Coltrane Plays the Blues
Coltrane Plays the Blues is an album credited to jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1962 on Atlantic Records, catalogue SD 1382. It was recorded at Atlantic Studios during the sessions for My Favorite Things, assembled after Coltrane had stopped recording for the label and was under contract to Impulse Records. Like Prestige Records before them, as Coltrane's fame grew during the 1960s, Atlantic used unissued recordings and released them without either Coltrane's input or approval.
Coltrane Plays the Blues | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Studio album by | |
Released | July 1962[1] |
Recorded | October 24, 1960 Atlantic Studios, New York City |
Genre | Jazz |
Length | 40:57 original LP |
Label | Atlantic SD 1382 |
Producer | Nesuhi Ertegün |
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Down Beat | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
On September 19, 2000, Rhino Records reissued Coltrane Plays the Blues as part of its Atlantic 50th Anniversary Jazz Gallery series. Included were five bonus tracks, all of which had appeared in 1995 on The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings.
Track listing
Side one
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Blues to Elvin" | Elvin Jones | 7:53 |
2. | "Blues to Bechet" | John Coltrane | 5:46 |
3. | "Blues to You" | John Coltrane | 6:29 |
Side two
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Mr. Day" | John Coltrane | 7:56 |
2. | "Mr. Syms" | John Coltrane | 5:22 |
3. | "Mr. Knight" | John Coltrane | 7:31 |
2000 reissue bonus tracks
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
7. | "Untitled Original (Exotica)" | John Coltrane | 5:22 |
8. | "Blues to Elvin" (alternate take 1) | Elvin Jones | 11:00 |
9. | "Blues to Elvin" (alternate take 3) | Elvin Jones | 5:59 |
10. | "Blues to You" (alternate take 1) | John Coltrane | 5:35 |
11. | "Blues to You" (alternate take 2) | John Coltrane | 5:36 |
Side Two track 2 recorded during the evening of October 24, 1960; the remainder during the night of the same day.[7]
Personnel
- John Coltrane — soprano saxophone on "Blues to Bechet", "Mr. Syms", and “Untitled Original (Exotica)”; tenor saxophone on all others
- McCoy Tyner — piano except on “Blues to Bechet” and “Blues to You”
- Steve Davis — bass
- Elvin Jones — drums
Production personnel
- Nesuhi Ertegün — production
- Tom Dowd — engineering
- Marty Norman - Bob Slutzky Graphics — cover design
- Joe Goldberg — liner notes
- Patrick Milligan — reissue supervision
- Dan Hersch — digital remastering
- Sevie Bates — reissue art direction
- Neil Tesser — reissue liner notes
- Vanessa Atkins — reissue editorial supervision
- Shawn Amos — reissue editorial coordination
References
- Billboard July 21, 1962
- Coltrane Plays the Blues at AllMusic
- Down Beat: October 11, 1962 vol. 29, no. 26
- Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
- Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 46. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
- Jazz discography