John Coltrane: "My Favourite Things" vs. "Olé"

Second that. Olé is simple and brilliant. I rarely listen to the rest of that album though.

Olé has Eric Dolphy, henceforth it wins for me. Aiesha is also a really beautiful song. The two basses thumping on Ole also sound great.

Coltrane's arrangement of My Favorite Things is one of his more popular tunes. With respects to Steve Lacy, that tune alone sold bunches of soprano saxes, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how you like the sound of that horn.

Engine Kid cut a cover of Ole on one of their albums with two of the guys from Silkworm playing horns. It is better than you might tend to expect.

Hey, Pharoah Sanders did "Olé" when I saw him in Toronto in '94!

Hmm...Songwise, "Olé" I think is probably more impressive, with the extra sonic variety that Dolphy and Freddy Hubbard and the extra bassist provide. And compared to Trane's other two "big" '61 travelogues, it beats "India" and almost "Africa" too. But I can't shake my sentimental attachment to "My Favourite Things", the first Coltrane thing I heard that really won me over. Partly because I liked McCoy Tyner's rambling pianistics, and partly because I liked the song itself, which I honestly had never heard before. (Still havewn't seen "The Sound Of Music".) So my mind says "Olé" but my gut says "My Favourite Things".

Albumwise, I'll go with Olé for the aforementioned sonic variety. But I'd love to hear Coltrane's "Summertime" alongside Billy Stewart's and Big Brother's sameday.