The Prestige Recordings

About

After a pivotal but ill-fated mid-’50s run with the Miles Davis Quintet, John Coltrane overcame addiction, found spiritual renewal, and entered a period of intensive nightly study on the bandstand with Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot in 1957. He emerged more than ready for the rigors of bandleading, and it was Bob Weinstock’s Prestige Record, the label that had recorded the Miles quintet, that gave Coltrane his start. Monk’s radically individual aesthetic and his way of framing harmony, rhythm, and melody helped Coltrane conceive an improvisational language of his own—fast and packed with idea, encompassing masses of notes in nearly every bar, filling harmonic space with dazzlingly drawn detail. He continued playing in that vein throughout his Prestige period—though the sole focus here is all the music Coltrane recorded for Prestige in 1958 alone, presented in chronological order no le. We get a clear unfolding picture of Coltrane’s growth in the run-up to his 1959 breakthrough, on Miles Davis’ <i>Kind of Blue</i> and his own Atlantic debut, <i>Giant Steps</i>. While on Prestige, Trane explored a mix of standard, original, and tunes by cherished if unheralded peers like Tadd Dameron and Calvin Massey. His band, with pianist Red Garland and bassist Paul Chambers straight from the ranks of Davis' quintet, often had jazz rhythm sage Art Taylor completing the lineup on drum. On <i>Soultrane</i>, <i>Settin’ the Pace</i>, <i>The Believer</i>, and more, we hear idiomatic post-bebop of unparalleled dynamism and swing mastery, with nuanced tempo shadings and impeccable trading fours: practices drawn from the very marrow of the tradition, represented at the highest level, facilitating all the innovations that followed. .

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The Clerk says

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