Recorded on September 15, 1957, John Coltrane‘s Blue Prepare is an album revered, cherished, and cherished by many… and there are others who can not fairly see what all of the fuss is about. I’m firmly within the former camp. Granted, some controversy surrounds the recording and critics argue that each Lee Morgan and Curtis Fuller have finished a lot better work elsewhere. But such judgements appear overly harsh; that is, in spite of everything, a Coltrane album.
Nonetheless, Billboard’s assessment of Blue Prepare was optimistic: “A provocative item in the hard, modern idiom, most notable for tenor-ist Coltrane’s arresting solo continuity. Obviously moved by vibrant, creative rhythm playing – Paul Chambers, (Philly) Joe Jones, Kenny Drew – trumpeter Lee Morgan and trombonist Curtis Fuller also turn in top performances.”
Maybe a few of that is because of Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones already having performed collectively on an album the pianist recorded for Riverside Information? It’s exhausting to say. Both manner, in reality, for the title monitor alone – and its worth is nearly doubled by the addition of a “Moment’s Notice” – this file is a masterpiece. So acquainted is “Blue Train” that it seems like a theme to some long-forgotten TV sequence or the soundtrack of an atmospheric film. It’s every part that makes jazz so affecting.
The talk surrounding the album facilities on “Blue Train.” On the unique album launch, the piano solo from take eight is spliced into the next take from the identical September 1957 session to create what we’ve got come to just accept as Coltrane’s masterpiece. A later reissue has each the entire take eight and the composite model, a lot to Van Gelder’s annoyance, who thought-about such tape-splicing “desecration.”
Together with the 4 Coltrane originals on the album, there’s a stunning studying of the Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer commonplace, “I’m Old Fashioned” that’s unapologetically sentimental and amongst Coltrane’s most interesting ballads. All in all, the album is one among Coltrane’s finest and nicely value a hear.
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