John Coltrane (as Leader) Albums Poll

I like a lot of these lps. Any choice I make will end up a lie in some sense because I will change my mind, and probably sooner than later.

It's not easy to choose.

John Coltrane - Coltrane Live At Birdland (Impulse A 50)

afro blue, alabama ftw

John Coltrane - Meditations (Impulse A 9110)

yes really

Why would we think you were joking?

Ascension it is then for my vote.

I wonder what will get the lurker vote..

Why would we think you were joking?

-- Herman G. Neuname, Friday, December 14, 2007 2:33 AM

As I understand it, it's his least well-regarded "free" work.

Oh right. I didn't think people disliked it though.

Just thinking about the trouble I had getting this poll together, I don't know if I'll bother with a Sun Ra poll. I can't remember if there's been one or not.

If the complete Village Vanguard box was here I would have voted for that. Second would probably be Afro-Blue Impressions. Will have to think on it!

I had the complete village vanguard box on mp3 but the dvdr it's on failed so now I dont :(

Top 3: Crescent, Love Supreme, and Live at Birdland.

I bet that Love Supreme gets underrated because of obviousness and that Interstellar Space gets most of the hipster vote.

Coltrane's Sound

If I went by my logic on the Miles Davis poll, I would vote A Love Supreme since, as Jordan says above, it won't get the votes it deserves because of its obviousness. But I, too, voted Crescent. And I almost voted the Vanguard just for "Chasin' the Trane." Oh, and I've been listening th Africa/Brass a lot lately, and, and...oh well. Hard to choose.

wheeewwwww this is tough, though maybe a bit easier than the Miles studio albums poll. First impulses for me say Transition or Meditations or Live in Seattle. Whoever thinks Meditations is the worst of his free work is absolutely crazy! That record is unbelievable.

I might go with Transition - I tend to think that this is the most interesting Coltrane period, right before he went totally "out there", when the quartet is just about to burst at its seams...

I wouldn't vote for it, but Stellar Regions has that incredible opening track ("Seraphic Light"?) which is so majestic. I really like when Garrison started bowing his bass, too.

God, the "Out of this World" version on Live in Seattle is mindblowing. So bizarre. I might vote for this one.

This is harder than I thought.

As I understand it, it's his least well-regarded "free" work.

Really? I thought Om was. And Om is gettin' my vote (with the first "Live" At The Village Vanguard a close second.

Interstellar Space because it still sounds like the future.

Also the CD edition of Ascension includes both Editions I & II so they should really both be counted.

Crescent, bros.
Though I could've voted for anything with the Jones/Tyner/Garrison lineup, I think.
The earlier Prestige stuff probably won't get a lot of votes, but there is plenty of good (if not mindblowing) stuff. The Lush Life album is very nice. In fact, that Fearless Leader box set put out last year is mighty fine. Conventional Coltrane, I guess, but still Coltrane.

Is anybody voting for Giant Steps?

Meditations for me too; it's probably the fiercest music I know that I absolutely love!

I 1st heard Om on Radio Scotland when Bobby Gillespie was interviewed and he raved about it. Was probably how I got into John Coltrane actually.

Even the Mingus thread has more comments than this one. Come on ILM you can do better!

Meditations, as I've said on many other threads, one of those paradigm-shift albums for me. But it is hard to decide.

what do you guys think of Expression? the first track is awesome, but sometimes for me it doesn't quite seem as powerful. obviously a lot more restrained, sometimes a little distant. i'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

I'm voting for Giant Steps. But really, there's about half-dozen other ones that are close contenders.

I picked up that Village Vanguard box used awhile back for like... $15 or something. What a deal!

Oh man i wish i had luck like that!

Man, I sure wish we could vote for 5 or 10 options here; it kills me not being able to rep for Coltrane Live At The Village Vanguard Again!, among many others.

Olé Coltrane

Om is the only post-A Love Supreme work of his I own (and I think the only one I've even heard, barring someone playing Ascension for me once in college or something) - don't understand why its so reviled. Its noisy as fuck, but I like it.

I went for Crescent btw, the quartet is at the Love Supreme sweet spot is much more relaxed about it. ALS is so definitive though, even if it has been praised to death. I still need to get that reissue with the alternate version.

Yes Love Supreme is incredible. Sometimes I wish it wasn't as blown up as it is, though. I also wish it had the regular orange Impulse spine instead of the white one.

nitpicking.

Man, I sure wish we could vote for 5 or 10 options here

The Vanguard box would be my favorite if I could vote for the whole thing. I'm inadequately schooled in the late stuff, but I do like Om, Transition, Ascension, Kulu Se Mama and Sun Ship quite a lot.

My Favorite Things would be a runner up, as would Live at Birdland and Coltrane. But I always thought Coltrane's Sound was the absolute best *classic quartet* recording and my favorite from all of his work. In part I just like the sound of the Atlantic records better than the sound of the Impulse records (which are also great though). Was it Nesuhi Ertegun that engineered them?

Body and Soul is probably my favorite use of the Giant Steps chord-changes matrix (Giant Steps itself is good but a little too precise). And I have this weird fetish for Satellite. I could listen to that tune 50 times in a row on repeat.

it might get lost in the shuffle, but Ballads is maybe my fave record of its kind ... 32 minutes of bliss.

Ballads is a good record.

Yes.

Man, I like the sound of the Impulse recs way better.

