Music critics have a tendency to overuse words like essential. However, when dealing with a collection of some of the greatest American music ever recorded, presented with staggering auditory clarity, no adjective seems too hyperbolic.
Such is the case with the new John Coltrane collection 1960-1964 Mono (Rhino High Fidelity), which was released in November by Rhino in celebration of the iconic saxophone player’s centennial.
The set, part of the Rhino High Fidelity series and limited to just 2,000 copies, features six albums originally released on Atlantic Records, cut from the original mono master tapes. Each album – Giant Steps (1960), Coltrane Jazz (1961), My Favorite Things (1961), Olé Coltrane (1961), Coltrane Plays the Blues (1962) and Coltrane’s Sound (1964) – was AAA cut and pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl, with the records housed in a handsome box and each presented in glossy gatefold jackets with alternate French cover art.
There are few bigger or more successfully called shots in music history than the opening salvo of Giant Steps, as the mind-blowing opening bars of the album’s title track throw down a guantlet for both listeners and players alike; Coltrane and company play with breakneck intensity and marvelous harmonic intricacy, opening the boxed set with an overwhelming blast of sonic virtuosity.
Coltrane Jazz, by comparison, is a breezier and bouncier listen, its highlights including the Side Two opener “Harmonique” as drummer Elvin Jones, bassist Jimmy Garrison and pianist McCoy Tyner lock into a tricky, swaying groove that Coltrane expertly glides over while deploying a fair bit of tasteful dissonance.
Released just three months later, My Favorite Things is, to put it plainly, a masterclass in interpretation and reinvention, as on the title track Coltrane makes a The Sound of Music Rodgers and Hammerstein chestnut sound like the coolest thing in the world, and throughout the LP he deploys a soprano saxophone and a modal approach to Great American Songbook standards such as “Summertime” and “Everytime We Say Goodbye.” In the way Coltrane and his band jam out on old reliables and use them as sign posts for exploring new musical space, it’s impossible not to hear the influence that was had on the likes of The Grateful Dead and other sonic adventurers who would begin making waves later in the decade.
For his third album in 1961, Coltrane went way out there on Olé Coltrane, in particular for the side-spanning title track, which sees his saxophone parrying with Eric Dolphy’s innovative deployment of jazz flute, in the process creating a stone-cold hypnotic wonder.
In the wake of the titanic achievements of My Favorite Things and Olé Coltrane, the collection’s final two LPs – Coltrane Plays the Blues and Coltrane’s Sound – are each incredibly rewarding in their own ways, if a bit underwhelming.
“Blues” is smoky, atmospheric and thoroughly approachable, an incredibly satisfying listen bolstered by the bold rhythmic quirks underlying “Mr. Day” at the start of Side Two, while “Sound” finds Coltrane and his band playing with fine finesse, crafting soundscapes that are elegantly intricate, in particular the just lovely “Central Park West” and “Body and Soul.”
All told, these 500 or so words only scratch the surface. Extensive reviews could be written about each of this collection’s songs, whole books could be dedicated to each album. But let it be known that “1960-1964 Mono” is a simply stunning body of work, a crystal-clear capturing of one of America’s all-time great musicians at the top of his game.
It is, for lack of a better word, essential.
