Paul Chambers - Bass
Jimmy Cobb - Drums
Steve Davis - Bass
Tommy Flanagan - Piano
Elvin Jones - Drums
Wynton Kelly - Piano
Art Taylor - Drums
McCoy Tyner - Piano
Nesuhi Ertegun - Producer
Patrick Milligan - Compilation Producer
Dan Hersch - Remastering
Hugh Brown - Art Direction
Shawn Amos - Editorial Coordinator
Vanessa Atkins - Editorial Supervision
Daniel Goldmark - Editorial Research
Maria Villar - Design
Adam Wade Project Assistant
Quincy Newell - Project Assistant
The importance of John Coltrane as an inexhaustible, groundbreaking
improviser cannot be overstated. His distinctive sound, melodic
imagination and storied dedication to the craftremain an inspiration
both to other saxophonists, and to later generations of jazz musicians.
These
landmark sessions--a highly accessible, essential core of the Coltrane
legacy--were recorded just after his bracing work with Miles Davis and
Thelonious Monk, and signaled Coltrane's emergence as a dominant and
enduring musical force. He reshaped standardslike "Body & Soul" and
"Summertime" into his own heady, harmonic image. The classic recording
of "My Favorite Things", probably Coltrane's most popular, introduced
his soaring soprano sax and had pianists scrambling to decipher McCoy
Tyner's revolutionary chord voicings. Coltrane's trademark "sheets of
sound" cover "Central Park West", and the Afro-Cuban bump of "Like
Sonny" (a nod to tenor-titan Sonny Rollins), while other original
compositions such as the highly influential "Giant Steps" present
radical ideas that musicians still grapple with today.
This John Coltrane set includes key cuts from the saxophonist's 1959
and 1960 recordings for Atlantic Records and is exactly the same
package as Rhino's domestic release bearing the same title. It's hard
to argue with the selections, which include Coltrane's beautiful studio
rendition of "My Favorite Things" (which actually got some pop station
play in an edited down single version), the influential "Giant Steps"
and the durable "Naima," but any album that claims to feature the "very
best" of Coltrane and then doesn't touch on any of his mid-'60s work
for Impulse Records is being knowingly misleading.
Steve Leggett - All Music Guide
Two factors make this collection. First, The Very Best of is from a
series of recordings for the Atlantic label (1959/60). Secondly, these
recordings were made in that crucial transition between the Miles Davis
quintet and the seminal quartet that accompanied Coltrane in the
following years. It celebrates the maestro playing originals and
standards, extending their meaning far beyond the usual scope and every
track is a landmark. It is fitting that this album ends with "Body and
Soul" because it really speaks of and to both. From the eternal "Giant
Steps" with its spirited virtuosity, we move to the gutsy, soulful
portrait "Cousin Mary" then onto a luminous recording of the classic
"Naima". These performances hit to the heart and their integrity remain
uncompromised. On "My Favourite Things" and "Summertime", Coltrane is
joined by McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones respectively, unveiling a deep
fascination with the modal. Through John Coltrane's music, through his
authoritative voice, through his keenly listening imagination, Jazz
finds a mystical dimension. This record can change lives.
Ben Clarke - Amazon.co.uk
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 on Heavyweight Champion). The tunes signal an important
transitional phase from Trane's stints with Miles Davis and Thelonious
Monk to his emergence as a leader in his own right. "Giant Steps"
"Naima," and "Cousin Mary"--featuring pianist Tommy Flanagan and
drummer Art Taylor--crystallized Trane's supersonic "sheets of sound"
style. "Like Sonny," an Afro-Latin dedication to his friend and
contemporary Sonny Rollins with Wynton Kelly on piano, reveals Trane's
stylistic debts to Charlie Parker and Coleman 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.