They do have that awesome reverby sound, but I really like the dryness of the Atlantic stuff.

Olé got me laid once, so I am going with that.

Otherwise, it's just pandemonium.

(Ballads is lovely btw)

Ballads is maybe my fave record of its kind ... 32 minutes of bliss..

OTM. That and the Johnny Hartman album never fail to induce the desired late-night mood.

And yet Ole gets the one real endorsement in that area. Huh.

lol I am currently discovering that Meditations agitates my cats.

Oh, God, it's so hard. I think I'm going with Africa Brass, just for personal reasons. That album's always been the one that I put on when I needed to calm down and recenter and relax and just enjoy listening, but I can't separate out the objective from the subjective, y'know? Otherwise, I think I might have gone with Love Supreme, which, yeah, gets the obvious votes, but it's such an incredible piece of music.

Has anyone done an Alice Coltrane poll yet? She's like the cigarette to his beer for me, where whenever I hear him I want to hear something by her right afterwards, especially going from his last recordings into her first ones.

argh that reminds me that Dusty Groove has a vinyl copy of Lord of Lords right now that I waaaaant but must resist for pocketbook reasons

I think I own more Alice than John how wrong is that

90 mins of voting left.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

If it wasn't for those pesky lurkers...

wow, i can't believe how spread out those votes are. that's kinda interesting. i see i'm the only one who voted for transition.

yeah, it's good to see more than just two or three albums getting all the votes for a change. i guess it shows how strong / consistent the JC catalogue is.

Kind of shocked that Ascension beat out "Giant Steps," but not too shocked because I can see the appeal.

Yeah. I'm all about those Coltrane 3/4 Julie Andrews covers.

I hope that isn't sarcasm. "My Favorite Things" might be a bit overplayed (especially around this time of year...), but Coltrane's version of it is amazing (especially live, where he really takes it out).

You heard the version on The Olatunji Concert- The Last Live Recording

Yeah. I'm all about those Coltrane 3/4 Julie Andrews covers.

I hope that isn't sarcasm. "My Favorite Things" might be a bit overplayed
No sarcasm at all. This was just my sly reference to his version of "Chim Chim Cheree," which is on a cool album called The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (Impulse 12142) which I now see is not even on the poll.

missed this poll!

glad someone aka julio voted for live in japan, that one's been my favorite this last year, it goes everywhere

I still haven't heard Ascension! Now I'ma have to.

Yes you must.

I would like that double cd with Om, both versions of Ascension on it. I think its called "the major works of john coltrane"

That's the one I've got - it also has Kulu Se Mama and Selflessness. I think the word is "indispensable" and I think it's still in print.

yea that's a great 2-disc set. i used to have it, but i sold because i already had everything on other discs, except for one song.

sadly, that song was "om" and now i don't have it anymore.

Yeah, "The Major Works" is the thing I have too.

I nearly bought it 10 years ago in Tower and when I went back to get it , it was sold out. Never seen it anywhere since. Might have a look on ebay.

I've never owned Africa/Brass, that should change.

Absolutely!

"I would like that double cd with Om, both versions of Ascension on it. I think its called "the major works of john coltrane""

Yeah, and my goddamned ex girlfriend still has it despite hating John Coltrane. It's one of the worst spoils of war losses from my music collection.

"I've never owned Africa/Brass, that should change."

It's my test of good bass response on stereos—that opening deep thump is so good, and so resonant.

Nothing available from UK Sellers, I might need to go looking in Glasgow, I don't want to end up paying £20 for it in somewhere like Borders though.

My mate looked and couldn't find it.

They just played something cool on WBGO featuring Reggie Workman, Art Davis and the mysterious "George Lane." I think it was probably off Olé.

I remember seeing some live footage on a cable channel some years back which was really great. Early 60s stuff.

Boy, am I tired of hearing about Giant Steps

Giant Steps For Robot Boy

I just put on The Olatunji Concert and my cat started freaking out.

The last time he did that was for Springheel Jack.

I just heard some cool stuff on WKCR off Lush Life that they were playing because the bass player, Earl May, just passed away.

Your cat is clearly asking for a saxophone to join in.

His cat yesterday
http://www.innocentenglish.com/funny-pics/lolcats/funny-cat-playing-saxophone.jpg

The stuff off Lush Life I heard was pianoless. I think it was recorded around the same time as the Sonny Rollins Village Vanguard stuff.

oh so i did run a coltrane poll then

a wee bump to remind everyone what they can listen to before voting

lol
this is pretty interesting though

corny results

it's what people like

and it will be interesting to see if these albums are the same ones that get voted for in the post 1945 poll.

Reminded that I've never heard Om. Any good?

i like it but plenty don't. Bobby Gillespie is a big fan of it, heard an interview with him back in the 90s on Radio Scotland where he went on about it.

dont let that put you off though!

it might be on spotify

man my favorite coltrane records got 4 votes each; awesome; "corny" eh like what did you expect

also ascension and a love supreme rule, very basically

bobby gillespie got me into 'africa', which is the main thing i look at the results and think poor john coltrane record nobody loves you at, above. that & ole.

at least in the post 1945 poll you can vote for more than 1 album

elvin goddamn jones on africa/brass is blowing my mind

That's THE studio album in my opinion. Whole ensemble is almost telepathic.

expression is also blowin my mind p hard

I love Expression. So great to hear them playing as a smaller unit again.