JOHN COLTRANE
Coltrane's Sound - (1960)

This is one of the most highly underrated entries in Coltrane's voluminous catalog. Although the same overwhelming attention bestowed upon My Favorite Things was not given to Coltrane's Sound upon its initial release, both were actually recorded during the same three-day period in the fall of 1960. So prolific were those recording dates, they informed no less than five different Coltrane albums on Atlantic. The title could not have been more accurate, as each of the six pieces — eight if you count the CD bonus tracks — bear the unmistakable and indelible stamp of Coltrane's early-'60s style. "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" and "Body and Soul" — the only tracks not penned by Coltrane — are given unique and distinctive voices. Animating the arrangements on these sessions were Coltrane (soprano/tenor sax), Steve Davis (bass), Elvin Jones (drums), and McCoy Tyner (piano). It's perhaps Tyner's recollection of the quartet as "four pistons in an engine" that most aptly explains the singular drive heard during Coltrane's extended runs on "Liberia." Tyner flawlessly complements Coltrane with full resonating chords that cling to his volley of sound. The rhythmic gymnastics of percussionist Jones is also showcased as his double-jointed bop swing and military band precision are distinctly displayed on the blues "Equinox." The opening six bars give Jones a chance to make a contrasting statement — which he takes full advantage of. The two CD bonus tracks — "26-2" as well as an alternate take of "Body and Soul" — are also available on the Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings box set. Regardless of the format, these recordings remain among Trane's finest. (allmusic.com)

http://www.mediafire.com/?voi01tagmym

JOHN COLTRANE
Giant Steps - (1960)

History will undoubtedly enshrine this disc as a watershed the likes of which may never truly be appreciated. Giant Steps bore the double-edged sword of furthering the cause of the music as well as delivering it to an increasingly mainstream audience. Although this was John Coltrane's debut for Atlantic, he was concurrently performing and recording with Miles Davis. Within the space of less than three weeks, Coltrane would complete his work with Davis and company on another genre-defining disc, Kind of Blue, before commencing his efforts on this one. Coltrane (tenor sax) is flanked by essentially two different trios. Recording commenced in early May of 1959 with a pair of sessions that featured Tommy Flanagan (piano) and Art Taylor (drums), as well as Paul Chambers — who was the only band member other than Coltrane to have performed on every date. When recording resumed in December of that year, Wynton Kelly (piano) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) were instated — replicating the lineup featured on Kind of Blue, sans Miles Davis of course. At the heart of these recordings, however, is the laser-beam focus of Coltrane's tenor solos. All seven pieces issued on the original Giant Steps are likewise Coltrane compositions. He was, in essence, beginning to rewrite the jazz canon with material that would be centered on solos — the 180-degree antithesis of the art form up to that point. These arrangements would create a place for the solo to become infinitely more compelling. This would culminate in a frenetic performance style that noted jazz journalist Ira Gitler accurately dubbed "sheets of sound." Coltrane's polytonal torrents extricate the amicable and otherwise cordial solos that had begun decaying the very exigency of the genre — turning it into the equivalent of easy listening. He wastes no time as the disc's title track immediately indicates a progression from which there would be no looking back. Line upon line of highly cerebral improvisation snake between the melody and solos, practically fusing the two. The resolute intensity of "Countdown" does more to modernize jazz in 141 seconds than many artists do in their entire careers. Tellingly, the contrasting and ultimately pastoral "Naima" was the last tune to be recorded, and is the only track on the original long-player to feature the Kind of Blue quartet. What is lost in tempo is more than recouped in intrinsic melodic beauty. (allmusic.com)

http://www.mediafire.com/?wmnzztuungz

BOX SET
JOHN COLTRANE
The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse!
Studio Recordings - (1998)

