Very Best of John Coltrane
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 onHeavyweight Champion). The tunes signal an important transitional phase from Trane's stints withMiles DavisandThelonious Monkto his emergence as a leader in his own right. "Giant Steps" "Naima," and "Cousin Mary"--featuring pianistTommy Flanaganand drummer Art Taylor--crystallized Trane's supersonic "sheets of sound" style. "Like Sonny," an Afro-Latin dedication to his friend and contemporarySonny RollinswithWynton Kellyon piano, reveals Trane's stylistic debts toCharlie ParkerandColeman 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.