San Francisco Examiner
C.H. Garrigues : 01/04/1959
Jazz’s Significant Seven

If one were to name the ten jazzmen most important in contemporary jazz, the list would undoubtedly include, high up toward the top, the names of Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Hank Jones, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.

Singly, these represent several of the directions which jazz took under the influence (or, rather, the various influences) of Charlie Parker. Davis represented the “preciseness,” the “spatial” feeling which was always in Parker – even when he played at an unbelievable tempo. But Davis, after Parker’s death, tended to turn “sweet.” Though his trumpet retained its preciseness, it tended to sing even more prettily as years went by.

Adderley, on the other hand, headed a numerous group of alto men who sought to match Bird’s fantastic speed, his complex, interesting progressions – and in doing so, missed the essence of the Parker “feeling.” And, in some degree, the same could said of Coltrane.

In recent years, however, there has been an increasing tendency to coalescence: the “hard bop” of Adderley and Coltrane with the lyric and precise qualities of Davis, the sweetness of Davis with the open, warm, swinging quality of Coltrane at his best. How far this has progressed (and how successful it is) is exemplified in a series of recent records by some, or most, of these men.

The first of these in importance (I would list as one of the ten best records of the year) is Something Else (Blue Note 1595) with Adderley, Davis, Hank Jones, Sam Jones and Art Blakey. The teamplay here between Davis and Adderley – in terms of accent, dynamics and timbre – is marvelous to hear, whether you are listening to he relaxed, swinging Autumn Leaves and Love for Sale or the complex and interesting Somethin’ Else. Hank Jones proves again that he is among the first four or five pianists and Art Blakey is amazingly subtle and understanding (for him!) on drums.

Milestones (Columbia CL 1193) has Davis, Coltrane, Adderley, Garland, Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. It is less even than the Blue Note album, Dr. Jekyll, for example, illustrating how even great jazzmen can fail to do anything except blow fast when they are simply trying to blow fast. But Sid’s Ahead and Two Bass Hit show beautiful work between the three horns and make it an excellent record by any standards.

Relaxing (Prestige 7129) is with the same group with Adderley out, and is a demonstration of how beautiful Coltrane and Davis can blow together. Listen, for example, to how Miles’ muted horn builds tension in You’re My Everything until Coltrane’s warm, singing tenor steps in and resolves it as his own chorus opens.

Soultrane (Prestige 7142) is the least successful of the four; here Coltrane tries to make it alone with the rhythm section (Arthur Taylor replacing Philly Joe Jones) and establishes, I think, something I have long suspected: that there is not enough “front line” in such a setup to hold interest – even with the greatest of hornmen playing. Possibly a more melodic drummer might have helped (as Smiley Winters‘ melodic drumming has so greatly helped Judy Tristano’s quartet at the Cabana) but really melodic drummers are hard to find. Nevertheless, it does give an interesting display of Coltrane’s “sheets of sound” and reveal how scintillating a great tenor can be without loss of warmth or tone.

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Washington Post
Paul Sampson : 11/02/1958

Coltrane and Adderley are featured in two other recent LPs: Soultrane (Prestige 7142) and Portrait of Cannonball (Riverside 12-269). On his LP, Coltrane plays with a deeper, less edgy, tone than he used with Davis and his solos are much more coherent. He swings with authority on medium tempos like Good Bait and You say You Care and plays slow tunes like I Want to Talk About You and Theme for Ernie with exemplary forward motion and expression, while retaining his individuality.

Coltrane is superbly accompanied by Chambers, Garland and Arthur Taylor, the first two taking excellent solos, notably Garland’s on Good Bait. This is Coltrane’s best LP to date, and I highly recommend it.

Adderley is much less consistent and the moments on his Riverside LP in which he directs his unbounded energy and produces statements with a point only add to my exasperation that he doesn’t do it more often. An asset is the fluid, imaginative piano of Bill Evans.

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Westbury Times
Dick Levy : 12/11/1958

Assisted by Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Arthur Taylor, “Trane” rolls through five selections here with the utmost of artistic perfection. Good Bait, the opener, is in an easy, slower than usual mood. Catch his superb cascade of meaningful notes just after the intro and the exchange with Taylor before the conclusion. Talk About You is a pretty ballad with Trane exhibiting a dynamic sense of lyricism. Red and Paul are equally impressive. Care is a medium swinger with Trane and Garland stimulating. In Theme For Ernie, Trane is outstandingly melodical. Russian Lullaby offers some wailing breakneck Garland statements. Unhesitatingly recommended.

