John Di Martino Romantic Jazz Trio – Lovegame (2012) [Japan 2019] [SACD / Venus Records – VHGD-330]

John Di Martino Romantic Jazz Trio - Lovegame (2012) [Japan 2019]

Title: John Di Martino Romantic Jazz Trio – Lovegame (2012) [Japan 2019]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

John di Martino is a jazz pianist, arranger and producer, based in New York City. He has been described as a “shape-shifter”, for his creativity across musical genres. For this tribute to Lady Gaga, John and his Romantic Jazz Trio perform some of Gaga’s biggest hits, including “Americano”, “Paparazzi”, “Born This Way”, “Poker Face”, “Telephone” and “Alejandro”.

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1 min read

John Di Martino Romantic Jazz Trio – Forbidden Love (2012) [Japan 2018] [SACD / Venus Records – VHCD-1083]

John Di Martino Romantic Jazz Trio - Forbidden Love (2012) [Japan 2018]

Title: John Di Martino Romantic Jazz Trio – Forbidden Love (2012) [Japan 2018]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

John di Martino is a jazz pianist, arranger and producer, based in New York City. He has been described as a “shape-shifter” for his creativity across musical genres. For this tribute to the one and only Madonna, John and his Romantic Jazz Trio perform some of The Queen of Pop’s best-loved songs, including “La Isla Bonita”, “Frozen”, “Take A Bow”, “Like A Virgin”, “Borderline” and a di Martino original titled “Madonna’s Prayer”.

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1 min read

John Denver – The John Denver Collection (2003) [SACD / Delta Entertainment – 52 010]

John Denver - The John Denver Collection (2003)

Title: John Denver – The John Denver Collection (2003)
Genre: Country
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

One of the most popular recording artists of the 1970s, country-folk singer/songwriter John Denver’s gentle, environmentally conscious music established him among the most beloved entertainers of his era; wholesome and clean-cut, his appeal extended to fans of all ages and backgrounds, and led to parallel careers as both an actor and a humanitarian. He was one of the biggest superstars of the ’70s.

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1 min read

John Denver – The Best Of John Denver: Live (1997) [Reissue 2000] [SACD / Legacy – JS 65183]

John Denver - The Best Of John Denver: Live (1997) [Reissue 2000]

Title: John Denver – The Best Of John Denver: Live (1997) [Reissue 2000]
Genre: Country
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

The Best of John Denver Live captures the singer at his charity Wildlife Concert in 1995. Denver runs through many of his best-known songs (“Take Me Home, Country Roads,” “Rocky Mountain High,” “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” “Annie’s Song”) as well as two songs (“I’m Sorry,” “I Think I’d Rather Be a Cowboy”) that he previously had not recorded…

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1 min read

John Coltrane with The Red Garland Trio – Tranein’ In (1958) [APO Remaster 2013, MONO] [SACD / Analogue Productions – CPRJ 7123 SA]

John Coltrane with The Red Garland Trio - Tranein’ In (1958) [APO Remaster 2013, MONO]

Title: John Coltrane with The Red Garland Trio – Tranein’ In (1958) [APO Remaster 2013, MONO]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

For his second long player, John Coltrane (tenor saxophone) joined forces with his Prestige labelmate Red Garland (piano) to command a quartet through a five song outing supported by a rhythm section of Paul Chambers (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). The absence of any unessential instrumentalists encourages a decidedly concerted focus from Coltrane, who plays with equal measures of confidence and freedom. The Coltrane original “Traneing In” is a rousing blues that exemplifies the musical singularity between Coltrane and Garland. Even though the pianist takes charge from the start, the structure of the arrangement permits the tenor to construct his solo seamlessly out of Garland’s while incrementally increasing in intensity, yet never losing the song’s underlying swinging bop. Chambers then gets in on the action with an effervescent run that quotes the seasonal favorite “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” The poignant “Slow Dance” is a dark ballad with a simple, refined tune that is established by Coltrane. He turns things over to Chambers, and then Garland — whose respective style and grace are virtually indescribable — before bringing it home with one final verse. “Bass Blues” is the second Coltrane-penned selection on the album. Right from the tricky opening riff, the slightly asymmetrical melody showcases Chambers’ ability to mirror even the most intricate or seemingly improvised lines from Coltrane. The mid-tempo pace is a springboard for the tenor’s spontaneous inventions as he interfaces with a rollicking and ready Garland alongside Chambers’ unfettered bowing. “You Leave Me Breathless” provides everything that a love song should with long, languid runs by Coltrane, Garland, and what is arguably Paul Chambers at his absolute finest. Few passages can match the grace and stately refinement of the bassist as he pilots the proceedings behind Taylor’s steady metronome and Garland’s luminous, effective comps. John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio (1957) draws to a close on the bebop lover’s dream, a fast and furious interpretation of the Irving Berlin classic “Soft Lights and Sweet Music.” Clearly Coltrane excels within this context, laying down his note clusters more rapidly than the listener can actually absorb them. These are clear demarcations pointing toward the remarkable sonic advancements Coltrane was espousing. And although it would be a few years before he’d make the leap into full-blown free jazz, the roots can clearly be traced back here.

