John Coltrane - Ballads [ORG 180g 45rpm 2 LP-Set; mastered by Bernie Grundman] 24-bit/96kHz

Before this ballad album was released, John Coltrane’s critics and jazz fans classed him as an 'avant-gardist', a modernist, an angry, wild young man who made his tenor saxophone scream out. Tongues wagged that free jazz could be made by just anyone who hung a horn around his neck.
These eight ballads made people stop and listen with real pleasure. »Have you heard him? He can blow the notes properly, the pianist knows all the harmonies, and the drummer does far more than just bash!« These words were to be heard and read everywhere, in the specialist magazines, and in the jazz clubs from New York to Tokyo.
All the themes are taken from the American Songbook, from musicals, and well-known numbers performed by Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee among others. All of them have been performed time and time again and although the musicians played the themes for the very first time at the recording session, their interpretation was well structured while at the same time fresh and intense. With the exception of just one number, all the titles were a complete success at the very first take; but that is not merely that which underlines the high musical standard of the quartet.
Fans and critics alike have continued to hold this early Impulse production in high esteem to this very day, which is certainly due to the producer Bob Thiele. But a great part of the album’s success is also due to the excellent work of the recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who has captured the intimate atmosphere with his microphones.




Track listing

Side A:
"Say it (Over and Over Again)" (Frank Loesser, Jimmy McHugh) — 4:18
"You Don't Know What Love Is" (Gene DePaul, Don Raye) — 5:15
Side B:
"Too Young to Go Steady" (Harold Adamson, McHugh) — 4:23
"All or Nothing at All" (Arthur Altman, Jack Lawrence) — 3:38
Side C:
"I Wish I Knew" (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren) — 4:54
"What's New?" (Johnny Burke, Bob Haggart) — 3:47
Side D:
"It's Easy to Remember" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) — 2:49
"Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" (Phil Silvers, Jimmy Van Heusen) — 3:10

Personnel

John Coltrane — tenor saxophone/soprano saxophone
McCoy Tyner — piano
Jimmy Garrison — bass
Elvin Jones — drums

Recording: December 1961, September and November 1962 at Englewood Cliffs, NJ,
by Rudy Van Gelder
Production: Bob Thiele