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Down Beat : 12/11/1958
Dom Cerulli : 5 stars

In this very, very good LP, John Coltrane gives a picture of himself which is true in several dimensions. The set, first of all, is one I consider representative of what Coltrane is doing today with the Miles Davis group. That I consider him one of the few most exciting tenor-playing individuals in jazz today has no bearing on the rating, but I do use the “individuals” in its fullest connotation.

Coltrane has been, and is here, playing in a highly personal manner. What he is doing has been described variously as sheets of sound or ribbons of sound or, by some less interested ears, as a haphazard running of as many notes as possible. I find a logic in his playing. And although he does sometimes fail to get his flow underway, the times that it does happen are among the most tingling in modern jazz. What I do admire in him is that he is always going for something beyond him, and that he never falls back on an easy or accepted way of doing what he wants to do.

On this set, Coltrane also has some passages of extremely lyrical playing, particularly on the ballads Talk and Care. He blows straight-forward and with warmth.

Backing is first-rate, and Garland‘s solo spots are fine. By all means hear this one.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

When reading The New Yorker, usually, I am most amused by an S. J. Perelman gem, the cartoons of something in The Talk Of The Town. In the May 17, 1958 issue, however, it was the jazz department that gave me my biggest guffaw when Whitney Balliett, in the course of reviewing a Miles Davis album, wrote, “Coltrane, a student of Sonny Rollins…” Of course, we know he didn’t mean that Trane was going to Sonny’s house, armed with a Klose book, for weekly lessons but the implication was clear, in this perfunctory dismissal, that Coltrane was indebted to Rollins for his style.

It is true that when Coltrane joined Miles Davis’ quintet in late 1955, Sonny (the Rollins of that time and slightly before) was exerting a peripheral influence over him. Even this proved to be transient. The influences of Dexter Gordon (vintage 1946), Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz (certain facets of sound) and a general essence of Charlie Parker were more evident, even then. Since that time, Trane has developed along personal lines to become quite an influence himself. He and Sonny are parallel figures now, each contributing new ideas to jazz in his own way.

Soultrane is a ballad, written by Tadd Dameron, which appears on Mating Call (Prestige 7070 – an album which features Coltrane and Dameron). This album, called Soultrane, does not include that tune but Prestige thought the name an apt one for an entire collection of Coltrane because it plays on his name in a truly descriptive way.

Trane is very serious about his playing; playing jazz is what he is most concerned with. There is a constant effort, on his part, to keep improving. He is self-critical and helpfully, because of clear insight, self-analytical. Practice is not foreign to him.

As in his last album, 7123, Trane has the support of Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Arthur Taylor. These four have done much playing together. In this case, familiarity breeds rapport.

Another admirable facet is duplicated from the last album. That is the playing of seldom-done tunes. 7123 had Soft Lights And Sweet Music, You Leave Me Breathless and Alonzo Levister‘s Slow Dance. In Soultrane, none of the selections have been overdone and three are entirely new to jazz interpretation.

The opening selection is an exploration, at length, of Good Bait, a Tadd Dameron-Count Basie collaboration, first recorded by Dizzy Gillespie in the Forties. The way Trane plays the little turns in the melody gives it a slight minuet flavor. The excitement he builds in his choruses is done by degrees. The solos by Garland and Chambers (pizzicato) are in the same firm, solid groove that the rhythm section sets down for the entire performance. Before the theme is re-stated, Trane and Arthur Taylor have a most intelligent, four bar-styled conversation.

I Want To Talk About You is a ballad, written and originally recorded by Billy Eckstine when B was leading his band in the mid-Forties. To my knowledge, this extremely pretty song had not been done since until now. This is how to play a ballad with jazz feeling. Trane is emotional but never baroque. Garland’s languid, blue piano and other excellent picked solo by Chambers enhance the romantic mood.

Side two opens with a Joe Stein–Leo Robin tune, You Say You Care, which I have never heard before in a jazz context. Trane makes the most of the interesting chord changes in a swinging, medium-up setting. Garland’s fluid single-line and Chambers’ flying fingers are also featured before the final theme statement.

Theme For Ernie is a dedicatory piece by Philadelphian Freddie Lacey to Ernie Henry, the ex-Gillespie alto saxophonist who died suddenly in December of 1957 at the age of thirty-one. Trane plays the lament without much deviation from the melody but imbues it with an air of reminiscence and melancholy. Red and Trane divide the last chorus.

Red begins Russian Lullaby with an out-of-tempo introduction before Trane comes ripping in. Taking this and Soft Lights And Sweet Music as evidence, it would seem that the boys like to play their Irving Berlin at high velocity. I’m sure this Lullaby would keep Nikita awake and swinging all night. Trane’s “sheets of sound”, which he has since put to wider use, are demonstrated in the beginning of the tag.