Audio
Charles A. Robertson : January, 1958

Recognition as a new star on the tenor sax was gained by John Coltrane during his period with Miles Davis, and he is adding lustre to that designation as a member of Thelonious Monk‘s quartet. His first LP as a leader finds him in the company of John Splawn, an earthy young trumpeter from Harrisburg, PA, influenced by Clifford Brown, and Sahib Shihab on baritone sax. Mal Waldron and Red Garland alternate at the piano in a rhythm section of bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Al Heath. Coltrane has a tart, muscular sound which he tempers only slightly for the ballads Violets For Your Furs, Time Was and While My Lady Sleeps. On these he is accompanied only by the rhythm section, and a good opportunity is offered to compare his style to that of less pungent modernists. He plays like a man on his way, and his restless drive colors the work of the rest of the group. Cal Massey‘s Bakai is an expedition to the Far East, and Coltrane contributes Straight Street and Chronic Blues. It is the first time he has been able to express himself at length on his own, and a good recording presents him as he now sounds in person.

---

HiFi Stereo Review
Nat Hentoff : February, 1958

John Coltrane, 31, has in the past year detonated more concentrated enthusiasm among eastern modern jazzmen than any tenor since Sonny Rollins. Coltrane served a valuable apprenticeship with Miles Davis for many months and, since the summer of 1957, has learned and grown more with Thelonious Monk.

Coltrane’s first album as leader sets him in four sextet tracks plus two with quartet. He is a player in what is over-loosely termed the “hard” school of modern jazz in that he plays with fierce, propulsive urgency, possessing a tone and attack that is bluntly direct. Harmonically, he is consistently adventurous, and in overall conception, he has become unusually absorbing. Among his supporters in this launching, the most notable are Mal Waldron, pianist on three of the tracks; Paul Chambers; and the musically assertive baritone saxophonist, Sahib Shihab.

—–

Miami News
William G. Moeser : 01/19/1958

In a recent Prestige release, saxophonist John Coltrane wails on his tenor horn with a disturbing urgency. The album, titled simply, Coltrane, features Trane’s blowing, in which it is quite evident, sometimes, there just aren’t enough keys on the instrument for this young man’s imaginative fingers. A tender Violets For Your Furs is one of the best tracks.

—–

Oakland Tribune
Russ Wilson : 12/29/1957

John Coltrane, noted as one of the leading young saxophonists in the hard bop school, gets a chance here to show he also can play lyrically and with sensitivity. His associates include Red Garland and Paul Chambers, former teammates with Trane in the Miles Davis group.

—–

San Francisco Examiner
C.H. Garrigues : 12/29/1957

John Coltrane is probably the most important tenor man playing in the hard bop school today and this album of fine jazz demonstrates the fact quite conclusively.

Coltrane has a technical facility which is not equaled anyway on his instrument; he eschews prettiness in his sound and uses, particularly in the upper register, a heavy vibrato which still permits his voice to soar into transports comparable to those of the Bird himself. He is admirably supported here by Sahib Shihab on baritone and Johnnie Splawn on trumpet; on one side Red Garland provides some exceedingly fine piano, with Mal Waldron doing scarcely less well on the other.

This is a very fine record, one of the best of the year, for experienced jazz fans. It is not recommended for those who want pretty sounds.

—–

Saturday Review
Wilder Hobson : 11/16/1957

Finally, John Coltrane is an exceedingly adventuresome, tough-toned alto saxophone, sitting right up front in the modern barrel house. I suspect he may be a good deal too acrid for many ears which have no trouble with the blander modernists. I have acquired an eager taste for him, and he has some rousing company in his newest program.

—–

Washington Post
Paul Sampson : 01/05/1958

A year ago, when Sonny Rollins was just coming into his own as the best of the new tenor saxophonists I caviled about his harsh tone and jagged style. I overlooked the rhythmic adventurousness and imagination that has made him one of my favorite tenor saxophonists.

Profiting by past mistakes, I won’t quibble about the shortcomings of John Coltrane, another tenor man who at first hearings has a hash and “difficult” style. I advise you to liisten to the excellent Prestige LP, Coltrane, and hear a saxophonist who could become a new Rollins.

Coltrane plays with direct strength and harmonic and rhythmic imagination. He doesn’t year have the magnificent assurance of Rollins, and his style is less robust, perhaps, more subtle than Rollins.

He’s accompanied by two different groups here, which are immensely bolstered by Paul Chambers‘ superb bass. Mal Waldron‘s deft, mellow piano is also a major asset. Most of the selections are in a rhythmic medium or medium-fast tempo, well-suited to Coltrane’s style. Highly recommended.

—–

Down Beat : 01/23/1958
Don Gold : 3 stars

Coltrane, who has worked with Dizzy, Miles, and Monk, makes his debut as a leader on this LP, if anyone can be identified as “leader” on such a date. At any rate, he has most of the blowing room.

