Coltrane Jazz

Coltrane Jazz is the sixth studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in early 1961 on Atlantic Records, catalogue SD 1354.[1][2][3][8] The song "Village Blues" is noted as a landmark recording, as it marks the first session date of the early John Coltrane Quartet on record. Featured alongside Coltrane are pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and bassist Steve Davis (who would within 18 months have been replaced by first Reggie Workman and then Jimmy Garrison who would stay with Coltrane until his death.)

Coltrane Jazz
Studio album by John Coltrane
Released	January or February 1961[1][2][3]
Recorded	March 26, 1959 (9 & 11) November 24, 1959 (1, 7 &10) December 2, 1959 (3-6 & 8) October 21, 1960 (2 & 12) Atlantic Studios, New York City
Genre	Jazz
Length	38:51 original LP 63:00 CD reissue
Label	Atlantic SD 1354
Producer	Nesuhi Ertegün
John Coltrane chronology
Giant Steps (1960) Coltrane Jazz (1961) My Favorite Things (1961)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[5]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[7]

Background

In 1959, Miles Davis' business manager Harold Lovett negotiated a contract for Coltrane with Atlantic, the terms including a $7000 annual guarantee.[9] After having recorded most of Giant Steps, Coltrane started having bridge problems, and did not return to a recording studio for six months.[10] In the late fall, he employed the rhythm section from the Miles Davis Quintet for two Atlantic sessions, which yielded the bulk of this album and the track "Naima" for Giant Steps.[11] "Like Sonny" is a tribute to colleague Sonny Rollins, whose playing Coltrane greatly admired.[12]

Having left the Davis band for good in the spring of 1960, Coltrane formed his first touring quartet for a residency at the Jazz Gallery club in Manhattan, eventually settling on the line-up of Tyner, Jones, and bassist Steve Davis in September.[13] This group entered the studio on October 21, recording "Village Blues" at the beginning of the week of sessions that produced My Favorite Things.

On June 20, 2000, Rhino Records reissued Coltrane Jazz as part of its Atlantic 50th Anniversary Jazz Gallery series. Included were four bonus tracks, two of which had appeared in 1975 on the Atlantic compilation Alternate Takes, the remaining pair earlier issued on The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings in 1995. Two bonus tracks, the alternate versions of "Like Sonny", had been recorded at the March 26, 1959 sessions that were not used for Giant Steps.[14]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Little Old Lady"	Hoagy Carmichael, Stanley Adams	4:28
2.	"Village Blues"	John Coltrane	5:23
3.	"My Shining Hour"	Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer	4:54
4.	"Fifth House"	John Coltrane	4:44

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Harmonique"	John Coltrane	4:13
2.	"Like Sonny"	John Coltrane	5:54
3.	"I'll Wait and Pray"	George Treadwell, Jerry Valentine	3:35
4.	"Some Other Blues"	John Coltrane	5:40

2000 reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
9.	"Like Sonny" (alternate version 1)	John Coltrane	6:07
10.	"I'll Wait and Pray" (alternate take)	George Treadwell, Jerry Valentine	3:30
11.	"Like Sonny" (alternate version 2)	John Coltrane	8:15
12.	"Village Blues" (alternate take)	John Coltrane	6:17

Personnel

• John Coltrane – tenor saxophone
• Wynton Kelly – piano
• Paul Chambers – bass
• Jimmy Cobb – drums
• McCoy Tyner – piano on "Village Blues"
• Steve Davis – bass on "Village Blues"
• Elvin Jones – drums on "Village Blues"
• Cedar Walton – piano on "Like Sonny" alternate versions
• Lex Humphries – drums on "Like Sonny" alternate versions

Production personnel

• Nesuhi Ertegün – production
• Tom Dowd, Phil Iehle – engineering
• Lee Friedlander – photography
• Eutemey – cover design
• Zita Carno – liner notes
• Patrick Milligan – reissue supervision
• Dan Hersch – digital remastering
• Rachel Gutek – reissue design
• Hugh Brown – reissue art direction
• Neil Tessler – reissue liner notes
• Vanessa Atkins – reissue editorial supervision
• Shawn Amos – reissue editorial coordination

References

1. Editorial Staff, Cash Box (28 January 1961). "Atlantic's LP Kick-off for 1961" (PDF). The Cash Box. The Cash Box Publishing Co. Inc., NY. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
2. Editorial Staff, Billboard (30 January 1961). "Coltrane Jazz". The Billboard. The Billboard Publishing Co. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
3. DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Schmaler, Wolf; Wild, David (2013). Porter, Lewis (ed.). The John Coltrane Reference. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. p. 570. ISBN 978-1135112578.
4. Coltrane Jazz at AllMusic
5. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
6. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 46. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
7. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
8. Editorial Staff, Cash Box (11 February 1961). "Coltrane Jazz" (PDF). The Cash Box. The Cash Box Publishing Co. Inc., NY. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
9. Lewis Porter. John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1999. ISBN 0-472-10161-7, pp. 117-8.
10. Ben Ratliff. Coltrane: The Story of A Sound. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN 978-0-374-12606-3, p. 53.
11. Porter, p. 361
12. Porter, pp. 156-7.
13. Porter, pp. 171-180.
14. Coltrane Jazz. Rhino R2 75204 liner notes, p. 11.