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| | Blue Train | | | Music Artist : | | John Coltrane | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Blue Note Records | | Release Date : | | 1997-04-01 | | Store Price : | | $11.94 | | Artistopia's Price: $10.99 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Blue Train
2. Moment's Notice
3. Locomotion
4. I'm Old Fashioned
5. Lazy Bird
6. Blue Train [Alternate Take]
7. Lazy Bird [Alternate Take]
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 A note on the enhanced content
Submitted on: 2009-08-24 |
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| The cover of the 1997-edition enhanced CD says it needs Windows 3.1 or mac7.1. In some quick tests on a couple of Macs, full install of the the enhanced content required OS9 (OSX10.4), but the video and audio files played fine with current QuickTime (QT7.6/OSX10.5). I don't know what happens on PCs, but I'd guess it's a similar situation (files play but full content won't). |
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 Coasting brilliance
Submitted on: 2009-05-05 |
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| Though a lot older jazz has lost resonance for me, Blue Train is reminder of the purity of standard structure in the hands of such a brilliant soloist and budding leader, taking what is apathetically mundane nowadays and stamping it with brass immortality. |
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 A Jazz Masterpiece, disgraced by poor remastering
Submitted on: 2009-03-15 |
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Unquestionably one of the all-time best ever jazz recordings, and probably my favorite Coltrane album. Plenty has already been written here about the music ... this is jazz at it's best! If you just want some great tunes, and don't really care so much about some differences in recording quality, then don't hesitate to get this album today - you won't be disappointed!
The rest of this review is for those folks like me, who do notice subtle differences, and want the best possible sound quality:
Sadly, I have to proclaim my disappointment with this "remastered" release. I also own the 1997 CD release, which sounds significantly better. This new release is over-compressed, and has had a low-quality digital EQ boost in the treble, replacing the nuance and texture of Jones' excellent drumming with a homogenous sizzle - the cymbals have lost all semblance of realism. Blue Note should be ashamed for their mishandling of this historic recording, and especially for caving in to the over-compression fad which plagues the industry. I expect this sort of mindless mastering in bad pop recordings, not the greatest jazz of all time!
To some, this may come off as nitpicking, but I hope you'll excuse my negativity - to me it is disheartening to hear this sort of careless treatment of such treasured music, at the hands of professionals who surely know better.
Coltrane's beautiful music deserves a lot more care than this.
If you would like to own a better copy of this album, do yourself a favor and skip this edition - get the 1997 (20-bit "Super Bit-Map") CD instead. Your ears will thank you. |
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oh... Now I get it
Submitted on: 2009-02-23 |
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| I love music. Any kind that is well done is worth a listen. My ears or mind or whatever have taken a long time for this album to hit home. Actually that's true for most jazz. So if you are a novice like me and are thinking of getting this. Do it! Now don't wait another moment. I heard this and remembered this was released 52 years ago. Coltrane was ahead of his time... hell he's STILL ahead of his time. |
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Probably the best introduction to Coltrane
Submitted on: 2009-02-11 |
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I think this 1957 album is probably the best introduction to Coltrane for those who are either new to jazz or have not yet heard any of Coltrane's other albums. It is one of the earliest albums recorded under his leadership and mostly features tunes that he wrote. While Coltrane was already beginning to extend the possibilities of the saxophone in many ways, the numbers on this album are all quite accessible to anyone likely to appreciate modern Jazz (Bebop, Hard-Bop, etc.).
One benefit of starting with this album (rather than with Giant Steps or A Love Supreme) is that Coltrane is accompanied by trumpeter Lee Morgan and trombonist Curtis Fuller who provide some relief both to Coltrane and to the listener. While Coltrane is capable of beautiful playing, he can be quite intense and possibly overwhelming to some listeners, especially on his later albums, and especially on his most famous album, A Love Supreme. Morgan and Fuller are both dynamic soloists in their own right, but they aren't as challenging as Coltrane. Additionally, I enjoy the arranged sections at the beginnings and ends of some tracks where all 3 horns blow together.
Each of the 5 tunes on this CD is outstanding, but other reviewers have already described them well enough. I happen to really like the hard-bop style which typifies this and many other Blue Note records of the 50s and 60s. Other reviewers see this as a reason to rank this album lower than later Coltrane albums which developed a more unique style. But I wish Coltrane had recorded more albums like this one for Blue Note, especially with Morgan who is my favorite trumpeter and recorded many Blue Note albums with other saxophonists such as Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and Jackie McLean. (If you want to hear Morgan and Fuller together on another album, check out Morgan's Tomcat from 1964.) |
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