page_title: Coltrane for Lovers
section_title: Background and recording
hierarchical_section_title: Coltrane for Lovers / Background and recording
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Amerikaanse jazz-saxofonist John Coltrane op Schiphol aangekomen. John Coltrane
context_page_description: Coltrane for Lovers is a posthumous compilation album by American jazz musician John Coltrane, released on January 23, 2001, by Impulse! Records. Its tracks were recorded during December 1961 to April 1963 at engineer Rudy Van Gelder's recording studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The first in the Verve for Lovers series by Verve Records, the album contains eleven of Coltrane's romantic ballads recorded during his early years with Impulse! Records. The songs feature Coltrane's classic quartet and collaborations with vocalist Johnny Hartman and pianist Duke Ellington.
  The recordings compiled for Coltrane for Lovers initially received criticism for Coltrane's stylistic move from complex jazz compositions of the free jazz form to a simplistic formula of ballads and blues. Following the initial controversy, the album's recordings gained a legacy as one of Coltrane's most popular recordings and significant in the genre of romantic jazz. The tracks were compiled by producer Richard Seidel and remastering engineer was Allan Tucker at Foothill Digital, New York City.
  Coltrane for Lovers was issued 33 years after Coltrane's death and nearly 40 years after the original recording dates.
context_section_description: Shortly before completing his contract with Atlantic in May 1961, John Coltrane joined the newly formed Impulse! label, with whom the "Classic Quartet" would record. It is generally assumed that the clinching reason Coltrane signed with Impulse! was that it would enable him to work again with recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder,  who had taped his Prestige sessions, as well as Blue Train. It was at Van Gelder's new studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey that Coltrane would record most of his records for the label.
  During this period of Coltrane's recording career, critics and fans were fiercely divided in their estimation of Coltrane, who had radically altered his style from bebop to the modal and free jazz styles, as featured on Coltrane (1962), his first studio project for the Impulse! label. John Tynan of Down Beat magazine went so far as to call his playing "anti-jazz." In the midst of this controversy, Coltrane decided to release his next three albums in order to improve the critical perception of himself. In an interview with music journalist Gene Lees, Coltrane was asked of his musical and stylistic change from modal and free jazz to more simplistic forms and standards. He responded by stating "Variety".
  John Coltrane's primary record producer, Bob Thiele, who had worked with Coltrane on his previous albums Live! at the Village Vanguard (1961) and Coltrane (1962), acknowledged that the next three Coltrane albums to be released were to be recorded at his behest and as ballad-themed to quiet the negative criticism of Coltrane's more diverse playing. The material chosen for Coltrane's next records would be suited for more slow-tempo, smooth and romantic playing, in contrast to Coltrane's forceful, aggressive style that had dominated his previously issued recordings, and which had led to reviewers describing his playing as "angry". The recordings featured on Coltrane for Lovers were recorded between December 1961 and April 1963, during his early years with Impulse! Records.
caption: Coltrane in 1963
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