Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: COLTRANE,JOHN
Title: OLE COLTRANE
Street Release Date: 05/09/1989
Domestic
Genre: JAZZ

Track Listing

1. Olé
2. Dahomey Dance
3. Aisha
4. To Her Ladyship Her Ladyship) [*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57793 in Music
• Brand: COLTRANE,JOHN
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

Underrated Atlantic release
Despite some big names gracing it ("Giant Steps," "My Favorite Things"), Coltrane's Atlantic discography sometimes gets overlooked. "Ole," released in 1961, is one of Coltrane's better, if often overlooked, Atlantic releases.

The CD benefits greatly from the inclusion of "To Her Ladyship," which first appeared as an "Untitled Original Ballad" on the Atlantic vinyl release "The Coltrane Legacy." It's a fine example of Coltrane's lyrical power with a ballad, and he is aided by Eric Dolphy on flute and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, both in fine form. With these three, the ballad is never sappy or cloying. Instead, it's a powerful emotional statement.

Another high point is the delicate McCoy Tyner composition "Aisha." Coltrane limns the melody with little or no embellishment, letting the tune's lovely melody carry the listener along.

The title tune, however, allows Coltrane to unleash his power, which emerges in a searing soprano solo that I can never listen to without getting completely swept up. Coltrane used the two-bass drone (Reggie Workman and Art Davis), over which all the players soar, including Dolphy (disguised on the original release as "George Lane" because of contractual problems), who again displays his prowess on flute.

For listeners interested in chronicling Coltrane's musical journey, this is a great CD to have. He explores minor, Eastern-based themes and displays his touch with a ballad. The great quartet had not yet formed (Jimmy Garrison is absent here), but it's getting close. And the inclusion of Dolphy presages the Impulse release, "Live at the Village Vanguard," which displays Eric's short tenure with the band.

Is It Possible?
I know that I'll probably get flack for saying this, but this recording might even be a little better than Coltrane's masterpiece, A Love Supreme...okay, okay...it's not better because it is in a class all by itself and cannot be judged as better than/worse than. it's something that stands out all on its own.

It's only four songs, but each one is just a mindblower. The title track is crazy good. I remember listening to it with my then girlfriend (now my wfe) and she said, "What's this cacaphony?" To this day I still harbor a bit of resentment towards her for saying that because to me that piece of music just pulls out all the stops and makes you realize that Coltrane was no ordinary composer...no ordinary musician...no ordinary human being.

Here was a man that had a thumb on the pulse of his own soul. Here was a man that could translate the sounds, the squeals, and the squalls of the angels. This CD belongs to every music fan's collection. This is not just for diehard jazz fans, this is for music lovers everywhere.

Love yourself a little more and buy this CD. It's flippin' fantastic!

Traning Exotic
The opening bars of "Olé" begin a slow, sometimes hypnotic journey through Iberia with Trane as conductor. On soprano sax, he weaves Moorish lines while Eric Dolphy adds an unusual wrinkle, a flute solo that avoids that instrument's usual hippy dippy tweeness. Freddie Hubbard adds to the Spanish feel with his trumpet, and then like two groaning sages, the bass players speak to one another in an obscure, mysterious language. "Olé" has all the yearning of Coltrane's best music. "Aisha", on the other hand, though written by pianist McCoy Tyner, speaks to his gentleness, his celebration of beauty. Inspired no doubt by a soulful woman, the ballad is reminiscent of Trane's "Naima". On the whole, it's a reflective and restrained album that only gives the slightest intimation of the volcanic intensity that would soon follow.