Search - John Coltrane :: Complete Prestige Years

No better way to hear early 'Trane

jazzfanmn | St Cloud, MN United States | 11/21/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All diehard fans of John Coltrane, who can afford it, need to pick up this boxed set. This set of 16 cds offers one the opprotunity to hear 'Trane during his "early period" and well into his "sheets of sound" period. One marvels at hearing the material on this collection. It is hard to believe this is the same man playing on later recordings on the Impulse! lable. All of his appearances on the Prestige lable, save the historic recordings with Miles Davis, are here. Artists appearing on this collection like: Sonny Rollins, Tad Dameron, Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean, Zoot Sims, Gene Ammons, and Freddie Hubbard make this collection just that much more vital. If you want to hear historic music from the early period of John Coltrane's development, or just great jazz, pick up this essential if expensive set."

Pure Jazz...Pure Coltrane !

R. A. Meyer | Carmel, In United States | 04/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OK..is this set worth the money? Just listen to Tenor Madness and John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins dueling saxes and that should answer your question! This is a chance to hear John produce some of the sweetest sounds he has ever produced. These recordings, early in his career, are some of his best work. They are all recorded by Rudy Van Gelder and the sound is excellent. I have all of Coltranes recodings now and I think that on any given day these are the best with the Atlantic box set coming in a real close second. There is no "free form" jazz here only good blues, ballads and jazz standards. I never had the chance to see Mr Coltrane but with this set his music lives and a lot of us will be asking why he had to leave us so early in life...."

Set for collectors and completests

L. Topper | 05/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very good set. I have long had great respect for the Prestige label for bringing us such marvelous jazz. I also love that van Gelder sound on the Prestige, Blue Note, and Savoy recordings.



There are some incredible moments on this set like the duets with Sonny Rollins, but there are some moments that are sort of routine performances by some of the world's greatest musicians--better than what many other musicians are capable of, but not the best for these musicians. Almost routine for musicians of such high calibre.



Coltrane fans that are not flush with cash need to perhaps get 3 or 4 discs of Coltrane from this period and then go to his Atlantic and Impuse years. Coltrane has a lot of growth in a relatively short period.



If money is not a challenge and you have lots of time, then this set will have lots of very pleasant moments.



Post script: While the Complete Prestige Recordings (16 disc big box) is only available used either by Amazon Marketplace or Ebay, there is also another (Japanese issued) Complete Prestige Recordings (18 disc box) that is available used on Amazon Marketplace and Ebay. The sound is good on the Japanese set, but it does not come with the excellent booklet in the American set. The Japanese reissue is something of a budget set, but also contains the Prestige recordings of Coltrane with Miles Davis which the American set does not contain. Lastly, Concord Music Group has issued a 6 disc set entitled "Fearless Leader" which features Coltrane led sessions. They have also issued a set entitled "Interplay" which is 5 discs and features sessions where Coltrane is a sideman. Concord is scheduled to issue another set in September of 2009 which features Coltrane in Presige label "blowing sessions." So even though the Complete Prestige set is out of print, another remastered collection of sets with signficant liner material. Hopefully the set will come out despite the distressed economic times."