Here it is: eight CDs worth of John Coltrane's classic quartet, comprised of bassist Jimmy Garrison, pianist McCoy Tyner, and drummer Elvin Jones, recorded between December of 1961 and September of 1965 when the artist followed his restless vision and expanded the band before assembling an entirely new one before his death. What transpired over the course of the eight albums and supplementary material used elsewhere is nothing short of a complete transfiguration of one band into another one, from a band that followed the leader into places unknown to one that inspired him and pushed him further. All of this transpired in the span of only three years. The group that the saxophonist had assembled for Coltrane in 1962, a band that had been together a little while and had performed together at the Village Vanguard (the tracks that include the quartet without Eric Dolphy from Impressions are here, and, in fact, the first pieces on the set are from those session dates chronologically) in a variety of settings, is almost nothing like the band that made Kulu Se Mama in 1965. For a change, the oft-employed yet irritating chronological method of compiling a box makes sense here. McCoy Tyner's piano style, that rich open-ended modal chromaticism he developed was at work on "The Inchworm," astonishingly enough the first work recorded in the 1962 studio dates. "Out of This World" was one of the last from that session that would produce the album Coltrane. The blues element that would disappear from later records — at least consciously — was the driving force behind ballads like "Soul Eyes" and "After the Rain." But it isn't until the latter end of 1963 that we hear the band beginning to gel into the unit that would make A Love Supreme and create the tracks that would be assembled into First Meditations for Quartet. There are the two alternate takes of "Alabama," and the soprano solo that is positively danced around by the rhythm section on "Dear Old Stockholm." There is also the great schism in Coltrane, much that took place between the June 1964 session that produced "Crescent" (and its first version is on disc eight, which is full of supplementary and unreleased material) and the following December when A Love Supreme was recorded. Here is the hinges in the whole box, the questions that need to be resolved than that this box only begs more than answers: what happened to that tight conscripted modalism Coltrane had been working on in his official releases prior to that time period as many of them hold clues but never give away the entire picture. What the box does in its voluminous way is set the record straight that there was no retrenchment in pursuant releases to A Love Supreme. There were softer moments on record, but the material in the can was far more adventurous recorded at about the same time, such as the "Suite" or "Transition" or "Dusk Dawn." Disc eight is also a treat in that it contains seven "works in progress" from all periods in the quartet's history. It begins with the aforementioned version of "Crescent," which is appreciably different than the master take in Tyner's solo particularly. There's also an incomplete though steaming initial take of "Bessie's Blues." Perhaps the most beautiful thing on the final disc is the alternate take of part II of A Love Supreme's "Resolution," with its elongated obligato by Coltrane and Tyner's gorgeous tenths playing ostinato during the saxophone solo. There's an alternate of "Feelin' Good" that's no big deal, followed by breakdowns and alternate takes of both "Dear Lord" and "Living Space," both of which reveal the harmonic development of a scale as it becomes the architectural model for the rest of the composition and improvisation. There can be no arguing the value of the originally released recordings; whether they were issued during Coltrane's lifetime or after his death, they tell a story that millions of listeners formed their impressions by, true or false, and created a legacy that lives on. But there is also something to be said for setting the record straight, and the chronological approach that this set takes in no way desecrates the integrity of the original albums themselves — unlike the Ornette Coleman box. Simply put, it is indispensable to those who need a deeper understanding of Coltrane's music and the development of his most influential period. The sound quality is fully remastered to 20-bit technology, and the package is unwieldy but beautiful and sturdy. It's a must. (allmusic.com)

Disc 1

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=300c8e89fa751bc3ab1eab3e9fa335cafca15408b2919012

Disc 2

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=300c8e89fa751bc3ab1eab3e9fa335cade525f3343484c6a

Disc 3

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=300c8e89fa751bc3ab1eab3e9fa335cacd7cacb7d56351f9

Disc 4

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=300c8e89fa751bc3ab1eab3e9fa335caed80e8c674813503

Disc 5

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=300c8e89fa751bc3ab1eab3e9fa335caa7c69cf0b3a700bc

Disc 6

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=300c8e89fa751bc3ab1eab3e9fa335ca1122473ac5cefccf

Disc 7

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=300c8e89fa751bc3ab1eab3e9fa335cafc84de8a63beb137

Disc 8

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=300c8e89fa751bc3ab1eab3e9fa335ca87bef8e3ae8532d0