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3 min read

John Coltrane – Standard Coltrane (1990) [Analogue Productions 2002] [SACD / Analogue Productions – CAPJ 7243 SA]

John Coltrane - Standard Coltrane (1990) [Analogue Productions 2002]

Title: John Coltrane – Standard Coltrane (1990) [Analogue Productions 2002]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

John Coltrane had yet to move into his modal post-bop phase in 1958 when he recorded a session for Prestige Records on July 11 with trumpeter/flügelhornist Wilbur Harden, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, the results of which were issued in 1962 as Standard Coltrane. His groundbreaking modal work with Miles Davis on Kind of Blue was still a few months into the future, which makes this set more historical than vital or transitional, although it’s pleasant enough, featuring Coltrane on several standards, including a ten-plus-minute version of “Invitation.” Other Coltrane material from this 1958 Prestige era ended up on the albums Stardust (1963) and Bahia (1965), and all of it, including these four tracks, has been collected on The Stardust Session from Prestige Records, which is probably the way to go.

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1 min read

John Coltrane – Standard Coltrane (1962) [Analogue Productions 2019] [SACD / Analogue Productions – CPRJ 7243 SA]

John Coltrane - Standard Coltrane (1962) [Analogue Productions 2019]

Title: John Coltrane – Standard Coltrane (1962) [Analogue Productions 2019]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Standard Coltrane consists of tracks recorded in 1958 but only released in 1962 to capitalize on Coltrane’s growing popularity throughout the 60s. The material on the album consists of well known music from Broadway or films, mostly ballads, recorded with the bulk of the Miles Davis band of the day: Wilbur Harden on trumpet and flugelhorn, Red Garland on piano, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. This is a prime example of Coltrane in the middle of his signature “sheets of sound” period.

John Coltrane had yet to move into his modal post-bop phase in 1958 when he recorded a session for Prestige Records on July 11 with trumpeter/flügelhornist Wilbur Harden, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, the results of which were issued in 1962 as Standard Coltrane. His groundbreaking modal work with Miles Davis on Kind of Blue was still a few months into the future, which makes this set more historical than vital or transitional, although it’s pleasant enough, featuring Coltrane on several standards, including a ten-plus-minute version of “Invitation.” Other Coltrane material from this 1958 Prestige era ended up on the albums Stardust (1963) and Bahia (1965), and all of it, including these four tracks, has been collected on The Stardust Session from Prestige Records, which is probably the way to go. 

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2 min read

John Coltrane – Soultrane (1958) [MFSL 2003] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2020]

John Coltrane - Soultrane (1958) [MFSL 2003]

Title: John Coltrane – Soultrane (1958) [MFSL 2003]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

