John Coltrane - In The Winner's Circle

180-gram vinyl reissue

All-star jazz session recorded in New York in September and October 1957

Featuring musicians who came in either first or second in Down Beat's critics' poll of 1957

Reproduction of rare 1961 alternate album art and title credited to John Coltrane In The Winners Circle

Featuring Donald Byrd, Kenny Burrell, Art Farmer, Philly Joe Jones, Oscar Pettiford and more

Remastered 2012 96kHz/24-bit audio

Pressed at Precision Record Pressing in Canada

Rare stuff from John Coltrane recorded in 1957. The album features 'Trane' playing tenor on only four of the album's eight tracks making it kind of surprising that they used his name in the title but the album is a lesser-known batch of large group recordings that offer an interesting early chapter in his career. The main force behind the album is arranger Harry Tubbs possibly not a name that's as sexy as John Coltrane, hence the billing but a worthy leader for the date, given the quality of the music.

Many of the other players here are small combo heroes who can also shine brightly in bigger groups such as Donald Byrd and Art Farmer on trumpet, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Al Cohn on baritone sax, Eddie Costa on piano and vibes, and Oscar Pettiford on bass plus Rolf Kuhn, making an early American appearance on clarinet. Coltrane gets in some nice, but short moments on the date but the bigger charm is the full ensemble work on titles that include "She Didn't Say Yes", "Turtle Walk", "At Home With The Blues", "Seabreeze" and "Love & The Weather."

Side A

1. Lazy Afternoon

2. Not so Sleepy

3. Seabreeze

4. Love and the Weather

Side B

1. She Didn't Say Yes

2. If I'm Lucky (I'll Be the One)

3. At Home with the Blues

4. Turtle Walk

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