John Coltrane

1957 was a particularly productive year for John Coltrane. After being “fired” from the Miles Davis Quintet, he began recording as a frontman for Prestige records, he grew musically and personally thanks to his collaboration as a sideman with Thelonious Monk and, for the fulfillment of an previous economical arrangement with Blue Note producer Alfred Lion, he recorded Blue Train for that label; all of this after quitting heroin.

The result is stunning. Coltrane sticks to the Hard Bop style, but there are plenty of explorations to be discovered. The two alternate takes included in this edition, while not as inspired as the chosen ones, serve as a measure of the degree of improvisation VS written music of the tunes. The sound quality is impressive, as expected from Van Gelder.