In addition to being bandmates within Miles Davis’ mid-’50s quintet, John Coltrane (tenor sax) and Red Garland (piano) head up a session featuring members from a concurrent version of the Red Garland Trio: Paul Chambers (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). This was the second date to feature the core of this band. A month earlier, several sides were cut that would end up on Coltrane’s Lush Life album. Soultrane offers a sampling of performance styles and settings from Coltrane and crew. As with a majority of his Prestige sessions, there is a breakneck-tempo bop cover (in this case an absolute reworking of Irving Berlin’s “Russian Lullaby”), a few smoldering ballads (such as “I Want to Talk About You” and “Theme for Ernie”), as well as a mid-tempo romp (“Good Bait”). Each of these sonic textures displays a different facet of not only the musical kinship between Coltrane and Garland but in the relationship that Coltrane has with the music. The bop-heavy solos that inform “Good Bait,” as well as the “sheets of sound” technique that was named for the fury in Coltrane’s solos on the rendition of “Russian Lullaby” found here, contain the same intensity as the more languid and considerate phrasings displayed particularly well on “I Want to Talk About You.” As time will reveal, this sort of manic contrast would become a significant attribute of Coltrane’s unpredictable performance style. Not indicative of the quality of this set is the observation that, because of the astounding Coltrane solo works that both precede and follow Soultrane — most notably Lush Life and Blue Train — the album has perhaps not been given the exclusive attention it so deserves.

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2 min read

John Coltrane – Soultrane (1958) [Analogue Productions 2014] [SACD / Analogue Productions – CPRJ 7142 SA]

John Coltrane - Soultrane (1958) [Analogue Productions 2014]

Title: John Coltrane – Soultrane (1958) [Analogue Productions 2014]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Soultrane is one of the essential albums in John Coltrane’s career. Recorded during the first year of his Prestige contract, between his critical service in Thelonious Monk’s quartet and his return to the band of Miles Davis, it finds the tenor saxophonist displaying a new level of both technical and conceptual refinement, dispensing torrents of notes that annotator Ira Gitler famously dubbed “sheets of sound”.

In addition to being bandmates within Miles Davis’ mid-’50s quintet, John Coltrane (tenor sax) and Red Garland (piano) head up a session featuring members from a concurrent version of the Red Garland Trio: Paul Chambers (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). This was the second date to feature the core of this band. A month earlier, several sides were cut that would end up on Coltrane’s Lush Life album. Soultrane offers a sampling of performance styles and settings from Coltrane and crew. As with a majority of his Prestige sessions, there is a breakneck-tempo bop cover (in this case an absolute reworking of Irving Berlin’s “Russian Lullaby”), a few smoldering ballads (such as “I Want to Talk About You” and “Theme for Ernie”), as well as a mid-tempo romp (“Good Bait”). Each of these sonic textures displays a different facet of not only the musical kinship between Coltrane and Garland but in the relationship that Coltrane has with the music. The bop-heavy solos that inform “Good Bait,” as well as the “sheets of sound” technique that was named for the fury in Coltrane’s solos on the rendition of “Russian Lullaby” found here, contain the same intensity as the more languid and considerate phrasings displayed particularly well on “I Want to Talk About You.” As time will reveal, this sort of manic contrast would become a significant attribute of Coltrane’s unpredictable performance style. Not indicative of the quality of this set is the observation that, because of the astounding Coltrane solo works that both precede and follow Soultrane – most notably Lush Life and Blue Train – the album has perhaps not been given the exclusive attention it so deserves.

(more…)

2 min read

John Coltrane Quartet – Ballads (1962) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2010] [SACD / Impulse! – UCGU-9009]

John Coltrane Quartet - Ballads (1962) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2010]

Title: John Coltrane Quartet – Ballads (1962) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2010]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Throughout John Coltrane’s discography there are a handful of decisive and controversial albums that split his listening camp into factions. Generally, these occur in his later-period works such as Om and Ascension, which push into some pretty heady blowing. As a contrast, Ballads is often criticized as too easy and as too much of a compromise between Coltrane and Impulse! (the two had just entered into the first year of label representation). Seen as an answer to critics who found his work complicated with too many notes and too thin a concept, Ballads has even been accused of being a record that Coltrane didn’t want to make. These conspiracy theories (and there are more) really just get in the way of enjoying a perfectly fine album of Coltrane doing what he always did — exploring new avenues and modes in an inexhaustible search for personal and artistic enlightenment. With Ballads he looks into the warmer side of things, a path he would take with both Johnny Hartman (on John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman) and with Duke Ellington (on Duke Ellington and John Coltrane). Here he lays out for McCoy Tyner mostly, and the results positively shimmer at times. He’s not aggressive, and he’s not outwardly. Instead he’s introspective and at times even predictable, but that is precisely Ballads’ draw.

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2 min read