Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings

Written by Jim S.

Chris over at Musicophile (jazz and classical) has been one of my longest followers and was, I think, one of the first to come over and make a comment on one of my posts which I found encouraging when I had, like, zero followers. I always find something tasty on his site but nothing tastier than this Coltrane collection. I listened to it for about four hours straight the other day and that’s saying something. This has got the mellow Coltrane, the outside Coltrane, piano, guitar – you name it. Give it a spin. It’s great.

musicophilesblog - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms

John Coltrane

I’ve checked, and to date, I’ve only mentioned John Coltrane twice on my blog. Let me clarify: this lack of coverage is not for lack of admiration, it is after all not by chance that I’ve listed the amazing album My Favorite Things in My 25 Essential Jazz Albums.

It is just that overall, so much more has been written about the Jazz legends, both online and offline, than about current contemporary musicians.

Therefore, I try to focus a lot of my Jazz writing here on recordings of the last 2 decades.

That said, every once in a while the record industry finds a smart way of re-releasing existing content, which gives me a nice excuse to write about it.

Coltrane’58 – The Prestige Recordings (Prestige Remaster 2019)

Coltrane '58 The Prestige Recordings 2019 remaster 24 96 192

To make it clear: there is no new content on this box that hasn’t been released previously. What is…

View original post 262 more words

12 thoughts on “Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings”

  1. Thanks Jim for the repost. I really appreciate your blog, it is great to see how be both share our passion of music with the world. It is such a fun endeavor.

    And yes, Coltrane is just brilliant.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Same wave length again (I just might have a Coltrane coming up on my new jazz takes). Yes this is good stuff. I seem to have more of his recordings after these years. A lot of his Impulse sides. He’s an intense listen but I totally get taken away by his music.I know you talk about your Dad’s music and mention Sinatra. Coltrane and Johnny Hartman scratch that style itch for me big time. Good choice Doc and nice nod to Musicophile. I guess i have some listening to do. Not hard.

    Like

    1. My parents were into all the WWII-era music but it was largely because of the dancing, not the listening per se. (Well, maybe Sinatra and those guys.) But there’s no way on earth they were going out and buying bebop records that’s for sure. My stepmother does not like the “hard” jazz and hates rock. But she loves her saxophonists and can probably tell you the difference in sound between Johnny Hodges (her favorite) and Ben Webster. So there are parts of this album she would love but as it veers “outside” she loses interest. This one has something for every Coltrane fan to dig into. You know it’s gonna be good because in almost 4 years of blogging, I’ve done maybe 4 reblogs.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Your aunt sounds just like my neighbor (the Jarrett guy). He call that “outside” thing playing the “phone book”. Johnny Hodges is a good choice for favorite. Believe it or not I was listening to him on Friday. Great choice on a reblog. I went over and dropped a comment on the source.
        Doc if you get in the mood for some, I guess you would call it late night lounge music hit Coltrane /Hartman. What a team.

        Like

      2. My parents were the same way. Easterners from WWII era, and dancing was very important to them. My mom was a true-blue bobby soxer who swooned over Frankie in NYC. I tried to get my dad interested in bebop, mistakenly thinking that, since it was “old” jazz, he would like it. But he just said “I’m not much for that wild stuff.” He progressed as far as Dave Brubeck, then bossa nova, but stopped there, so I never tried to pitch Coltrane.

        Like

        1. Yeah my mother was a bobby soxer all the way. And my sister was the generational equivalent, a Beatlemaniac. So there you go. As to my parents’ tastes, I doubt if either one of them even got as far as Brubeck. When the big band era died, so did their interest.

          Side note: I always find it amusing that there are people who say they do not like jazz. But so as to prove they have SOME jazz bona fides they follow up with, “But I really like Kind of Blue.” Heh!

          Like

        2. Yes, “Kind of Blue” seems to have become a sort of musical litmus test. Like you’ve said before, there’s no accounting for taste, but I would tend to dismiss anyone who says they DON’T like “Kind of Blue.” And if you do like it, then, yes, you do like jazz…you just haven’t been exposed to enough of it.

          Like

        3. Well said. I find that jazz (like classical to some extent) is one of those genres where it really helps to have a guide. A friend of mine back in high school was the son of a jazz saxophonist. He himself has gone on to become a pretty well-regarded bass player. When he and I were in the first year at college – which we both dropped out of – we went over to the school library. He slapped a pair of headphones on me and “made” me listen to Coltrane’s ‘My Favorite Things.” He was also my prog-rock guide, if you will. Now I will say that just being exposed to it isn’t enough. For all he knew I could have hated it. But at least I had the proper “education.” 🙂

          Like

        4. Cool story. Yep, we all have our own ways of getting educated about music. As far as jazz goes, for me it was very gradual. At first it was all rock. Then I got hip to fusion (Weather Report, Stanley Clarke, Lee Ritenour, etc.). Then I read “On the Road” as a college senior, and Kerouac’s jazz writing spurred me to bebop and mainstream jazz. “Kind of Blue” and “A Love Supreme” were jazz touchstones for me, although I always come home to rock.

          Like

        5. My story is similar other than that I would add Miles to that list who was not only (as usual) a pioneer in fusion but also spawned a lot of those guys including Hancock. Missing from my story is “On the Road.” which, shame on me, as I lived in Lowell for three years, my wife grew up there, my kids were born there.

          Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.