Billboard : 02/24/1958
Three stars

Another fine driving session from tenorist Coltrane. The Garland Trio has Paul Chambers on bass, Art Taylor on drums and Garland, piano. Each is given ample room for expression with Coltrane and Chambers shining on Bass Blues. Hard bop fans should go for this.

-----

American Record Guide
Martin Williams : May, 1958

For a gently cooperative accompanist, pianist Red Garland has few rivals, and the degree of interplay between him and drummer “Philly Joe” Jones is wonderful to hear. But as a soloist he is for me frequently fatuous and his efforts to base internal structure on one or two cocktail-isms very transparent. But this is a frequently exciting record and Coltrane’s best LP yet, on the whole. It gives some evidence (especially on You Leave Me Breathless) that he may learn to channel his talent, get rid of some of those stock motifs, and arrive at a more coherent approach to improvisation – but not that he has done it yet. All this energy, basic originality, constantly improving musicianship, those arresting blues…

-----

Audio
Charles A. Robertson : May, 1958
A combo review with Blue Note 1577

The emergence of John Coltrane as an important voice on the tenor sax is one of the most happy events of the past two seasons. It began during his stay with Miles Davis and reached full flower during his association with Thelonious Monk. His resultant engagement as a leader of studio groups is enabling him to reach new heights of personal expression, as exemplified by these two settings. At the head of a sextet, he makes Blue Train an impressive revelation of his deep roots in the blues. One of his four originals in the set, it allows for a round of exchanges by Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, and a superbly timed interlude by pianist Kenny Drew. A bowed solo by Paul Chambers on bass enlightens Moment’s Notice, and drummer Philly Joe Jones sets an infectious pace on Locomotion. A slow, melodic treatment is given I’m Old Fashioned, and Lazy Bird flows smoothly.

On the trio session, he rejoins Chambers and pianist Red Garland of his days with Miles Davis, plus Art Taylor on drums. The firmness of his statements on Traneing In permits the rhythm members to contribute much more than support. With no need to bolster Coltrane’s solos or feed his flow of ideas, they make good use of their freedom. Alonzo Levister’s absorbing and moody slow Dance makes for a rewarding group effort. Chambers is featured on Bass Blues, and the ballads show Coltrane in two different approaches. He is most vocal on a slow You Leave Me Breathless, and charges with intensity through Soft Lights and Sweet Music.

-----

High Fidelity
John S. Wilson : April, 1958

It is becoming increasingly evident that Red Garland is a pianist of unusual depth and sensitivity whose scope is the whole range of jazz. Although normally heard in the company of modern jazzmen, the easy flowing pulse in his playing and his strong feeling for clearly expressed form stem largely from the pianists of the Swing Era. Garland is especially impressive on this disc, as his lean, sensitive work is put in immediate juxtaposition to the harsh shallowness of Coltrane’s tenor saxophone. There are several exceptionally worthwhile Garland passages here interspersed with Coltrane’s strident solos.

-----

Metronome
Bill Coss : July, 1958

John Coltrane appears with The Red Garland Trio. He is practically a living definition of hard-bop and, frequently, of the best of hard-bop (see definition considerably above) because, at least to my mind, he frequently exhibits more sensitivity than many of the rest, e.g., Alonzo Levister’s attractive Slow Dance. In any case, his is the nearly-vocal (in all the manifestations of the voice, including talking, preaching, screaming, cursing, etc.) approach, and, if that together with the hard-bop seems meet, just and good to you, you will find this an especially attractive collection of just that in tunes, tempos, treatment and accompaniment. For me the most attractive of it all, is Levister’s tune and the group’s playing of it.

-----

Saturday Review
Wilder Hobson : 03/29/1958

The muscular, fertile improvising of tenor saxophonist John Coltrane is to be heard in an excellent program with pianist Billy Garland’s trio (Paul Chambers, bass; Art Taylor, drums), and here Coltrane’s tough opulence is mixed with simpler, more lyric moods, especially in a lovely thing called Slow Dance by Alonzo Levister (Prestige 7123). Coltrane, however, always remains a sinewy performer and is definitely contraindicated for those with a leaning toward the genteel.

-----

Down Beat : 06/12/1958
Dom Cerulli : 4 stars

You’ll want to add your gasp for breath to those following the last track, a rocketing, upper-than-up wailer with Taylor and, Chambers driving Garland and ‘Trane to incredible heights.

