Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: John Coltrane

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: John Coltrane

ASIN: B000050I3N

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
John Coltrane spent little more than a decade of his career in the public eye before his death in 1967, but during that time his work was in a state of constant, often turbulent change. In the process, he would create one of the most influential bodies of work in jazz. Many of Coltrane's greatest recordings were long, and it's no easy task to create a single CD that reflects his creative range. However, this remarkably good selection manages to include several extended performances, while charting his work's moments of both profound meditative beauty and creative onslaught. On "Giant Steps," Coltrane pressed the boundaries of chordal improvisation, creating a high-speed maze of harmonic extensions. In perhaps his most famous vehicle, he recrafted "My Favorite Things" in the image of Indian music, spinning scalar improvisations on his soprano saxophone over a repeating piano figure and the molten drums of Elvin Jones. "Chasin' the Trane," from his great 1961 Village Vanguard recordings, uses simple blues to launch an extended solo that tests the tenor's expressive limits. "Jupiter," a duet with drummer Rashied Ali recorded in the final months of Coltrane's life, finds the same intensity still burning within him, his tone compressed to a tight vibrato and his circular lines spinning in still fresh directions. Along the way are those serene islands that always marked Coltrane's work, some of the most beautiful and direct ballad and blues playing in jazz, from his own "Naima" to an ethereal version of "In a Sentimental Mood" with its composer, Duke Ellington, at the piano. --Stuart Broomer

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: John Coltrane,John Coltrane,Polygram Records,Hard Bop,Jazz,Jazz Music,Modal Music,Pop

Average customer rating:

Overly Simplified, But Great Throughout

Great selection of music, but...

Does the job it's meant to do: can't do justice to John...

Great for the Jazz newbie

Not a good compilation

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: John Coltrane
John Coltrane
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music
Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music
General | Jazz | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000050I3N
Release Date: 2000-11-07

Tracks:

'Round Midnight
Giant Steps
Naima
My Favorite Things
Chasin' The Trane
Alabama
Afro Blue
In A Semtimental Mood
Bessie's Blues
Acknowledgment (From A Love Supreme)
Jupiter

Amazon.com

John Coltrane spent little more than a decade of his career in the public eye before his death in 1967, but during that time his work was in a state of constant, often turbulent change. In the process, he would create one of the most influential bodies of work in jazz. Many of Coltrane's greatest recordings were long, and it's no easy task to create a single CD that reflects his creative range. However, this remarkably good selection manages to include several extended performances, while charting his work's moments of both profound meditative beauty and creative onslaught. On "Giant Steps," Coltrane pressed the boundaries of chordal improvisation, creating a high-speed maze of harmonic extensions. In perhaps his most famous vehicle, he recrafted "My Favorite Things" in the image of Indian music, spinning scalar improvisations on his soprano saxophone over a repeating piano figure and the molten drums of Elvin Jones. "Chasin' the Trane," from his great 1961 Village Vanguard recordings, uses simple blues to launch an extended solo that tests the tenor's expressive limits. "Jupiter," a duet with drummer Rashied Ali recorded in the final months of Coltrane's life, finds the same intensity still burning within him, his tone compressed to a tight vibrato and his circular lines spinning in still fresh directions. Along the way are those serene islands that always marked Coltrane's work, some of the most beautiful and direct ballad and blues playing in jazz, from his own "Naima" to an ethereal version of "In a Sentimental Mood" with its composer, Duke Ellington, at the piano. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

Overly Simplified, But Great Throughout.......2006-03-16

Okay, who's crazy enough to say anything negative about John Coltrane? In recent times, his legacy has grown into something like a mild-mannered Malcoolm X. The man's personality was thoroughly unprovocative, gentle even, but his musical ideas challenged even the most liberal of jazz lovers. Coltrane marched to his own drummer (usually Elvin Jones) and he wasn't so concerned about whether or not his audience was hip enough to follow him. This, combined with his early death, has combined to make the man a modern-day legend, and the CD does a credible job of presenting the constantly expanding pace of Coltrane's expressive musical imagination. Starting conservatively with "'Round Midnight," his first major burst onto the jazz scene as Miles' right-hand man in the first classic quintet, and ending with the so-called "anti-jazz" of "Jupiter," Ken Burns' Jazz has only touched on the various facets of a fascinating man. After this, you'll be hungry to hear more. (A) - Tom Ryan

