John Coltrane - 1964 [1987] "Crescent"

Crescent is a 1964 studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released by Impulse! as A-66. Alongside Coltrane on tenor saxophone, the album features McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (double bass) and Elvin Jones (drums) playing original Coltrane compositions.

Coltrane does not solo at all on side two of the original LP; the ballad "Lonnie's Lament" instead features a long bass solo by Garrison. The album's closing track is an improvisational feature for Jones (with sparse melodic accompaniment from Coltrane's tenor sax and Garrison's bass at the song's beginning and end): Coltrane continued to explore drum/saxophone duets in live performances with this group and on subsequent recordings such as the posthumously released Interstellar Space (with Rashied Ali).

ohn Coltrane's Crescent from the spring of 1964 is an epic album, showing his meditative side that would serve as a perfect prelude to his immortal work A Love Supreme. His finest quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones supports the somewhat softer side of Coltrane, and while not completely in ballad style, the focus and accessible tone of this recording work wonders for anyone willing to sit back and let this music enrich and wash over you. While not quite at the "sheets of sound" unfettered music he would make before his passing in 1967, there are hints of this group stretching out in restrained dynamics, playing as lovely a progressive jazz as heard anywhere in any time period.

The highlights come at the top with the reverent, ruminating, and free ballad "Crescent," with a patient Coltrane acquiescing to swinging, while the utterly beautiful "Wise One" is accented by the delicate and chime-like musings of Tyner with a deeply hued tenor from Coltrane unrushed even in a slight Latin rhythm. These are the ultimate spiritual songs, and ultimately two of the greatest in Coltrane's storied career. But "Bessie's Blues" and "Lonnie's Lament" are just as revered in the sense that they are covered by jazz musicians worldwide, the former a hard bop wonder with a classic short repeat chorus, the latter one of the most somber, sad jazz ballad reflections in a world full of injustice and unfairness -- the ultimate eulogy.

 Garrison and especially Jones are put through their emotional paces, but on the finale "The Drum Thing," the African-like tom-tom sounds extracted by Jones with Coltrane's sighing tenor, followed by some truly amazing case study-frantic snare drumming, makes it one to be revisited. In the liner notes, a quote from Leroi Jones/Amiri Baraka states John Coltrane was "daringly human," and no better example of this quality transferred to musical endeavor is available than on this definitive, must have album that encompasses all that he was and eventually would become.

Saxophone titan John Coltrane’s discography—both as leader and sideman–is so colossal that it’s a wonder there is any agreement among critics, musicians and fans as to his greatest works. Indeed, there are some Trane titles that tower above the rest, serving as landmark moments in his multifaceted career and excellent jumping off points for those wanting to dive into the musician’s deep, intricate waters. Critics have written exhaustively about the soulfulness of Blue Train (1957), the harmonic complexities of Giant Steps (1960), the unlikely pop accessibility of My Favorite Things (1961), the tenderness of Ballads (1963), the spirituality of A Love Supreme (1965) and the avant-garde audacity of Ascension (1966).

1964’s Impulse! recording Crescent ought to be mentioned in the same breath as these tried and true masterpieces, yet the record has rarely gotten the attention it deserves. This omission might be partially due to the timing of its release. Crescent, arguably Trane’s darkest, most meditative record, was cut in the spring of 1964. Only a few months later, Coltrane, with the same classic quartet he worked with on Crescent, would go into the studio to record A Love Supreme, an album whose influences have been felt not only in jazz but in the realms of rock, classical, soul, gospel and world music. The latter record is so universally beloved that the former record, one that shares many of A Love Supreme’s most attractive qualities, is sometimes cast aside as a curious precursory to a masterpiece rather than a fully developed work in and of itself.

This misconception can be easily corrected after only one spin of Crescent. Coltrane and his accompanying trio (Jimmy Garrison on bass, Elvin Jones on drums and McCoy Tyner on piano) might be the tightest, most interactive combo in the history of jazz, and Crescent is one of the finest examples of an evolving, breathing jazz ensemble we have on record. Coltrane reaches new heights of melodic and rhythmic subtlety on this disc, and there is no doubt that it is the saxophonist’s show. Nevertheless, each of the other band members not only are essential collaborators and supporters to the leader but are also given their own moments in the spotlight. Notably, Trane doesn’t even take a solo on the record’s entire B side.

Track listing

    "Crescent" – 8:41
    "Wise One" – 9:00
    "Bessie's Blues" – 3:22
    "Lonnie's Lament" – 11:45
    "The Drum Thing" – 7:22

Personnel

    John Coltrane – tenor saxophone
    McCoy Tyner – piano
    Jimmy Garrison – double bass
    Elvin Jones – drums