But all is not up on this well-balanced set. There’s a moody Breathless, which Coltrane explores soberly but without giving up any of the blunt, hard tone which is characteristically his.

On several tracks, notably Bass Blues, Chambers deserved at least 100 percent billing for his work. On this track, he demonstrates his strong arco technique.

Garland’s plunging, rolling piano is a rhythmic asset, and he is gutty on solos.

But this is Coltrane’s LP, and he is again the most individual young tenor I’ve heard in recent years. About the only thing you can expect in his playing is the unexpected. Just as Thelonious Monk stamps his music with an undeniably personal whole, so does Coltrane. If he can sustain and develop this personal individuality, he seems destined to be a major influence on his horn. In recent months, I’ve heard bits of him popping up in other tenor players.

A fine LP, with some highs and middles but no lows.

-----

Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

Ripping, soaring, hotly-pulsing, cooking, wailing, smoking, moving, grooving, cutting, riding, gliding, human-voiced, searching, searing, air-clearing, John Coltrane’s tenor saxophone is one of the most exciting sounds to be heard in contemporary jazz. When he is swinging, which is most of the time, he has the power to lift your soul right of your chair while your body remains seated though animated. That is Coltrane, the musician, on the stand.

Coltrane, the musician, off the stand, is a humble, genuinely modest, person who has come up through the ranks in the time-tested manner in which musicians used to establish themselves as individual stars before the advent of the recording deluge. He has played for some very gifted leaders: Dizzy Gillespie (1949-51), Miles Davis (1955-57) and Thelonious Monk (1957). This experience can’t be bought in a music school. It is the meat around the bone of jazz, near the marrow. Our younger jazzmen, even the most talented, have just gotten through the fat.

Trane is immediately recognizable by both his sound and style. His sound is very vocal – a human cry in the night; his style ranges from the excruciatingly, exhilarating intensity of rapid, exigent runs with their residual harmonic impact to fewer-noted sections of lyric beauty. He has drawn mainly from Dexter Gordon and Sonny Stitt with the underlying and overlapping figure of Charlie Parker also present and created something extremely personal. Thus for his singular approach has not invited imitation; it will inevitably, for better or for worse.

The same people who were slow to recognize the talent of Sonny Rollins also have been tardy with Coltrane but soon they will be fawning over Trane just as they do with the once vigorously scorned, Rollins. “C’est la guerre de Jazz ou l’essence du merde du taureau.*

In this album Coltrane is in the company of three musicians with whom he has played many times before. Garland and Chambers, with Coltrane, were original members of the Miles Davis quintet that stayed together from late 1955 to midway in 1957. Taylor, who was with the group in the late summer of 1957 after Coltrane had left, has played with John on many other occasions. This includes a group with Garland and Donald Byrd that played around the New York area in the fall of 1957.

The Garland – Chambers – Taylor rhythm section, which, under the name of the Red Garland Trio, has independently recorded several successful albums for Prestige (A Garland Of Red, 7064; Red Garland’s Piano, 7086; Groovy, 7113), is in fine form here.

Garland presents a happy amalgam of single-line and block-chord solo playing and is a highly complementary “comper.” Chambers’ clear-noted, big-toned bass is equally effective in support and solo while Taylor plays for the group in his light but toughly resilient manner.

The opener is a blues by Coltrane, entitled Traneing In, which attains a perfect groove as Garland sets the stage for Trance in a mood-dictating solo. Trane displays his most ingratiating characteristics in an extended solo. After Chambers’ picked solo, Red and Trane return for second turns.

Slow Dance is a moody ballad by Alonzo Levister which is treated with understanding by Coltrane. Chambers (picked) and Garland have moving bits before Trane takes it out.

Coltrane’s second blues of the set is played in unison with Paul Chambers’ pizzicato bass and henceforth was named Bass Blues. Bright solos by Trane and Red precede an exceptional bowed solo by Paul.

The heretofore neglected You Leave Me Breathless is beautifully delivered by Coltrane with a good sense of drama in his use of the upper register. Garland and Chambers (picked) also solo.

The closer has everyone hanging on to the cliff by their nails. Soft Lights And Sweet Music, in this case, is more apt to mean the headlights of a Maserati and the music of wheels taking a curve. Coltrane and Garland solo and then play at chasing one another.