Crescent (album)
| Crescent | ||||
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| Studio album by John Coltrane | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Impulses! | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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running time |
40:10 |
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Studio (s) |
Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs , New Jersey |
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Crescent is a jazz album by John Coltrane , recorded by Rudy Van Gelder in Englewood Cliffs , New Jersey from April 27 to June 1, 1964 and published on Impulse! Records .
The album
Crescent was Coltrane's first studio album after working with singer Johnny Hartman in March 1963 ( John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman ). It was made half a year before his legendary album A Love Supreme . With his quartet from McCoy Tyner , Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones he only played his own compositions; Coltrane only uses the tenor saxophone here. It is considered his most melancholy and darkest album, after Cook & Morton, the dark hour before the spiritual dawn of Love Supreme . Only the short title "Bessie's Blues" stands out from this basic mood, as does the medium-tempo "Wise One", into which McCoy Tyner integrates the samba rhythms of South America with dance accents . “Wise One” and “Lonnie's Lament” are rooted in field calls , spirituals and spontaneous blues .
The title track “Crescent” is presented by Coltrane “with a huge hymnic opening chorus and improvised at a medium-fast tempo impressively and with clarified maturity”, according to Coltrane biographers Gerd Filtgen and Michael Auserbauer. You recognize the motivic anticipation of the following A Love Supreme : “Fullness of expression and unity have reached an optimum; a further increase seems unthinkable. "
After the "floating blue mood" of "Bessie's Blues" Coltrane uses a rhythm and blues - reef as a "vehicle for a vibrant, forward urgent improvisation. It hits the nerve of the big city with all its hectic pace and omnipresent sounds. "
In contrast, in the following “Lonnie's Lament”, the saxophonist is only the theme supplier; The title is a feature for a wide-ranging solo by the pianist, followed by bassist Jimmy Garrison: “Without losing any of his individual expression, Jimmy handles his instrument with excellent perfection. Imaginative melody lines alternate with slight rhythmic shifts. ”The title was also played live by the John Coltrane Quartet at the time, and appeared on the Pablo album Afro-Blue Impressions .
The last track “The Drum Thing” is a feature for the drummer Elvin Jones, which gives him space for improvisation, with sparing melodic accompaniment Coltrane. Jones can hear African-looking sounds on the Tomtom here . Filtgen and Auserbauer wrote: “With unbelievable precision, ever new, changing rhythmic and melodic ideas are interwoven. The use of different volume intensities is just as fascinating. "
In addition to the liner notes by Nat Hentoff, the album contains a short commentary by LeRoi Jones / Amiri Baraka, who describes John Coltrane as daringly human (" daringly human").
During the April session, a first version of the song “Song of Praise” ( head arrangement ) was also created; the final track appeared on the 1965 album The John Coltrane Quartet Plays .
The titles
- John Coltrane Quartet - Crescent (Impulse AS-66)
- "Crescent" - 8:41
- "Wise One" - 9:00 am
- "Bessie's Blues" - 3:22
- "Lonnie's Lament" - 11:45 am
- "The Drum Thing" - 7:22
Rating of the album
Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave the album the second highest rating in their Penguin Guide to Jazz ; they particularly highlighted the melancholy “Wise One” and the haunting blues ballad “Lonnie's Lament”. According to the authors, the latter piece contained one of the best solos by bassist Garrison. "The Drum Thing" highlights Elvin Jones, who otherwise plays a less prominent role on the Crescent album than on previous albums by the quartet.
The All Music Guide gave the same rating ; he highlighted it as an epic album that reveals the meditative side of Coltrane, as a perfect prelude to his immortal work A Love Supreme . Tyner, Garrison and Elvin Jones support him on his softer sides, even if "Crescent" is not kept entirely in the ballad style. For the author, highlights of the album are the devout, at the same time free ballad "Crescent", with a patient and withdrawn playing Coltrane, while the extremely beautiful "Wise One" combines the dreamy moods of Tyner with the restless tenor Coltranes in a light Latin rhythm . Nastos calls them “ultimate spiritual songs, and two of the really greatest of Coltrane's career.” While “Bessie's Blues” is a classic hardbop theme with short repeated refrains, “Lonnie's Lament” is a dark, sad jazz ballad that is full of a world Injustice and unfairness reflect in the form of a final eulogy .
literature
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Gerd Filtgen / Michael Auserbauer: John Coltrane . Oreos, Schaftlach, 1989