Thursday, October 27, 2011

Jazz in the Sixties, Part Two

The next case is Saint John Coltrane. Sitting at the top of a large pile of albums is "A Love Supreme", one of the two most famous jazz albums ever recorded. ("Kind of Blue" is the other.) No one would think the less of me if I put it on my list, and it's not like I don't like the album. It's just that I'm a huge fan of the Village Vanguard sessions - the first ones with Eric Dolphy - which have a drive like no other jazz album I know. And then there's the Africa/Brass sessions. And "Ballads". And the Johnny Hartman album. You see where I'm going. There's a cornucopia here even if I'm not the biggest fan of his later questing period. How do I whittle down my choices?