Rock and roll and country was in the air when I grew up. Radio was still a vibrant medium and not yet hamstrung by the demographics studies that have led to the tight playlists and complete destruction of today. A wealth of great music was just there to sample, but other forms of music were hidden from me – primarily soul and jazz and it would require some education and digging from me to get to the good stuff. Television provided exposure for both soul and jazz in the early Seventies. To be an eight year old in 1974 meant you thought the world was always a funky place and that towering afro’s had always been the norm. It was also a place where jazz was electric and dissonant. It’s not that I was some super hip kid making music snob type judgments at such a young age; if something sounded good to my ears I liked it. There was certainly innocence and naivety, but discoveries once made often lead to familiarity and cynicism. One also learns how to make better use of the resources available and those exciting moments when you just happen to catch Sly and Family Stone or Dizzy Gillespie on the tube vanish into memory replaced by a more sedate and esoteric path – the difference in unmapped exploring and GPS certainty.
As I grew older my musical quest for the good depended on songs, books, and tips from friends; for example: I heard “She Digs Ornette” on the Zeitgeist (later called The Reivers) album Translate Slowly which led me to finally buy an Ornette Coleman record, Kerouac’s On The Road was filled with jazz references so I bought a Charlie Parker record, and then I met a fellow student at Middle Tennessee State University who was a jazz fanatic and upon his advice I was buying jazz from artists I had barely heard of before. While sacrificing spontaneity, this method of musical discovery does allow one to plan a methodology of listening, especially with artists that have a rich back catalog of releases you’ve never heard before. When I began to purchase Miles Davis albums I started from the beginning just to be able to approximate the impact of his evolution since I had heard enough to be familiar with his work. I did the exact opposite with John Coltrane, but there was no design intended. Like the chance moments of my youth, it just happened.
Coltrane’s Impulse recordings were being re-released on CD in the late Nineties so I started buying them as they came out. I was blown away by Coltrane’s tone and his freewheeling spiritual approach. I wasn’t surprised to learn about the church of John Coltrane: St. John’s African Orthodox Church which was organized in 1971 in San Francisco under the banner of One Mind Temple Evolutionary Transitional Body Of Christ. Coltrane’s music sometimes feels other worldly; his tenor saxophone playing singing with sharpened emotions, an invitation to the ideal humanity within all of us. His early death at the age of forty has naturally created a legendary aura about his life and his music. I could find no argument with that listening to his late Sixties output. I have since gone the systematic route working my way backward through his recordings. What do I think about Coltrane’s earlier work before his ascendancy to volatile free form genius had taken flight? Huge explosions can be started with the barest of sparks, and in Coltrane’s case he was always blazing.
My latest dip into the past is Traneing In recorded in 1957 for the Prestige label. Coltrane performs with the Red Garland Trio: Red Garland – piano, Paul Chambers – bass, and Arthur Taylor on drums. There are five tracks all produced with amazing sonic clarity by Rudy Van Gelder. Coltrane’s Prestige sides are often overlooked by casual fans and I don’t really understand why. His playing is almost without fail excellent and the musicians he performs with generally able conspirators as is the case with this release. The iconoclasm of his later work may be missing, but there are hints of it ready to be found by the intent listener. Coltrane’s warm blues inflected tone pulls at the boundaries on this release with post be-bop lyricism only a few years away.
Traneing In begins with the Coltrane composed title cut. Red Garland starts off the proceedings with a solo before Coltrane takes over slowly increasing the amount of notes until there is a river of them – a baptism of Fifties bop playing, and then Paul Chambers takes a fun bass solo at one point incorporating “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” into the mix followed by a gentle summary by Garland and Coltrane of their solo runs. “Slow Dance” is a gentle ballad with Coltrane playing the song straight with a feeling and soul any mother would love. Paul Chambers highlights “Bass Blues” also written by Coltrane. Chambers divides his time playing pizzicato and using a bow across his bass creating a flurry of excitement for the listener. Coltrane and the Red Garland Trio once again deliver an aching ballad in “You Leave Me Breathless.” The album finishes up with “Soft Lights And Sweet Music” as Coltrane gets announced by a great drum roll by Arthur Taylor before swiftly blowing a flurry of notes. It might not be the absolute best John Coltrane outing, but it makes a great addition to any jazz collection and might be the best place to start for those who want a more traditional sound.
I may not have the same innocence and naivety I had as a child. I may pursue music in an educated and tactical way. My memory bank may suffer for it, but that’s okay. The moment the needle drops or laser hits the CD of truly great music or in the case of Traneing In a truly great artist, all of the years are wiped clean and I am only in the moment which is as pure as one can get.
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