Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: John Coltrane
John Coltrane spent little more than a decade of his career in the public eye before his death in 1967, but during that time his work was in a state of constant, often turbulent change. In the process, he would create one of the most influential bodies of work in jazz. Many of Coltrane's greatest recordings were long, and it's no easy task to create a single CD that reflects his creative range. However, this remarkably good selection manages to include several extended performances, while charting his work's moments of both profound meditative beauty and creative onslaught. On "Giant Steps," Coltrane pressed the boundaries of chordal improvisation, creating a high-speed maze of harmonic extensions. In perhaps his most famous vehicle, he recrafted "My Favorite Things" in the image of Indian music, spinning scalar improvisations on his soprano saxophone over a repeating piano figure and the molten drums ofElvin Jones. "Chasin' the Trane," from his great1961 Village Vanguard recordings, uses simple blues to launch an extended solo that tests the tenor's expressive limits. "Jupiter," a duet with drummerRashied Alirecorded in the final months of Coltrane's life, finds the same intensity still burning within him, his tone compressed to a tight vibrato and his circular lines spinning in still fresh directions. Along the way are those serene islands that always marked Coltrane's work, some of the most beautiful and direct ballad and blues playing in jazz, from his own "Naima" to an ethereal version of "In a Sentimental Mood" with its composer,Duke Ellington, at the piano.--Stuart Broomer