Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: COLTRANE,JOHN
Title: VERY BEST OF JOHN COLTRANE
Street Release Date: 02/15/2000
Domestic
Genre: JAZZ

Track Listing

1. Giant Steps
2. Cousin Mary
3. Naima
4. Like Sonny
5. My Shining Hour
6. My Favorite Things
7. Central Park West
8. Summertime
9. Mr. Syms
10. Equinox
11. Body and Soul

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2165 in Music
• Brand: COLTRANE,JOHN
• Released on: 2000-02-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Amazon.com
With his inexhaustible technique, trademark sound, and limitless imagination, tenor and soprano saxophonist John Coltrane was one of jazz's most dominant musicians. This collection covers his important Atlantic Records sessions recorded from 1959 to 1960 (chronicled in their entirety on Heavyweight Champion). The tunes signal an important transitional phase from Trane's stints with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk to his emergence as a leader in his own right. "Giant Steps" "Naima," and "Cousin Mary"--featuring pianist Tommy Flanagan and drummer Art Taylor--crystallized Trane's supersonic "sheets of sound" style. "Like Sonny," an Afro-Latin dedication to his friend and contemporary Sonny Rollins with Wynton Kelly on piano, reveals Trane's stylistic debts to Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins. His historic renditions of "My Shining Hour," "Body and Soul," "Summertime," and "My Favorite Things" highlight Coltrane's ability to remake a song into his own image, as well as introduce his influential sound on the soprano sax. These landmark recordings show the development of Coltrane's "great" quartet as well as forecast his iconoclastic excursions into the outer limits of rhythm and tonality, which grew during until his death in 1967. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Customer Reviews

great music from a giant's great, great period.
Eleven tracks from the Atlantic recording era. There are five recording sessions represented here from May 1959 through October 1960. The packaging is very nicely done and the music is, really, heavenly. Favorite tracks include Central Park West, Body and Soul, Mr. Syms and Giant Steps. One note of interest is that the song Giant Steps was not "released" by Atlantic/Rhino to Ken Burns' Coltrane collection which was released on Columbia. For this reason alone, this is probably a better choice, although the Ken Burns' collection covers virtually Coltrane's entire recording career. I like this collection more. You cannot go wrong with this selection.

A Good Intro To This Sax Giant
A comprehensive sampling of the style of John Coltrane and his supporting band mates. The man good really genenerate some creative tones out of his saxophone. I tend to prefer his slower more tuneful pieces like Central Park West, Mr. Syms, and Equinox. That last track really creates a mood.

However, the show stopper on this puppy is My Favorite Things. Not a wasted moment as Coltrane really makes this song his own. The piano accompanyment McCoy Tyner is stunning. But the varying interpretations on the theme are performed with perfecion.

Give this one a spin as it won't dissappoint you.

Excellent Overview of THE MAN
As far as I'm concerned, almost any collection of Coltrane tunes could hold up as a "Best Of" or "Greatest Hits" compilation. I have not heard this album in this form, but I have heard all of these tunes. And all of them are great. This album, more accurately described, should be titled "The Columbia Years," since these takes are from Trane's stint with this company. "Naima" and "Equinox" are two of my personal favs from this period. "My Favorite Things" is Coltrane's most commercially successful tune, but that does not detract from this classic in any way. Julie Andrews aint got nothin' on the Trane. THis may just be one of the best places to initiate your appreciation of Coltrane, since this disk contains music from one of his more accessible periods. No balls out Avante Guard mayhem here, as in later periods, just nice refined smooth jazz from the very best. A great place to start appreciating THE MAN.