John Coltrane - Coltrane Plays The Blues

180-gram mono remaster

Recorded on October 24, 1960 in New York City, Coltrane Plays The Blues is perhaps a misleading title for this album as Coltrane is not so much playing the blues as bringing the feeling of blues into the idiom of jazz. This memorable album, featuring McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums and Steve Davis on bass, hails from Coltrane's first period as leader of his own quartet, and finds Coltrane playing then highly unusual soprano sax on two numbers — 'Blues To Bechet,' a pianoless tribute to the great Sydney Bechet, and 'Mr. Syms,' where McCoy Tyner is given the opportunity to really show his stuff, which he does masterfully.