John Coltrane - Giant Steps (180g) (LP)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 232/500
Coltrane's groundbreaking Atlantic Records debut. This 1959 release was possibly the most consistently outstanding tenor solo statement since Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Here his phenomenal vision and technique shone with spellbinding power, framed exquisitely by the sheer authority of a superb rhythm section.
"With characteristic humility, Coltrane said the title of this album referred to the loping instrumental gait of his bassist, Paul Chambers. In fact, the LP was one of two giant steps Coltrane himself made in 1959: his playing on Miles Davis' epochal Kind of Blue and the recording of this, Coltrane's Atlantic debut. On seven originals, he played with a heated melodic enthusiasm - flying clusters of notes - that declared new possibilities for jazz improvisation and predicted the ferocious, harmonically open lyricism of his mid-Sixties records on Impulse. 'Mr. P.C.,' another nod to Chambers, is now a stalwart of the contemporary jazz repertoire." - www.rollingstone.com
Musicians:
John Coltrane, tenor sax
Tommy Flanagan, piano
Paul Chamber, bass
Art Taylor, drums
On Naima:
Wynton Kelly replaces Tommy Flanagan on piano
Jimmy Cobb replaces Art Taylor on drums
Track Listing:
1. Giant Steps
2. Cousin Mary
3. Countdown
4. Spiral
5. Syeeda's Song Flute
6. Naima
7. Mr. P.C.