Before going off on his own solo career as a far sighted hard bopper and then the pied piper of modal and beyond, John Coltrane honed his skills as a sideman not only for Miles and Monk, but also for a handful of other Blue Note artists. This 2 disc set does NOT contain his sole disc as a leader for that label, but the 1956-57 sessions have him in the hands of bands with Paul Chambers, Johnny Griffin and Sonny Clark, and you’re not going to find fault with that.
The Chambers sessions have the leader and Coltrane along with Kenny Drew/p, Philly Joe Jones/dr and a cameo of Kenny Burrell/g, Donald Byrd/tp and Horace Silver/p on a March ’56 session together for a highly hip reading of “Stablemates” and snappy little “High Step.” A month later a front line of Curtis Fuller/tb, Pepper Adams/bs team up with Roland Alexander/p, Philly Joe Jones/dr and the duo for some rich harmonies on “Nita” and “We Six.” The 1957 Blowing Session is a wonderful roller coaster of a ride with Johnny Griffin/ts, Hank Mobley/ts and the all star rhythm team of Wynton Kelly/p, Paul Chambers/b and Art Blakey/dr with Lee Morgan spouting over the top. A definitively swinging “The Way You Look Tonight” is a great way to compare saxists, while “Ball Bearing” and “Smoke Stack” separate the men from the boys.
Pianist Sonny Clark’s session from 1957 has Byrd, Coltrane, Chambers, Taylor and Curtis Fuller/tb doing wonders with “Speak Low” and “Come rain Or Come Shine.” Coltrane sounds magnificent here, mixing lyricism on pieces like ”Speak Low” with his patented extrapolations, while the rhythm team gives him a nice bluesy base to spring from. This set gives great insight as to the roots of Coltrane’s later periods of ecstatic utterances.
Blue Note Records