Ballads (John Coltrane album)

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Ballads
Studio album by John Coltrane

Publication
(s)

1962

Label (s) Impulses!

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

8th

running time

32:18

occupation

production

Bob Thiele

Studio (s)

Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs , New Jersey

chronology
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
(1962) 		Ballads John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
(1963)

Ballads is a jazz album by John Coltrane , recorded by Rudy Van Gelder on December 21, 1961, as well as September 18 and November 13, 1962 and published on Impulse! Records .

The album

During Coltrane's creative phase at Impulse Records , which began in 1961 with the Africa / Brass album and was to last until his death in 1967, three albums were dropped that presented the tenor saxophonist, who belonged to the jazz avant-garde at the time, in a more conventional setting: Being in September 1962 album with Duke Ellington ( Duke Ellington & John Coltrane , AS 30), his project with the singer Johnny Hartman ( John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman , AS 40) 1963 and the Ballads album recorded in three recording sessions in 1961/62 , the only presented standards material from the Great American Songbook , which is played by the Coltrane Quartet in slow and medium tempo. Even during his time at Prestige Records , Coltrane had repeatedly played pieces that emphasized his lyrical side. In his liner notes for the original album, Gene Lees points to early recordings with Tadd Dameron , in which Coltrane began to develop his ballad play. When asked about his motivation for this album, Coltrane cited variety as the reason for a change in speed

The first recording session took place at the end of 1961 and in the period after the European tour (still with Reggie Workman on double bass). All other tracks were recorded after the classic John Coltrane quartet had finished recording Coltrane's first studio album with his quartet (released under the title Coltrane , AS 21). A studio appointment on September 18, 1962 (before the recording project with Ellington) was also used for ballads . The remaining five tracks were recorded on November 13, 1962. For the session, the musicians brought versions of popular music tracks, discussed them, noted the chord changes, and rehearsed for another half an hour. With one exception, every piece was recorded in one take ; only with the medium tempo played “ All or Nothing at All ” there were a number of wrong starts, as it was rhythmically more complex than the rest of the tracks.

Rating of the album

According to the Coltrane biographers Filtgen and Auserbauer, after the recordings from the Village Vanguard , the listener encounters a somewhat “braked Coltrane”. The assumption has also been made that the initiative for the album goes back to the producer Bob Thiele , who wanted to smooth things over and achieve higher sales figures again. Nevertheless, the album gives “insight into the wide range of Coltrane's music” and shows him as a “master of ballad interpretation.” The authors particularly emphasize the faster piece “All or Nothing at All”, “which gives Coltrane the opportunity to play more powerfully . With leaps from falsetto to the lowest register and ragged rhythmic lines, it leads to a drum solo that closes the title. "

The authors Richard Cook and Brian Morton, who gave the album the second highest rating in their Penguin Guide to Jazz , also mention the saxophonist's tooth problems as a further reason for the Ballads project; In addition, Coltrane had difficulties with articulation at this time, which forced him to temporarily limit his musical output. The authors particularly emphasize the exquisite ballad material that Coltrane and his teammates chose, such as the classics "Too Young to Go Steady", "I Fall in Love So Easily" or "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)". The All Music Guide also gave the album the second highest rating.

The titles

  • John Coltrane Quartet - Ballads (Impulse AS 32 / 254607-2)
  1. "Say it (Over and Over Again)" ( Frank Loesser , Jimmy McHugh ) - 4:18 (November 13, 1962)
  2. "You Don't Know What Love Is" ( Gene De Paul , Don Raye ) - 5:15 (November 13, 1962)
  3. "Too Young to Go Steady" ( Harold Adamson , McHugh) - 4:23 (November 13, 1962)
  4. "All or Nothing at All" ( Arthur Altman , Jack Lawrence ) - 3:38 (November 13, 1962)
  5. "I Wish I Knew" ( Mack Gordon , Harry Warren ) - 4:54 (November 13, 1962)
  6. " What's New? "( Johnny Burke , Bob Haggart ) - 3:47 (September 18, 1962)
  7. "It's Easy to Remember" ( Lorenz Hart , Richard Rodgers ) - 2:49 (December 21, 1961)
  8. "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" ( Phil Silvers , Jimmy Van Heusen ) - 3:10 (September 18, 1962)

The expanded new edition of the CD (IMP 051156-2) also contains the title “Vilia”, other versions of “All or Nothing at All”, “It's Easy to Remember” and “Greensleeves”.

literature

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Gene Lees writes: variety, meaning a change of pace.
  2. ↑ The Coltrane album (AS 21) was created in three sessions from April 11, 1962 to June 29, 1962. a. the ballad Soul Eyes by Mal Waldron . The footage from the September 18 recording session was split across multiple records.
  3. ↑ Quoted from Filtgen / Auserbauer, p. 162.
  4. ↑ link