Track Listing

1. Welcome
2. Song Of Praise
3. Crescent
4. I Want To Talk About You
5. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes
6. Living Space
7. Central Park West
8. Like Sonny
9. With Gratitude
10. Configuration
11. Jimmy's Mode
12. Spiritual
13. Trance

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2075 in Music
• Released on: 2009-07-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Album Description
A celebration of the magisterial music of John Coltrane. In 1960 Steve Kuhn was the original pianist in John Coltrane's quartet, preceding McCoy Tyner. The album is an homage to Coltrane's music and influence, focussing on music either written by him or strongly associated with him. Particularly fascinating is the scope of material selected, which not only includes tunes Kuhn once played with Coltrane - "Central Park West", "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes", "I Want To Talk About You" - but goes right through Coltrane's life, including pieces from the very final months, such as "Configuration" and "Jimmy's Mode"... These tremendous group performances, with Kuhn joined by Joe Lovano, a musician many critics believe to be the world's premier tenor player right now, effectively retrace Coltrane's last decade.

Customer Reviews

A MASTERFUL COLTRANE TRIBUTE BY STEVE KUHN & TRIO WITH JOE LOVANO
Five ENJOYABLE Stars!! A wonderful tribute to John Coltrane by jazz master pianist Steve Kuhn and his trio with special guest tenor sax titan Joe Lovano. Jazz history tells us John Coltrane hired Steve Kuhn as his first pianist just after the "Giant Steps" recording, along with Steve Davis on bass & Pete La Roca (Sims) on drums, as 'Trane was preparing for his first two-week appearance with a working band at the Jazz Gallery in NYC. In a highly-charged 'revival'-like atmosphere, the audience response caused the gig to be extended many weeks. Kuhn manned the piano chair of this exciting group for 8 weeks before McCoy Tyner joined the group, with Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison joining later. Kuhn says working with Coltrane, his music, and energy is "something that will stay with me and has stayed with me as long as I live." For 5 decades, Kuhn has remained at the top of his 'two-handed pianist' game, among the greatest pianists and trio leaders in jazz history with longtime trio mates like Ron Carter and Al Foster. Tenor sax colossus Joe Lovano is also influenced by Coltrane, as well as Sonny Rollins, and upon first hearing him decades ago I immediately could tell his synthesis of influences was creating a new important tenor sax voice. He has since gone on to be a relentless musical explorer, like Kuhn, who has soared to the top of tenor sax jazz polls many times, certifying him among the best of all time. Mr Kuhn's trio is rounded out by two more longtime talented stablemates: the fiery Joey Baron on drums and David Finck's crucial bass underpinning. Kuhn has selected a wide spectrum of Coltrane music from the early 'running the changes' days, to the Hartman 'ballad days', to the "controlled free jazz" period and 'Trane's final 'sunship' period that was headed out of the known musical universe at the time of Coltrane's untimely death at age 40. One of Coltrane's favorite standards, "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes", and Kuhn's own "Trance" round out the set.

The 'best of the best' begins with a sizzling "Song of Praise'' with Kuhn igniting a masterful solo and demonstrating his amazing ambidexterity while digging deep into the blues, showing what probably attracted Trane to his playing. Lovano's solo is no less masterful showing some Coltrane roots as a teaser but in the final analysis it's pure "Joe". "Jimmy's Mode" (for Garrison) allows Finck to go arco and demonstrate some strong imaginative solo plucking. "Spiritual" has Lovano playing some deep, heartfelt tárogató, a perfect alternative to Coltrane's soprano sax. Steve Kuhn is one of jazz' premier piano balladeers and he unleashes his arsenal on the trio's "I Want To Talk About You". An edgy "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" is pure jazz fire with Baron and Finck pushing the front line into some memorable solos with Lovano smearing 'glisses', avoiding Trane's 'sheets of sound' approach (straight to my iPod). "Like Sonny" is Trane's song dedicated to Sonny Rollins and is a great quartet performance. "Central Park West", arguably Coltrane's most recorded composition, is a thing of passionate beauty (another for my iPod.) "Living Space" perfecty captures Coltrane's spirituality period with Lovano's great solo over Kuhn's shimmering chords, with 'Trane's influence peeking around the corners. This tribute is a great set of hard-swinging cookers, beautiful impressionistic ballads, and Coltrane classics by two jazz masters who know their Coltrane well and it gets my Highest Recommendation. Five "HUGE" Stars
(This review is based on an iTunes download and the "Traneumentary" podcast which also gets my highest recommendation.)

Sublime artistry
Although not familiar with Mr. Kuhn's work, I had a veridical hunch that this recording would be excellent. Why?

1. Joe Lovano, one of the most distinctive and virtuostic saxophonists of our played on it.

2. Mr. Kuhn had played briefly with John Coltrane.

3. It was the music of John Coltrane.

4. ECM, the incomparable, was the label.

All the musicians have a deep sensitivity for this music, which they play respectfully but creatively. You feel the spirit of Trane, but as it is reflected throught the prism of each of these superb musicians. Mr. Kuhn is a rich and sometimes surprising pianist. Mr. Lovano has gotten completely inside these pieces and Trane's playing as well. He is confident in his own voice, yet inspired by the feel of Trane. Mr. Baron is highly creative and plays the difficult no-time pieces flawlessly.

The band plays material from all of Trane's moods, including some of the more difficult late-period music, which takes considerable courage to play. They execute it all flawlessly.

There is beauty in this world. Let us give thanks and enjoy it.

Another Fine ECM Release
John Coltrane was at his peak way before my time so while he is very nearly worshiped by jazz cognoscenti, I have never had much experience of his music. That changed somewhat when Mostly Coltrane was highly recommended by a friend whose tastes in music are similar to mine. That this release came from ECM was the deciding factor in my acquisition of the CD.
There is so much great music out there waiting to be heard that it is well nigh impossible to hear it all. Until now, I had never heard of pianist Steve Kuhn or any other member of the trio. However the name of Joe Lovano struck a chord. Those who know Coltrane's music well are in a far better position to discuss the technical aspects of this release, I can only tell you what I like.
Mostly Coltrane is a CD that takes some commitment on the part of the listener to just sit back and listen. Any distractions detract from one's full enjoyment of the music. Mellow is the word for most of this, I happen to most like the cuts that slightly rise above that description. My favorites are Song of Praise which reminds me of a lot of the old CTI style, the classic The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, and the energetic Like Sonny. Only the presence of a few cacophonic pieces subtracts a star from the overall rating.
The CD is accompanied by a stylish yet subdued booklet containing pertinent album info and pictures of the musicians in action. As usual, the ECM standard of quality is apparent throughout. So if you are the kind of listener who just enjoys virtuoso performances regardless of your familiarity with the music, then Mostly Coltrane should find an honored place in your CD collection.