John Coltrane - Interplay
ARTIST.....: John Coltrane
TITLE......: Interplay
LABEL......: Prestige
URL........: http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7491237&BAB=M
RIP DATE...: Sep-22-2007
STORE DATE.: Sep-18-2007
GENRE......: Jazz
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 303,9 MB
Track Listing:
cd1
01 - Just You, Just Me 09:29
02 - Tenor Conclave 11:05
03 - How Deep Is The Ocean 15:06
04 - Bob's Boys 08:21
05 - Anatomy 11:56
06 - Interplay 09:41
07 - Light Blue 07:50
cd2
01 - Soul Eyes 17:32
02 - C.T.A. 04:44
03 - Eclypso 07:57
04 - Solacium 09:11
05 - Minor Mishap 07:26
06 - Tommy's Time 11:58
cd3
01 - Dakar 07:09
02 - Mary's Blues 06:48
03 - Route 4 06:55
04 - Velvet Scene 04:54
05 - Witches' Pit 06:43
06 - Cat Walk 07:12
07 - Cattin' 07:23
08 - Anatomy 08:52
09 - Vodka 09:07
10 - Sunday 06:59
cd4
01 - Dealin' (Alt. Take) 10:01
02 - Dealin' 10:17
03 - Wheelin' (Alt. Take) 10:26
04 - Wheelin' 11:22
05 - Robbins' Nest 15:34
06 - Things Ain't What They Used To Be 08:24
cd5
01 - Lyresto 05:45
02 - Why Was I Born? 03:14
03 - Freight Trane 07:21
04 - I Never Knew 07:06
05 - Big Paul 14:05
─────
cd1: 73:28 cd2: 58:48 cd3: 72:02 cd4: 66:04 cd5: 37:31
Release Notes:
When the Concord Music Group took ownership of the Fantasy catalog
that included labels like Riverside, Prestige, Milestone, and New
Jazz, there was great trepidation as to what they would actually
do with that historically treasured store of some of the most
important music in the jazz canon. One of the first things they
did was to issue a box set called Fearless Leader, compiling of
all of John Coltrane's dates as a leader for Prestige -- music
that had been out before in individual volumes and also as a box
set. It sounded great, and the presentation was beautiful. The
music was there for those who'd never been exposed to it before,
or suddenly realized they needed it all, but for those who had
been part of Coltrane's fan base for eternity, it felt in some
ways a bit anti-climactic. There was gratitude in having it
available, but it was a pricey situation to have to buy it all
again. But that was only an opening salvo, while the Concord group
has been reissuing catalog titles we've seen before, many of them
have been significantly remastered and there have been some
surprises as well. Add to that the fact that the company has
reactivated the Stax imprint by releasing new titles as well as
catalog material that hasn't been available on CD before, and it's
obvious they're doing the right thing.
Interplay underscores that earlier Coltrane box. It contains all
the of dates Coltrane participated in as a sideman (or
collaborator) between 1956 and 1958. Yes, all of the music on
these five discs has been available before. There isn't anything
new from the vaults. That said, it has never before been presented
en masse chronologically, and it has never sounded so utterly
crisp and clean, warm and fully present. For those who are
Coltrane aficionados, there is a new way to hear the development
of a giant. For those new to this music, you are in a enviable
position: the wealth of surprise and delight to be found here is
almost beyond measure.
Historically, when these sessions were cut, Coltrane had rejoined
the Miles Davis Quintet, and was playing as part of Thelonious
Monk's group (resulting in the historic Live at the Five Spot
date). He kept a busy profile, working constantly not just to pay
the bills, but to push at something within himself he was trying
to get to. These seven full albums on these five discs offer a
very direct view of that process, while showcasing some of the
truly awesome talent on display in music during the mid-'50s: Mal
Waldron (who composed 12 of the 34 tunes here and performs on 20):
Red Garland and Tommy Flanagan are also here. In addition, figures
like Pepper Adams, a young Hank Mobley, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Paul
Quinichette, Webster Young, Idrees Sulieman, Cecil Payne and Kenny
Burrell, Doug Watkins, Art Taylor, Paul Chambers, Louis Hayes,
Jimmy Cobb, Ed Thigpen, and Frank Wess. Five of those dates are
not credited to a leader. They include Tenor Conclave, Interplay
for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors, The Cats, Wheelin' and Dealin, and
Modern Jazz Survey 2 (later reissued under Coltrane's own name as
Dakar). The other two albums here are Cattin' co led by Coltrane
and Paul Quinichette, and Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane. These
last two co-led dates were also in the jam session mode. The
material ranges from standards to originals, from hard bop to
swinging, easy lyrical material. If anything defines the many
kinds of playing Coltrane was doing at the time, it's the pre-
modal lyricism that was still full of power and rapid-fire
quickness moving through whole ranges of arpeggios seemingly
effortlessly. The controlled dynamics in his laying -- check his
solo on the 17-minute version of Mal Waldron's classic "Soul Eyes"
on disc two for proof -- show the entire range of his improvising
at the time. One can hear the roots of his Atlantic sides within
it readily. There are also some sides here from dates issued by
others with Trane as a sideman, including a tune from Art Taylor's
Taylor's Wailers and Waldron's The Dealers, which were released on
an affiliate (Status) in 1965, but were recorded during this time
period.
The box is long and its discs are placed in a very secure fashion
(disc three is virtually hidden underneath the slipcase containing
the 60-page booklet -- it feels like an actual book). This
artifact is in and of itself quite handsome and is the way these
things ought to be done. It includes many rare photographs taken
at sessions, original LP artwork, and two killer sets of liner
notes. The first one is a lovely introductory essay by Nat
Hentoff, and the second is an intricately detailed overview of the
sessions themselves by Coltrane scholar Lewis Porter. In fact, for
some listeners the only problem with this collection is that some
of the discs may seem brief. It's obvious as one goes through the
set that this box wasn't intended to pad anything, but was
compiled for the sake of issuing the master in as complete a
chronological form as possible on a single disc (remember the old
Prestige boxes that would break in the middle of an album?),
something that is a quibble at best. For those interested enough
in Coltrane, it's a wise purchase, for those who seek that
indefinable sound that was the mid-'50s at its best, this set is
indispensable. Ultimately, Interplay is a success and proves the
authority of what Concord is trying to accomplish with the catalog
they are now charged with preserving and issuing to the public.
Let's hope they don't go the Blue Note route and simply issue the
same titles over and over-and over-again, but instead dig deeper
into their vaults for the treasures within it that have yet to see
the light of day on compact disc. Interplay, despite its
previously issued material, is a new thing because of its
presentation, and offers a very large view of Coltrane, as well as
Waldron, Flanagan, Adams, and others who would emerge as great
bandleaders in a way we've not had before. It's not merely a
career retrospective but a slice -- and a big one, it's true -- of
jazz history in the making.