His tone is hard; this conception is bluntly surging. There is little subtlety in his playing, but there is strength and confidence. He is a hard-punching tenor man. This approach tends to diminish the effectiveness of his ballad interpretations, which seem to differ from the up-tempo races only in terms of a difference in tempo.

Waldron and Garland make effective contributions, the former introspectively, the latter in the simplicity and clarity of his playing. Garland’s use of chords throughout his solo on Furs fascinated me, in terms of the directness of it.

Shihab and Splawn, a 26-year-old trumpeter from Harrisburg, PA., solo only on two of the six tracks and acquit themselves satisfactorily. Shihab performed with more authority as a part of the Oscar Pettiford quintet I heard recently than he does here, but does indicate a mature approach to his instrument. Splawn has heard Dizzy and Miles.

The steel-fingered Chambers and Heath, Percy’s younger brother, lay down a solid rhythmic base.

The charts are excuses for blowing, except for Cal Massey‘s moody Bakai, which, in its minor explorations, makes sense. The blowing, then, determines the value of the set. Although Coltrane plays with a good deal of authority, I do not feel that his work on this specific LP is excitingly impressive, but listeners who dig blowing sessions and tenor men of the hard-charging school may find value in this set.

—–

Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

In writing of John Coltrane on the back of Mating Call ([Prestige LP 7070), I took stock of his previous playing experience with Eddie Vinson, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Bostic, Johnny Hodges and Miles Davis. I wrote, “From his employment recorded you can see that he did not appear on the scene full blown. It is rather a matter of dues that he has been paying for a while.”

This is the age of the big build-up. Movie stars, television personalities, presidential candidates, soaps for use in washing machines; they are all sold to the public in the same manner. With the advent of hi-fi, the boom in long playing records and the discovery of “jazz” by Madison Avenue, musicians are getting similar treatment. Every other month we are greeted with albums by new stars. Some of them parlay a style and their publicity to a point of temporary popularity but then fail to stand even a short test of time.

John Coltrane is, in a sense, a new star but he has not arrived through high pressure press agentry. He has been building on more solid ground. From the time of his joining the Miles Davis quintet in late 1955 through to his brilliant work with Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot Café in the summer of 1957, Trane has steadily increased his accomplishments on his instrument and gained new admirers for his playing among fellow musicians and the serious listening public. The very nature of his development and progress marks him not as a fly by night “star” who comes bursting across the sky and then fizzles out but as a definite addition to the select group of musicians who play influential roles through their ability to say something valid in a new way.

You have heard Coltrane on Prestige with Miles Davis (LPs 7014, 7094), with Hank Mobley (LP 7043), with Sonny Rollins (LP 7047), the aforementioned Mating Call with Tadd Dameron and Tenor Conclave (LP 7074). This, however, is his first date as a leader and in that role, Trane has chosen the musicians, contributed several compositions and also has written some arrangements.

John Splawn, a young trumpeter from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (born there on January 31, 1931), plays in the ensemble on three numbers and solos on two of these. His father, John Splawn Sr., is a trumpet player too. The elder Splawn, who is still gigging around Harrisburg, started Johnnie playing at about the age of five. Johnnie, who says he likes “everybody” on trumpet but “specially Brownie (Clifford Brown)”, has been with Sonny Stitt, Lou Donaldson and most recently Bull Moose Jackson.

Sahib Shihab, the saxophonist who is best known for his alto work with Thelonious Monk in the Forties and Fifties and his baritone playing with Dizzy Gillespie in the Fifties, here appears on the larger horn in three selections. He is heard in solo on two of these. His is a deep, hard-tones voice which fits the needs of Coltrane’s and Cal Massey’s arrangements admirably.

Mal Waldron, at present Billie Holiday‘s accompanist, and Red Garland, a Miles Davis quintet regular, split the piano assignment.

The remainder of the rhythm section remains constant throughout the entire session. On bass is impeccable Paul Chambers from the Miles Davis group and on drums, Al Heath, younger brother of Percy, from Philadelphia where he has played with the best of the local musicians.

Bakai (which I’m told means “cry” in Arabic), by Cal Massey, opens side one. Its handsome minor theme is expounded by Red Garland, Coltrane (who really cries) and Shihab.

The rest of side one is handled by the quartet featuring Trane and Red. Two ballad standards, Violet For Your Furs and Time Was are the subjects; the former receives a sensitive ballad treatment while the latter is done in bright medium time.

Side two opens on Straight Street, a Coltrane composition and arrangement which features solos by the leader, Johnnie Splawn and Mal Waldron.

An interestingly different Coltrane interpretation of the seldom done While My Lady Sleeps is Trane’s alone until Splawn joins him for a final eerie note.

Trane’s Chronic Blues is the closer and gives all the horns and Waldron solo room.