Coltrane's Sound

iTunes Review

Somewhat overshadowed by the legendary saxophonist's contemporaneous ground-breakers Giant Steps (1959) and My Favorite Things (1960), this album, recorded in late 1960, is innovative in its own right. Though every cut has its improvisational glories, the centerpiece here is "Body and Soul", a song every jazz musician takes a crack at sooner or later. At first 'Trane floats above a tasty bed of chords by Tyner before the pianist lurches into a typically melodic solo bordering on delirium. This is followed by a solo by Coltrane which suggests both a compulsion being tamed and an ascent toward ecstasy. Throughout this album, drummer Elvin Jones moves things along with an authoritative subtlety that was uniquely his. Though this isn't quite Coltrane's classic quartet-it has Steve Davis instead of Jimmy Garrison on bass-it's 'Trane settling on a classic sound after all those years of hard-bop freelancing. Withh it, he finds a template that would be his during the historic breakthroughs of the next half dozen years that follow.