John Coltrane - 1958 [1987] "Soultrane"

Soultrane is the fourth studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1958 on Prestige Records, catalogue 7142. It was recorded at the studio of Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack, New Jersey, three days after a Columbia Records session for Miles Davis and the Milestones album.

The album is a showcase for Coltrane's late-1950s "sheets of sound" style, the term itself coined by critic Ira Gitler in the album's liner notes. Also featured is a long reading of Billy Eckstine's ballad standard "I Want to Talk About You", which Coltrane would revisit often during his career, most notably on the album Live at Birdland. Among the other tracks are popular theme "Good Bait" by Tadd Dameron, and Fred Lacey's elegiac "Theme for Ernie". "You Say You Care" is from the Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

The album closes with a frenetic version of Irving Berlin's "Russian Lullaby". Producer Bob Weinstock relates Coltrane's humorous interpretation:

    We were doing a session and we were hung for a tune and I said, "Trane, why don't you think up some old standard?" He said, "OK I got it....and they played "Russian Lullaby" at a real fast tempo. At the end I asked, "Trane, what was the name of that tune?" And he said, "Rushin' Lullaby". I cracked up.

Soultrane takes its title from a song on a 1956 album by Tadd Dameron featuring Coltrane, Mating Call. "Soultrane" does not appear on this Soultrane, and none of the five tunes on Soultrane is an original by Coltrane. The song "Theme for Ernie" was featured on the soundtrack for the 2005 film Hollywoodland.

In addition to being bandmates within Miles Davis' mid-'50s quintet, John Coltrane (tenor sax) and Red Garland (piano) head up a session featuring members from a concurrent version of the Red Garland Trio: Paul Chambers (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). This was the second date to feature the core of this band. A month earlier, several sides were cut that would end up on Coltrane's Lush Life album. Soultrane offers a sampling of performance styles and settings from Coltrane and crew.

As with a majority of his Prestige sessions, there is a breakneck-tempo bop cover (in this case an absolute reworking of Irving Berlin's "Russian Lullaby"), a few smoldering ballads (such as "I Want to Talk About You" and "Theme for Ernie"), as well as a mid-tempo romp ("Good Bait"). Each of these sonic textures displays a different facet of not only the musical kinship between Coltrane and Garland but in the relationship that Coltrane has with the music.

The bop-heavy solos that inform "Good Bait," as well as the "sheets of sound" technique that was named for the fury in Coltrane's solos on the rendition of "Russian Lullaby" found here, contain the same intensity as the more languid and considerate phrasings displayed particularly well on "I Want to Talk About You." As time will reveal, this sort of manic contrast would become a significant attribute of Coltrane's unpredictable performance style.

Not indicative of the quality of this set is the observation that, because of the astounding Coltrane solo works that both precede and follow Soultrane -- most notably Lush Life and Blue Train -- the album has perhaps not been given the exclusive attention it so deserves.

This February 7, 1958, session - which came to be known as Soultrane - was the tenor's seventh session as a leader, and the first LP that followed his one Blue Note session, the more historic Blue Trane. Soultrane , made right after the tenor player rejoined Miles Davis's group, features the trumpeter's rhythm section of Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor. It has also has a noticeably looser, more felt vibe than the better known Blue Note session.

Coltrane and Garland are especially compatible, and while nothing magical happens (as Coltrane showed effortlessly elsewhere), this remains an especially strong session. The mode is still strongly bop-oriented, with none of Coltrane's originals and the introduction of a favorite Coltrane theme, Billy Eckstine's "I Want To Talk About You" (revisited throughout the remainder of Coltrane's career).

Also here are exceptionally good - but not necessarily definitive - takes of Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait," Irving Berlin's "Russian Lullaby," the lovely "Theme For Ernie" and Jules Styne's "You Say You Care." For a blowing date, though, it's hard to improve upon the appeal of this exceptionally fine session, alight as it is with some of the tenor's most assured and accessible playing. Highly enjoyable.

Track listing:

1.    "Good Bait"    Tadd Dameron    12:08
2.    "I Want to Talk About You"    Billy Eckstine    10:53
3.    "You Say You Care"    Leo Robin, Jule Styne    6:16
4.    "Theme for Ernie"    Fred Lacey    4:57
5.    "Russian Lullaby"    Irving Berlin    5:33

Personnel:

    John Coltrane – tenor saxophone
    Red Garland – piano
    Paul Chambers – bass
    Art Taylor – drums