What's the best "John Coltrane" album?

And why..?
I want one (to start with) but don't know wich one to get...
Help me out!

He had a lot of output for the short time he was with us and distinct phases.

My 5 personal favorites

1. A Love Supreme- transcendent is an often used adjective
2. Live at the Village Vanguard- his best live work
3. Blue Train- earlier more melodic stuff
4. Giant Steps- the ultimate late period Coltrane
5. John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman- ultimate seduction music

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Hi,

Tnx for the fast response!
As you put it I would opt for "Blue Train" since I like melodic stuff better than for instance "freaky stuff"
Tnx again, I'll check it out!

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Blue Train or A love supreme is a good place to start, though I might give a slight edge to Blue Train

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Hmmm…if melodic is what you want, I think you can do better than Blue Train. Ballads is gorgeous (unless you're looking for Coltrane's tunes; it contains Broadway-type pop standards), and so is Giant Steps. Actually, Giant Steps is about as good an introduction to the mature phase of Coltrane's career as you can get, but I've also had good results recommending nascent listeners to Crescent. One other thing: Folks also seem to go for the …Live at Carnegie Hall disc where he's teamed with Thelonious Monk. No "freaky stuff" to fear there, either. Hope this helps.

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As much as I love Blue Train, I have to agree with the Ballads pick here.

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yeah it was a tough choice as i love Ballads as well. I just thought Blue Train was a bit more diverse.

Of course i have yet to hear any John Coltrane stuff I didn't like. I also really like the stuff he did with Miles Davis

Go for 'Blue Train' , 'Giant Steps' and ofcourse a 'Love Supreme', respectively.

What? No mention of "My Favorite Things"? To me, that's right up there w/ "Kind of Blue" (Miles Davis) & "Time Out" (Dave Brubeck) as contender for all time greatest jazz album (though Miles is probably the consensus)...

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Geez, I can remember playing the hell out of My Favorite Things when I first heard it decades ago, but just now I had to pull it out to remember the other tunes on it besides the title track and "Summertime." That's not the case with any of my other favorite Coltrane.

Someone else mentioned John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman as "ultimate seduction music," which is precisely what I thought, too, until I presented it as a gift to the one woman on the planet who didn't love it. Turned out to be more instructive than constructive.

Actually listened to Blue Train (among other Tranes) last night for the first time in years, and while Blue is obviously an awesome record I'll still stick with the suggestion that no one here seems to agree with: Crescent. I think it has something to do with wanting to just hear Coltrane when I put on a Coltrane record. Blue Train has two other horn players on it (Lee Morgan and Curtis Fuller), and as such sounds more like a stellar jam with great tunes ("Moment's Notice" is genius) and an equally great lineup of players. I don't know…these things are always subjective…there's just something about Coltrane by himself with a rhythm section that really speaks to me.

Get two....get Blue Train because of the reasons given. And also because Trane's improvisations are grounded in the blues and will appeal more to the average music lover than his later, freer atonal explorations. The second album to get, if you don't already have it, is Kind of Blue. It isn't a Coltrane album, it's a Miles Davis album. Coltrane was a side man on tenor in that version of the group, and together with Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and James Cobb, he created some of the greatest music in the canon of jazz.

After that I would suggest Cattin' With Coltrane & Quinichette, and by then you will be ready to dig into some of his recordings on Atlantic (Giant Steps, My Favorite Things, Coltrane Jazz)...and beyond.

--Jerome

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This discussion is fascinating; I luvv thinking about Trane. It's interesting that everyone seems to know that his later work was "freer" (which some of it obviously was), and yet, I always wonder where different listeners define that line in his catalog. For instance, when I hear the opening Trane plays on the ballad "I'm Old Fashioned" (Blue Train), sonically it doesn't seem all that different from anything on Ballads or Crescent. I don't know...I guess it's like he was moving in a certain direction on the earlier disc, while on the others he was fully formed. To my ears, the really free stuff came later.

For me that divide really is with Ascension in 1965. But in reality it really isn't quite that simple, because Coltrane's move towards the avant garde was a transition that took place over a period of a few years. There are releases before Ascension, such as The John Coltrane Quartet Plays that have looser structure and are more free than anything he did on Atlantic. Still, Plays is pretty far removed from the extremes of releases such as Live in Seattle or the posthumously released Stellar Regions.

--Jerome

Lots of great suggestions, Coltrane fans always have their own particular personal favourites. While I admire his experimental avant-garde period and what he was trying to do as an artist in searching for something new, I love his ballad playing and his early period most.

If you are starting out, I've found these albums quite accessible while still getting a good idea of what Coltrane is about :

Coltrane for Lovers (compilation album)


Gentle side of Coltrane


Afro Blue Impressions - Live album


CD1 has beautiful and powerful renditions of Lonnie's Lament, Naima and My Favourite things, and the sound is pretty good which cant be said of all Coltrane's live albums.

You might also like to check out the documentary "World According to John Coltrane" and his appearance on Jazz Casual, where he played Impressions, My Favourite things and Alabama.

Jerome, I've also been checking out Cattin', very enjoyable album.

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Yes indeed. Also very enjoyable, and under appreciated in my opinion, is Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors.



OFF TOPIC: If you are into bluesy ballads, then you should check out Stanley Turrentine, who was a great tenor player in his own right.



--Jerome