John Coltrane

The classic quartet at their devotional peak. McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones. Four parts, recorded in a single December 1964 session at Van Gelder Studios. The most celebrated jazz album of the post-bop era.

Read the deep dive →

Coltrane's only date as a leader for Blue Note, recorded September 1957 with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. The title track is one of the most covered tunes in the bop canon.

Read the review →

The harmonic gauntlet. Coltrane debuts the major-third cycle that bears his name, with Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers, and Art Taylor on the title cut. Includes Naima and Mr. P.C. The technical peak of his bop period.

Read the review →

Quartet date with Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Art Taylor cut at Van Gelder Studios in February 1958. Four standards plus Russ Freeman's The Theme. The lyrical, balladic side of the early Coltrane voice.

Read the review →

The soprano saxophone revelation. Coltrane reworks the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune into a thirteen minute modal vamp that would change his playing for the rest of his life. With McCoy Tyner, Steve Davis, and Elvin Jones.

Read the review →

A deliberately tender record, made partly as a corrective to critics who claimed the new quartet only knew how to go hard. Eight Tin Pan Alley ballads with the classic quartet, recorded across three sessions in late 1961 and 1962.

Read the review →