Search - John Coltrane :: Black Pearls

No originals, just 'Trane

William E Donoghue | Healdsburg CA USA | 06/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The irony of the Prestige John Coltrane albums (about 19 in all; I owned them all when they first came out) is that there are no originals. I am told (I think by Ira Gitler) the reason is that Prestige owned all the publishing; so, he saved the originals (he certainly had them in volume) for his later Atlantic recordings. In any case, the music was marvelous; don't overlook the ones released under Red Garland's name. We are lucky that this music was recorded and saved in such a short time allowing consistency. It's still timeless."

BLACK PEARLS: essential Coltrane album

J. Holmes | yokohama, japan | 09/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"wow. a truly underrated album (considering that i'm only the 5th person here on Amazon to review it) and one (of many) of Coltrane's true genius recordings. the playing here is jaw dropingly amazing and tightly focused. the compositions are fast fast fast and executed with confidence, style, and unlimited class. highly recommended for lovers of great jazz and amazing music. highly recommended!"

I Recommend You Save Up Until You Can Buy Fearless Leader, H

Talking Wall | Queen Creek, AZ | 02/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All of Coltrane's Prestige catalog, while not so much influenced by the Eastern sounds that would later envelop his music, is wonderful. You get to hear Trane in a more traditional setting somewhere between his work with Miles (in fact he was still with Miles when this stuff was recorded) and his first steps (ha pun not intended) away from more traditional tunes on the Atlantic label. Now, there are 11 CDs that make up this catalog (Trane as a leader on Prestige). You do the math. If you buy 'em separately you are going to pay around $125.00. You can get the Fearless Leader box set right here on Amazon for half that price PLUS you get a great guide to all the music Trane recorded as a leader for Prestige, a complete "session-ography", nice picks of all the CD covers including some of those that went through some changes over the year, 45 rpm single covers and so on. It's a very nice package. Buy this if you must but I recommend you save your pennies for a few weeks until you can afford to buy Fearless Leader.Fearless Leader"