In celebration of John Coltrane’s Centennial birthday, this edition of Jazz Collection Live focuses on Trane’s ballad playing, featuring performances from Prestige, such as I See Your Face Before Me, Violets for Your Furs and more; Blue Note, I’m Old Fashioned; Atlantic, such as Naima and Every Time we Say Goodbye; and Impulse, including Alabama, After the Rain, Lush Life, I Wish I Knew, In a Sentimental Mood, and several more. Featured artists include John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Arthur Taylor, Wynton Kelly, Roy Haynes, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Kenny Drew, Red Garland, Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Johnny Hartman, Tootie Heath, Steve Davis, Duke Ellington, Aaron Bell. The sub-title for the Podcast is “Coltrane Plays Pretty.”
With all of the coverage of Coltrane’s centennial, this is literally the only place I’ve seen focus on his sweet romantic ballad playing. Hell, it might be the only place I’ve seen it even mentioned! Thank you, Al. This is, to me, is peak Coltrane – the stuff I always return to. The Hartman album is my all time favorite record of any sort of music.
Hey, Tim. Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for listening. I’m with you on the ballad playing.
I couldn’t agree more regarding Trane’s ballad playing. The eponymous ‘Ballads’ (although I don’t think that that is a strictly accurate usage of the term eponymous, is, but you know what I mean) is a high point but so many albums have glorious slow and mid-tempo ballads and I have been exploring a lot of them over the past week or so. I was also playing David Murray’s lovely Japan-only release on DIW from ’89 or ’90, ‘Ballads’, and couldn’t help wondering whether he saw it as a reply to Trane…
I also meant to say that listening closely for the first time in ages to some of those earlier cuts with either Kelly or Garland on piano made me realise how much of a difference it makes when there is a ‘lighter’, swinging pianist in the line-up — the contrast between Trane’s magisterial tone and the chiming swing of either of those players is bewitching.