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Let's pick my Album of the Week for May 11-17


AfricaBrass

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Nobody here's gonna believe this, but I have only like half-a-dozen Coltrane albums, at most. I think I've only got...

Blue Train (in the 'original' 1987 CD release)

Giant Steps (which I only picked up within the last 6 or 8 months)

Coltrane Plays the Blues (which I got 10-12 years ago, back in college)

A John Coltrane Retrospective - The Impulse Years (3CD compilation, which I got 7 or 8 years ago)

plus a couple bootlegs from 1962, on Magnetic

That's it. That's all the Coltrane I own, with him as the leader.

By way of comparison, I've got over 90% of all the albums/CD's that Joe Henderson is the leader on (and probably 75% of all his sideman work too), and 90% of all of Ornette's output, but barely 5% of Coltrane's output. :blink::blink::wacko::wacko::wacko::wacko:

I can't possibly justify this, but I guess I can try to explain it...

Much as I respect Trane (which is a ton!), and appreciate his output, and totally recognise how important he is...... .....for whatever reason, I've just never connected very deeply with Trane's music. It's not at all that I think he's not as good as Joe, or Wayne, or a dozen other tenor players I have more recordings by, than I do Trane. It's just something about Trane's intensity, which is so draining to me.

Many, many years ago, when I had only 200 or 300 CD's, I had a few Coltrane CD's - but I found I rarely listened to them all that much. They just took too much out of me. And so, over the years, I just never got any more.

Slowly, and I mean very slowly, I feel like I'm starting to get the urge to get some more Coltrane. That's why I finally broke down and got "Giant Steps" last year (and I got the newest one, with all the bonus tracks).

Now here's a really whack idea for you: I think that listening to all the Charles Tolliver I've been getting into for the past couple years, maybe has opened my ears up a bit to Coltrane's music. (I've heard others describe Tolliver as being the Coltrane of jazz trumpet, which I do think there is a grain of truth to.)

I'll probably never be a big fan of Trane's later years, but I do think I might now like to explore some of his work around 1960, up through and as late as maybe 1964. Anything after '64, and I'm just overwhelmed by his sheets-of-sound. They're just too, too much for me.

And yeah, this is coming from the same guy who has 50+ Sun Ra albums. I know, I know, I know - it doesn't add up!!! :wacko::wacko::wacko:

Anyway, I mentioned all this to say that I think I'll go buy Olé this week, and see what happens. :g:g

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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Rooster Ties,

I hope you like Olé.

It's funny, I got into jazz through the music of John Coltrane. For me it was Coltrane and Mingus who were my first 10 or so jazz albums.

I've got every Coltrane cd I could get my hands on (except for a few of the Prestige dates). I've got the box sets (Impulse and Atlantic). So you can see that I'm quite familiar and a big fan of his music.

The thing is: I rarely listen to Coltrane anymore. I can't say why. My love of his music hasn't diminished in any way, but I just don't find myself listening to him as much. I think one reason for me is that I can't just put him on as background music. It's hard for me to find time to sit down and really listen to music anymore, so that could be a reason why I don't play his records as much.

I think Olé should be an enjoyable AOtW because it is his last album for Atlantic. It was recorded early in his time with Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner. You've got both Reggie Workman and Art Davis on the bass. Plus you've got Eric Dolphy and Freddie Hubbard. I know it's not his highest rated album, but I really love it.

One interesting thing that I've found in my Coltrane listening is my appreciation of his music from the last year of his life. I love the way he was playing his horn. The vibrato he used at times really gets to me. I find myself being drawn deeper into his later music more and more.

:rsmile:

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Same here. For me, it was Kind of Blue, Time Out, Coltrane, another Coltrane, another Coltrane, etc. Finally tried someone else, but Coltrane is still number one on my shelves by sessions led. Toss in the Miles stuff and he's WAY out in front. I still don't know how I missed "Ole". There's a good bit of the later stuff I'm missing, and even some OJC stuff, but his Atlantic output just feels so right...

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Like Rooster, I also have few Coltrane discs, although I must say I am intrigued enough by the line-up to purchase OLE, especially since I saw it fairly cheap today (unfortunately I didn't realize it had already been chosen for AOTW, before I went out, otherwise I would've bought it for sure. Oh well, still lots of time to get it).

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I'm glad Ole won as well. Trane's Atlantic period is my favorite of his career, and while this particular album isn't my VERY favorite of the bunch (Coltrane's Sound gets my nod), this is still a beautiful album and I can't wait for this discussion to start!

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How much better is this: B00004WK0U.01._PE_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg than this: B000002I59.01._PE_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg ?????

Looks like the track listing is identical, so there are no bonus tracks on the newest one??

So, then, is the sound quality light years better?? I can get a used one of the old CD issue (which appears to date from 1992), for only $9 (including shipping). Or, I can probably pay $15-$16 for the newest issue.

What's the best way to go??

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up, for commentary about the new CD issue, vs. the decade old one...

Had the "old one" and sold it when I got the Deluxe Edition; sold that one when I got the Japanese mini-LP 20-bit K2 remastered CD. The Deluxe Edition sounded better than the "old one", but not as good as the Japanese reissue (which is extremely rare nowadays)

Edited by J.A.W.
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