John Coltrane

INCLUDES FREE MP3 ALBUM DOWNLOAD Plus 1 BONUS TRACK

5 STARS DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE

The seminal recordings that make up this album were taped during a transitional period in John Coltrane’s musical career. He had first joined the Miles Davis Quintet in 1955 and would form his own celebrated quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones in 1960. In the intervening years, he overcame his narcotics addiction and began to expand on his own musical ideas while experimenting with both the Thelonious Monk Quartet and the Miles Davis Sextet (featuring Bill Evans and Cannonball Adderley). With the latter group, he would record the famous "Kind of Blue", one of the most fascinating jazz albums of all time.

Although Trane belonged to both the Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk groups, he also recorded studio sessions with other musicians and presented his own albums during this period. Lush Life was constructed with material from three different sessions, all of which produced additional material issued in other albums.

While Side A is in trio format with no piano (something unusual for Coltrane), Side B features a quintet showcasing Donald Byrd and Red Garland (although both tunes were recorded on different sessions). We have completed the trio session adding “Slowtrane”, which despite bearing a different title is actually an alternate take of “Trane’s Slow Blues”.

PERSONNEL:

JOHN COLTRANE, tenor sax
DONALD BYRD, trumpet (on B1 only)
RED GARLAND, piano
PAUL CHAMBERS, bass
LOUIS HAYES, drums (on B1)
ALBERT “TOOTIE” HEATH, drums (on B2)

Hackensack, New Jersey, January 10, 1958 (B1) & May 31, 1957 (B2).

(*) BONUS TRACK. Not on the original LP configuration.
JOHN COLTRANE, tenor sax
EARL MAY, bass
ARTHUR TAYLOR, drums
Hackensack, New Jersey, August 16, 1957.

SIDE A:

01 LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE
02 I LOVE YOU
03 TRANE’S SLOW BLUES
04 SLOWTRANE (*)

SIDE B:

01 LUSH LIFE
02 I HEAR A RHAPSODY