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John Coltrane - Side Steps 5-CD


Tjazz

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Between FEARLESS LEADER and INTERPLAY, is there a clear winner or are both just really good (and basically equal in strength)?

I don't have any pre-Atlantic/Columbia (i.e. with Miles) Coltrane and I've yet to receive Sidesteps in the mail.

If you're only going to get one of the two right now, I'd recommend "Fearless Leader." I prefer the music on this one, though both are excellent collections.

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I'm not too worried about which box is better, I wanted to fill out a big gap in my collection. I have a few of the individual albums in my collection, but now I can check out the whole era at my own leisure instead of waiting for a WKCR birthday broadcast.

I never really got into early Coltrane, I've been obsessed with Atlantic and Impulse Coltrane for half my life.

Edited by 7/4
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Between FEARLESS LEADER and INTERPLAY, is there a clear winner or are both just really good (and basically equal in strength)?

They are both really good and equal in strength, IMHO. Chances are if you get one, you'll end up wanting the other two.

I admit I'm biased, though: Trane's Prestige period is my favorite of his, which is not a knock against Atlantic or Impulse; just what moves me on a grander scale. I realize I'm in a minority here. :cool:

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I'm not too worried about which box is better, I wanted to fill out a big gap in my collection. I have a few of the individual albums in my collection, but now I can check out the whole era at my own leisure instead of waiting for a WKCR birthday broadcast.

I never really got into early Coltrane, I've been obsessed with Atlantic and Impulse Coltrane for half my life.

You'll love the Prestige quartet stuff on Fearless Leader since you love the Atlantic stuff (I do too). Start with Fearless Leader, but get them all.

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Between FEARLESS LEADER and INTERPLAY, is there a clear winner or are both just really good (and basically equal in strength)?

They are both really good and equal in strength, IMHO. Chances are if you get one, you'll end up wanting the other two.

I admit I'm biased, though: Trane's Prestige period is my favorite of his, which is not a knock against Atlantic or Impulse; just what moves me on a grander scale. I realize I'm in a minority here. :cool:

Thanks to you and Jazzbo for the feedback. Yes, I believe you're right -- I'll eventually probably get all three. I just placed an order for Fearless Leader, just to make sure that I like this stuff fully before moving forward. I do particularly enjoy the Atlantic stuff (especially Giant Steps)...well that and Trane playing with Miles especially on a record I brought up in another thread above -- '58 Miles Featuring Stella By Starlight. Anyway, it seems that the Fearless leader stuff is not too far off in terms of time period (roughly 57 - 58?).

The titles Sidesteps and Fearless Leader convey a clear sense of what sort of dates are included in each box respectively. With regard to Interplay, are these dates where basically Trane shared the lead (i.e. John Coltrane & Kenny Burrell)? If not what is the basic organizing concept of the set?

Edited by Norm
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I am not seeing low prices on the other two box sets though. What am I missing?

Check Amazon new/used marketplace seller items.

Edit: I bought both of mine from "Bargainentertainment3" and got the sets two days later. Gouged UPCs on both, otherwise perfect, shrinkwrapped things.

Edited by sjarrell
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The titles Sidesteps and Fearless Leader convey a clear sense of what sort of dates are included in each box respectively. With regard to Interplay, are these dates where basically Trane shared the lead (i.e. John Coltrane & Kenny Burrell)? If not what is the basic organizing concept of the set?

that is about right.

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My copy of Side Steps just arrived today. I put on disc 1 which includes Informal Jazz and Mating Call. I like the packaging and the booklet but I do hope the sound on the other discs is better than on disc 1. Mating Call especially sounded poor. I thought maybe my speakers were having a problem suddenly (Magneplanars). So I put on an older remastered disc that I was recently impressed with (Walt Dickerson's Sense of Direction) to check. It still sounds great. And I thought the Interplay box also sounded very good. Were these particular sessions poorly recorded? I've been surprised how good other mid/late 50's RVG Prestige recordings sound. Not disc 1 anyway.

Edited by TedR
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My copy of Side Steps just arrived today. I put on disc 1 which includes Informal Jazz and Mating Call. I like the packaging and the booklet but I do hope the sound on the other discs is better than on disc 1. Mating Call especially sounded poor. I thought maybe my speakers were having a problem suddenly (Magneplanars). So I put on an older remastered disc that I was recently impressed with (Walt Dickerson's Sense of Direction) to check. It still sounds great. And I thought the Interplay box also sounded very good. Were these particular sessions poorly recorded? I've been surprised how good other mid/late 50's RVG Prestige recordings sound. Not disc 1 anyway.

Listening to disc 1 now. Mating Call sounds better to me on the RVG, but sounds good here, this session sounds to me as it always did. It IS a slightly different sounding album than some of it's contemporaries. There is less depth to the sound than some other Englewood Cliff recordings. The other discs in the set should sound better.

Edited by jazzbo
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