JOHN COLTRANE
Interplay
Prestige
Interplay, a five disc set of John
Coltrane’s recordings as a sideman while recording
for Prestige Records between 1956 and 1958, is an excellent
companion piece to last year’s 6 CD set Fearless
Leader. That set captured Coltrane’s work as
a leader for the label. Of course, most Prestige dates were
essentially jam sessions featuring groups that had not generally
spent much time rehearsing arrangements or playing together,
so the line between leader and sideman was not always that
clearly defined. As Lewis Porter points out in his notes
on each session, there are plenty of awkward moments and
a few outright gaffes heard on these sessions as a result
of the lack of rehearsal. But that speaks to the nature
of 1950s jazz recording in many ways. This was a time when
bebop had become well established as a the lingua franca
of jazz despite the fact that many musicians still found
it difficult to play the many chord substitutions and often
fast tempos the music demanded. The artists on these Prestige
sessions, as well as on Blue Note and other labels of the
day, were in the process of consolidating the advances of
Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and other
bright lights of bebop into what would become the predominant
mainstream jazz style of the late 1950s through to the mid-1960s.
Interplay is obviously a treasure
for Coltrane fans, but it is also an outstanding collection
of music for anyone interested in the development of jazz
saxophone playhing, particularly in the development of the
tenor saxophone styles of the 1950s and 1960s. Coltrane
is heard here along with stellar sax players that include
Frank Wess, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Paul Quinchette, Hank Mobley
(all tenor players) as well as baritone sax greats Cecil
Payne and Pepper Adams. Witht the exception of Mobley, all
the tenor saxophonists herard here were highly influenced
by Lester Young, and they, along with Coltrane, found ways
to inject lyricism and a more relaxed methodology into their
post-bop work.
Some seven albums with varying leadership
credits (in some cases credited as Prestige All-Stars) are
represented on Interplay. Tenor Conclave
features Trane with Sims, Cohn, and Mobley. While Sims and
Cohn play very similarly and with a great debt to Lester
Young, Coltrane and Mobley look forward, developing their
own sounds and styles that include lyricism while not ignoring
restless exploration. Red Garland mans the piano chair,
demonstrating why he was Trane’s preferred pianist
for his Prestige dates as a leader. The pianist’s
effortless swinging and block-chord style were perfect for
Coltrane to bounce ideas off. Interplay features
Coltrane with cooler tenor man Bobby Jasper and trumpet
players Idrees Sulieman and Webster Young. This time Mal
Waldron plays piano and provides compositions and arrangements,
as he does on many of the dates throughout the set. While
not as well-fitting a soloist for these dates, Waldron provides
some great compositions for the groups to work off of. Wheelin’
and Dealin’, another Walrdron date, finds Coltrane
working with Paul Quinchette and Frank Wess. Besides being
a fine tenor player Wess, who worked extensively with Count
Basie, is also one of jazz’s best flute players, and
he is heard on this date on the instrument, bringing a welcome
change of pace.
Quinchette is an excellent co-tenor with
Coltrane,because, ---despite not always being comfortable
with the harmonic intracacies of bebop, he provides a direct,
swinging line back to Prez without sounding at all derivative.
He’s heard again on the date that was released as
Cattin’ with Coltrane and Quinchette.
Dakar is an interesting, richly
textured album that has been reissued under Coltrane’s
own name. Here he is paired, on Waldron arrangements, with
baritone saxophonists Cecil Payne and Pepper Adams, creating
a darker overall sound. Trane’s tenor sound mixes
nicely with both Payne’s baritone and the sharper,
more aggressive playing of Adams. On The Cats,
Coltrane again pairs up with trumpeter Sulieman, this time
with Tommy Flanagan at the piano. Flanagan, whose piano
style completely absorbs bebop while maintaining an elegance
and lyricism that few other bop-era pianists could muster,
also provides some engaging compositions.
The final disc of Interplay contains
the classic recording Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane.
It’s the last session featured here, and it is worth
noting that Coltrane had been working with Thelonious Monk
by this time, a stint that greatly accelerated his development.
Burrell’s bluesy style is a great compliment to Cotlrane,
and of course he also has the bop chops that some other
guitarists found it hard to develop. Flanagan is on board
again for this swinging date, along with bassist Paul Chambers
and drummer Jimmy Cobb.
Interplay is an outstanding collection
of dates that demonstrate not only the development of John
Coltrane toward the unique voice that he would develop as
he prepared to form his own group in 1959 and beyond, but
also is a snapshot of where jazz music was as the 1950s
came to a close. This set is positively pregnant with the
promise of intensive development ahead for both the young
saxophonist and the music that he so relentlessly studied
and played.
