John Coltranes Crescent

[bombastic]

This is a Great Coltrane c.d. to start ot with. "Crescent" on Impulse! c.d.s also "Ballads" on Impulse! c.d.s if you like the quiet songs better. Coltrane is my favorite jazz artist, i've heard pretty much everything he's recorded, and these are two great discs to begin with.

[fernanthonies]

awsome, thank you much

[jazzdude]

"Crescent" is my favorite Trane, too. I like better than "A Love Supreme." His solo on "Crescent" is one of the greatest sax solos of all time IMHO.

[Pharaohrock]

Just my opinion, but I was never all that into Crescent. I can agree that it sounds like the most characteristic record of this band, but IMHO, it's characteristic in a too-obvious way. There's something about it which has no mystery for me.

I like "Expression" and "Dear Old Stockholm", feel those are a couple of underrated Trane records.

[J Larsen]

I like every Coltrane record. I mean that, all of them. That being said, Crescent is probably not one of the Coltrane records I'd recommend as one of the, say, first five or so to start your collection on. I like it a lot - in fact I just gave it a spin the other day - but for me his greatest records from the Impulse years are probably Interstellar Space and Transition (JC Quartet Plays gets honorable mention), from the Atlantic years I'd recommend Ole, Giant Steps and, if you can swing it, My Favorite Things, and from the Prestige years - I dunno - maybe Black Pearls (the Prestige material is of pretty consistent quality to my ears - it's hard to pick one but it's a period worth familiarizing yourself with). If you're not yet very comfortable with "challenging jazz" (don't ask me - I'm not quite sure what I mean by that either... :rolleyes:), then I'd recommend Transition before Interstellar Space. Instellar Space takes a while to reveal its beauty to some listeners - but it's there in abundance. I hate saying "x is my favorite album/movie/whatever of all time", but put a gun to my head and I'd probably say Interstellar Space is my favorite album that I've ever heard (of 20th century music, anyway).

But hey, don't worry too much about getting the "right one" or a "wrong one" - with Trane there are no "wrong ones" (except for the compilations...) Whatever you get will be something special.

[Pharaohrock]

Transition is kind of an odd record. I dig it, but there's a lot of tension there....

My favorite Atlantic recs are Favorite Things and Coltrane Jazz- the version of "Little Old Lady" is priceless IMHO, and "Like Sonny" and "Village Blues" are fantastic also.

Why doesn't anyone cover Village Blues?

[kenny weir]

Originally posted by Pharaohrock
Why doesn't anyone cover Village Blues?

Jim McNeely did it on his OmniTone album group Therepy.

[J Larsen]

Originally posted by Pharaohrock
Why doesn't anyone cover Village Blues?

I know JJ Johnson played it on one of his later records - can't think of any others. That is a great song and Coltrane Jazz is a great album, though. Really all of the Atlantics are great, with the possible exception of "The Avant-Garde" which just didn't really work IMO. Not that it's a *bad* record - just not great.

[Harold_Z]

CRESCENT is a record I've had since the late 60s and it is the Trane record I usually put on when I haven't listened to Trane in a while. For me the word favorite only works if I say I have diferrent favorites at different times or to put it another way, I have many favorites. So I'll say CRESCENT is *one* of my favorite Trane records, along with COLTRANE JAZZ, GIANT STEPS, COLTRANE'S SOUND.

Hmmm...It seems I like more of the Atlantics than the Impulses.

[shawn·m]

Although I don’t think I’m generally given to playing favorites, I gotta say I do prefer Crescent to A Love Supreme. Sure, it’s a matter of personal preference, but I hear a certain beauty and compositional variety not quite present in A Love Supreme… to these ears, on my system (sorry, couldn’t resist the BNBB reference tag).

[J Larsen]

I agree that it is probably better than the studio version of ALS, which does seem to be a good album for getting people interested in Trane but is overrated vis-a-vis the rest of his catalog, IMO. Not that ALS isn't a great record - it is - just not as great as many of his other albums. Now the LIVE version of ALS is a slightly different matter. That one I might pick over Crescent.

[shawn·m]

Hmm, I’ve a bootleg of the live ALS, but it never felt right to me. Time changes things and I think it’s time to revisit this one.

[Mr. Robinson]

Crescent is one of my favorite Coltrane albums as well. One of the things I really like about it is that every member of the quartet gets a change to stretch out on at least one occassion. Of course, this means that Trane doesn't get as much solo space as most fans are accustomed to, but it's a fine record to illustrate the strengths of each member of that band. And, plus, "Wise One" is one of the least-appreciated tracks in Coltrane's career.