Great selection of music, but..........2004-07-11

I respect Ken Burns. He's made countless compilation albums of jazz CD's, all filled with many of the artist's best songs, the problem is, they're all (or mostly)studio versions of the song. Now, this is good for easy listening jazz, but with Coltrane, one of jazzes greatest artists, you have to hear a live performance to truly understand, to truly hear the passion behind his music. This is, indeed, a great collection of Coltrane, but if you're interested in a recorded live performance, I recommend "Afro Blue Impressions".

Does the job it's meant to do: can't do justice to John..........2003-09-14

OK, people, why not get off Ken Burns' back? His PBS series on jazz and the subsequent CD's to come from it are certainly imperfect and limited, but who else has tried to bring the music to the masses in the past 30 years? I'm glad he did what he could, and I think he's done far more good than harm to the cause of keeping classic jazz alive. Now to this sampler: Coltrane was too varied in his styles and interests to be pinned down to one disc, or even two. But if you never heard him before, and want an inexpensive way to hear what he was about, this release will accomplish the task. I own 14 Coltrane albums now, all bought in the past two years. I like his early stuff, and his initial releases as a leader, much better than his latest period in which he indulged in avant-garde, free jazz, dissonance, squeaks, and shrill trills, etc. Basically anything before 1960 is "accessible" and wonderful, and much that comes between that year and his death in 1967 is difficult, with a few superb exceptions. The CD under discussion is pretty much chronological, so that the first half is fairly traditional, the second half fairly "out there." This was an intense guy, and a restless one. For my own tastes, a compilation called "Trane's Blues" in which he was mostly a featured player and not a leader, is more enjoyable, although limited to the first ten years of his recording career. Coltrane, in 20 years as a saxophone pro, preserved tons of his work on vinyl, so starting a collection can be intimidating. There is so much, yet the player of 1957 and the one of 1961 and the one of 1965 are so different! Look up his catalogue, read 10 reviews of each disc, listen to the samples, find something that sounds good that fits your budget and taste, and plunge in. This one can get you started, but his "Giant Steps" and "My Favorite Things" CD's are adventurous enough for me, while his "Blue Train" is perfect and his work with Kenny Burrell, Thelonious Monk and Johnny Hartman show him as totally understandable and accessible and skilled.

Great for the Jazz newbie.......2003-01-14

I bought this for the introduction to Coltrane. That is why, unlike other reviewers, I like the wide range of Coltrane's style on this disc. Some reviewers knock this album for not having this song, or that song. Well, if you had them all already, why did you need to buy this album, too?

If you're looking for an introduction to John Coltrane, this album is a great bet. I wasn't sure which to try in the whole gammut of albums, and chose this for the number of tracks, and the fact that they were dispersed on the numerous other albums. The 'wisdom' of my choice led me to buy Ken Burns' Thelonious Monk album, and add others to my Amazon wish list.

Not a good compilation.......2002-09-21

I like most of Ken Burns compilations, but this one fails. 1) Not a single track from 'Blue Trane', a fan favourite and a masterpiece. 2) No 'Giant Steps', probably, my all time favourite Trane track. 3) Nothing from his Prestige recordings. 4) Two tracks from Giant Steps, his greatest album, but one is representative. 5) Ditto for Live at Birdland, one track was enough, they could have choosen something from Crescent, 'wise one' for instance. 6) 'Jupiter' was not even released during Trane's lifetime. 7) Round about midnight is a good performance, but if they wanted to showcase the best of Trane as a sideman, why not picking something straight from Kind of Blue?. I cuould go and on and on, bottom line, there are other better compilations of Trane.

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