastered and expanded edition of John Coltrane’s Afro Blue Impressions album on August 20, 2013 (international release dates vary). 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.

Other than First Meditations, which was not released at the time, Sun Ship was the final studio album by John Coltrane's classic quartet (with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones) before Pharoah Sanders joined the band on second tenor. At this point in time, Coltrane was using very short repetitive themes as jumping-off points for explosive improvisations, often centered around one chord and a very specific spiritual mood. Tyner sounds a bit conservative in comparison, but Jones keeps up with Trane's fire (especially on "Amen"). Even in the most intense sections (and much of this music is atonal), there is a logic and thoughtfulness about Coltrane's playing. Allmusic

John Coltrane - Selflessness featuring My Favorite Things (1965) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015830-2 rel 2011}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 287 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 96 Mb
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© 1963, 1965, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015830-2 | LP AS-9161
Jazz / Free Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Saxophone

In the context of the decades since his passing and the legacy that's continued to grow, John Coltrane's Selflessness album bears an odd similarity to Bob Dylan's autobiographical book Chronicles. In Chronicles, Dylan tells the tale of his beginnings, jumping abruptly and confoundingly from his early years to life and work after his 1966 motorcycle accident, omitting any mention of his most popular and curious electric era. The contrast between these two eras becomes more vivid with the deletion of the years and events that bridged them. Released in 1965, Selflessness presents long-form pieces, likewise from two very distinct and separate eras of Coltrane's development.