SACD John Coltrane – Coltrane Plays The Blues

Coltrane Plays The Blues as a hybrid stereo SACD from the Atlantic 75 Series: Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound mastered it to DSD from the original master tape. All six pieces play in one continuous sequence – John Coltrane with McCoy Tyner, Steve Davis and Elvin Jones, recorded on a single day given over to the blues.

One October day, six blues

On 24 October 1960, John Coltrane recorded the six pieces of Coltrane Plays The Blues at Atlantic Studios in New York – part of the same intensely productive stretch that gave us My Favorite Things. With McCoy Tyner, Steve Davis and Elvin Jones, a new rhythm section was taking shape around him. The blues gave the four musicians common ground: a familiar language with room for very different voices.

The album only appeared in 1962, when Coltrane had already moved on to Impulse!. That delay makes it all the more rewarding to hear the music as a picture of its recording day: a musician pushing forward inside a form everyone knows. If you mainly know the later, expansive Coltrane, this is a direct meeting with his curiosity.

Quartet and trio side by side

Coltrane switches between tenor and soprano saxophone: soprano on “Blues To Bechet” and “Mr. Syms”, tenor on the other pieces. Just as telling is a change within the session itself – McCoy Tyner sits out “Blues To Bechet” and “Blues To You”, leaving saxophone, double bass and drums to carry those two performances on their own.

That contrast is an invitation to listen closely. What happens when the piano’s harmonies fall away? How do Steve Davis and Elvin Jones shape the space between the saxophone phrases? Jones is present as a composer too: he wrote the opening “Blues To Elvin”, while the other five pieces are Coltrane’s own.

Three blues and three gentlemen

The three “Blues To …” titles are followed by “Mr. Day”, “Mr. Syms” and “Mr. Knight”. The compact programme gives the musicians room to develop their ideas. Instead of waiting only for the spectacular passages, follow the small exchanges: a rhythmic figure, an answer from the bass, a saxophone phrase that suddenly changes shape.

It is an album that welcomes you on first hearing and keeps giving on every return. For anyone who loves jazz as a living conversation between musicians, Coltrane Plays The Blues is an approachable, absorbing meeting with this early line-up – history you can simply enjoy.

The Atlantic 75 hybrid stereo SACD

CAPA 041 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD from the Analogue Productions Atlantic 75 Series. According to the publisher, Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound mastered it to DSD from the original master tape. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the six pieces of the original album, from “Blues To Elvin” to “Mr. Knight”.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Atlantic 75 Series

Also in another edition: Coltrane Plays The Blues

More SACDs by John Coltrane: Giant Steps · My Favorite Things · Bags & Trane · Coltrane Jazz · A Love Supreme · Soultrane

Artist page: All titles by John Coltrane

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Participants and documented credit status. Track references correspond to the tracklist.

• John Coltranesoprano saxophone, tenor saxophoneParticipation: Soprano: tracks 2, 5 · tenor: remaining tracks
• McCoy TynerpianoParticipation: tracks 1, 4, 5, 6 · absent tracks 2, 3
• Steve Davisdouble bassParticipation: Album personnel
• Elvin Jonesdrums, composition track 1Participation: Album personnel

Coltrane: soprano on tracks 2 and 5, tenor on the remaining tracks. Tyner does not play on track 2 or track 3. Producer: Nesuhi Ertegun; engineer: Tom Dowd. DSD mastering of this edition: Ryan K. Smith, Sterling Sound.