Coltrane Plays the Blues

Coltrane Plays the Blues is an album of music by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in July 1962 on Atlantic Records.^[1]^[2] 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.

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.

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/5
Views:
11 648
27 639
1 145
2 389
2 444 365

Transcription

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[3]
DownBeat	^[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[7]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	^[5]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	^[6]

Coltrane biographer Ben Ratliff wrote: "Coltrane Plays the Blues... turned out to be one of the great records in jazz. It was nevertheless overshadowed by other material he recorded during the same sessions..."^[8]

Coltrane biographer Eric Nisenson remarked: "It is not known if Coltrane intended to make what is now known as a 'concept' album, but listening to these six tracks is like a journey through the blues, from the most primitive to the 'world beat' blues... there is nothing atavistic in Coltrane's playing; as deeply funky as it is, it is still searching new music, as personally Coltranesque as anything he ever recorded, simultaneously old, thoroughly modern, and perfectly beautiful... On Coltrane Plays the Blues the saxophonist had clearly made the heady discovery that the blues had some vital connection with music from exotic places all over the world, all of which had been created through a similar need of the heart."^[9]

In a review for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger commented: "Coltrane's sessions for Atlantic in late October 1960 were prolific... My Favorite Things was destined to be the most remembered and influential of these, and while Coltrane Plays the Blues is not as renowned or daring in material, it is still a powerful session. As for the phrase 'plays the blues' in the title, that's not an indicator that the tunes are conventional blues (they aren't). It's more indicative of a bluesy sensibility, whether he is playing muscular saxophone or... the more unusual sounding (at the time) soprano sax."^[3]

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz wrote that the album is "often overlooked", and stated: "Much of the interest lies in Tyner's withdrawal from some of the numbers, a first experiment with a pianoless trio since Prestige days. Here once again simplicity of statement and sophistication of harmonic structure lie in fertile balance."^[5]

Writing about the Rhino reissue for All About Jazz, Mike Perciaccante stated: "This is one of the least well known Coltrane albums, partly because it is an all blues format and partly because it was released at the end of his association with Atlantic records... It is the beginning of his work with Tyner and Jones in quartet form. For that alone this recording would be important... Long-time Coltrane fans will fall in love with the clean, crisp sound. New fans will be afforded a great opportunity to be introduced to the master's work on this timeless album."^[10]

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.^[11]

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

^ ^a ^b DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Schmaler, Wolf; Wild, David (2013). Porter, Lewis (ed.). The John Coltrane Reference. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. p. 595. ISBN 9780415634632. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
^ ^a ^b Editorial Staff, Cash Box (July 21, 1962). "July Album Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b Coltrane Plays the Blues at AllMusic
^ Down Beat: October 11, 1962 vol. 29, no. 26
^ ^a ^b 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). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
^ Ratliff, Ben (2007). Coltrane: The Story of a Sound. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 55.
^ Nisenson, Eric (1993). Ascension: John Coltrane and his Quest. Da Capo. pp. 94–96.
^ Perciaccante, Mike (June 7, 2002). "John Coltrane: Coltrane Plays The Blues". All About Jazz. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
^ Jazz discography

v t e John Coltrane
Discography
Prestige albums	Mating Call (with Tadd Dameron) Tenor Conclave Coltrane Interplay Wheelin' & Dealin' John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio Soultrane Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette The Cats (with Tommy Flanagan and Kenny Burrell) Lush Life Settin' the Pace Standard Coltrane Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane Stardust Dakar The Believer Black Pearls Bahia The Last Trane Two Tenors
Blue Note albums	Blue Train Coltrane Time
Atlantic albums	Giant Steps Bags & Trane (with Milt Jackson) Coltrane Jazz My Favorite Things Olé Coltrane Coltrane Plays the Blues Coltrane's Sound The Avant-Garde
Impulse! albums	Africa/Brass Coltrane Duke Ellington & John Coltrane Ballads Impressions John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman Crescent A Love Supreme The John Coltrane Quartet Plays Ascension Meditations Kulu Sé Mama Expression Om Cosmic Music (with Alice Coltrane) Selflessness: Featuring My Favorite Things Transition Sun Ship Infinity Interstellar Space The Africa/Brass Sessions, Volume 2 First Meditations Dear Old Stockholm Stellar Regions Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album Blue World
With Miles Davis	Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet 'Round About Midnight Cookin' Relaxin' Milestones Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants Kind of Blue Jazz Track Workin' Steamin' Someday My Prince Will Come Miles & Monk at Newport Basic Miles At Newport 1958 Jazz at the Plaza Vol. I 1958 Miles Miles Davis Quintet at Peacock Alley
With Thelonious Monk	The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings Thelonious Himself Monk's Music Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane
Live albums	"Live" at the Village Vanguard Live at Birdland New Thing at Newport Live at the Village Vanguard Again! Live in Seattle Live in Japan Afro Blue Impressions The Paris Concert The European Tour Live Trane: The European Tours Bye Bye Blackbird Newport '63 The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording Live at the Half Note: One Down, One Up Offering: Live at Temple University A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy
Compilations	Alternate Takes The Best of John Coltrane The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse! Recordings Coltrane for Lovers The Coltrane Legacy The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane The Prestige Recordings Countdown: The Savoy Sessions Dial Africa: The Savoy Sessions Feelin' Good Gold Coast The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings High Step The Major Works of John Coltrane Jupiter Variation Ken Burns Jazz: John Coltrane The Last Giant: Anthology Living Space To the Beat of a Different Drum Trane's Blues Trane's Modes
Compositions	"26-2" "Alabama" "Central Park West" "Countdown" "Equinox" "Giant Steps" "Impressions" "Lazy Bird" "Moment's Notice" "Mr. P.C." "Naima" "Ogunde"
Documentaries	The Church of Saint Coltrane The World According to John Coltrane Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary
Related	List of sessions Coltrane changes Sheets of sound Alice Coltrane (wife) Ravi Coltrane (son) Philadelphia house Dix Hills home 5893 Coltrane asteroid John W. Coltrane Cultural Society Tribute albums Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane