John Coltrane Quartet

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Essential Albums

  • Crescent
    Crescent
    Crescent

    A Love Supreme is rightly hailed as a pinnacle of jazz expression, but when John Coltrane recorded Crescent about six months earlier, he made something every bit as astonishing. It doesn’t have the epic unfolding quality of a four-movement suite, but Crescent—released in 1964—is the source of three Coltrane compositions that rank among the finest and most transcendent in all of jazz history: “Wise One,” “Lonnie’s Lament,” and the title track. Throughout Crescent, the language of the classic Coltrane quartet—which includes pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones—is so refined, you get moments like the telepathic tempo decision that occurs after the main melody of “Wise One.” Communication on that high a plane is rare, and Coltrane’s quartet set an example for every jazz generation that followed. Coltrane’s playing is extraordinary, shifting from serene and meditative to searingly complex (he plays tenor exclusively on Crescent, as he does on A Love Supreme, putting the soprano sax temporarily to one side). In his solos, he puts melodic cells through every permutation until they seem to generate a momentum of their own, and the spirit takes over. Tyner’s pointed attack at the keys, together with Jones’ churning, enveloping swing feel, combine to give the quartet a sound unlike anything before or since. The rugged midtempo “Bessie’s Blues” is a palate-cleanser, perhaps—and yet it’s no less fierce and exploratory than anything else on the album. And “The Drum Thing” omits piano, as Garrison becomes the timekeeper and Jones takes flight. The anomalous track is not an add-on, but a statement of Jones’ centrality to the band—and a testament to his brilliant vision for jazz rhythm in the 1960s going forward.

  • Ballads
    Ballads
    Ballads

    This album is Mastered for iTunes. From his last days as a sideman with Miles Davis to his final recordings, saxophonist John Coltrane built a reputation for extended, explorative solos and fierce, sometimes even ferocious playing. So it’s both refreshing and illuminating to hear his quartet succinctly play eight softer standards. “Say It (Over and Over Again)” opens the album, and it's as much a showcase for pianist McCoy Tyner’s elegant chordal accompaniment and solo as the bandleader’s expressively urbane tone. Drummer Elvin Jones’ masterful brushwork is a highlight of “Too Young to Go Steady,” while his unaccompanied introduction to “All or Nothing At All” is a master class in the lyrical possibilities of the entire kit. (Bassist Jimmy Garrison doesn’t solo but is an authoritative presence throughout.) Of historical note: “It’s Easy to Remember” was one of two numbers first recorded by this seminal band, back in December 1961.

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About John Coltrane Quartet

1960 was a major turning point for John Coltrane (born September 23, 1926, died July 17, 1967). It was in 1960 that the big-toned saxophone giant left Miles Davis' employ for good, made modal jazz (as opposed to hard bop) his main focus, and formed a highly influential group of his own. That group was the New York-based John Coltrane Quartet, whose original lineup included Trane on tenor and soprano sax, McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Steve Davis on bass. Davis didn't stay long; Coltrane went through a few more bassists (Art Davis and Reggie Workman) before hiring Jimmy Garrison in 1961. Like his former employer Miles Davis, Coltrane was a very restless musician who was determined to forge ahead -- and his 1960-1965 quartet did exactly that. In the 1950s, Coltrane's main focus had been hard bop -- "Giant Steps," recorded in 1959, is considered bop's ultimate blowing tune. But it was also in 1959 that Coltrane was prominently featured on Davis' influential modal classic Kind of Blue, and the saxman took the modal plunge in a major way when he became a full-time group leader in 1960. That year, Coltrane's new quartet recorded My Favorite Things, an Atlantic release that did as much to popularize modal playing as Kind of Blue. My Favorite Things' title track is considered a definitive example of modal post-bop, as are "Impressions," "Equinox," "Miles' Mode," and other gems that Coltrane's quartet unveiled in the early '60s. Coltrane, who moved from Atlantic to Impulse! in 1961, occasionally augmented his group; reedman Eric Dolphy, for example, was briefly on board in 1961. But for the most part, Coltrane favored a quartet format from 1960-1964 -- and that quartet was amazingly influential. In the early to mid-'60s, John Coltrane Quartet's modal explorations influenced everyone from saxophonists Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, and Jackie McLean to trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and organist Larry Young. It was in 1965 (the year after Coltrane's quartet recorded the spiritual A Love Supreme for Impulse!) that he opted for another change of direction. The saxman started to explore atonal free jazz -- a shift that signaled the end of his modal period as well as the end of the famous Coltrane/Tyner/Garrison/Jones lineup. But the quartet's influence never went away; anyone who has played modal jazz, past or present, owes a debt of gratitude to John Coltrane Quartet. ~ Alex Henderson

ORIGIN
United States of America
FORMED
1959
GENRE
Jazz

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