1. Giant Steps: It's still amazing to hear Coltrane rip through the two-to-the-bar chord changes on the title track, while songs like "Naima" and "Syeeda's Song Flute" demonstrate Tranes' continued interest in the modal experiments he encountered on Miles Davis' Kind of Blue sessions.

2. A Love Supreme: Coltrane's supreme spiritual statement, and for many his most coherent musical statement as well. A four-part suite based on a four-note motif that rises and falls as Coltrane and pianist McCoy Tyner spin out from the strong kick of rhythm players Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. One of jazz's best selling recordings of all time.

3. Blue Train: Coltrane was signed with Prestige when he recorded this one-off album for Blue Note, and concern for any legal ramifications is demonstrated in the use of "Train" rather than "Trane" in the title. The album is a joy to listen to, featuring well-constructed solos and swinging work from a sharp rhythm section. Truly a classic recording, well balanced between hard bop numbers and intimate ballads.

4. Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings: On the Vanguard 1961 dates, Trane's musical conception was already opening up considerably from that demonstrated on Giant Steps. Some of the more frenetic tendencies in his playing, muted in the recording studio environment, came to the fore in live performance. His quartet was already developing the searching, moody, introspective yet physically punchy and demanding music that would earn it a mystique nearly unrivaled in the jazz canon. And the group had a secret weapon at these performances-Eric Dolphy.

5. My Favorite Things: Similar in some respects to Giant Steps, but with longer, more modal numbers and the debut of Trane's soprano saxophone work, which came as the result of his listening to Sydney Bechet and his awareness of Steve Lacy's work with Monk.

6. Ballads: Following his first Impulse! releases and the performances at the Village Vanguard in 1961, Coltrane was severly taken to task by many critics for engaging in what they termed "anti-jazz." Eric Dolphy departed the group and Coltrane recorded this now-classic collection of ballads. The album, which demonstrates that Coltrane was one of jazz's great interpreters of ballads, has been rediscovered since singer Karrin Allyson recorded vocal versions of the same songs on her Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane.

7. Complete Africa/Brass Sessions: One of Coltrane's first projects with the Impulse! label, this unique recording features Eric Dolphy's arrangements for a large group of brass and reeds that reaches 13 pieces on some tracks. The arrangements are beautiful and majestic, matching the intensity of Coltrane's solo work and the searing drumming of Elvin Jones.

8. Coltrane Plays the Blues: These tracks were done at the same sessions in October of 1960 that netted the Favorite Things album, and the material here is every bit as good, though not as well known. The famous Coltrane Quartet was just beginning to gel, and McCoy Tyner's contributions in particular are an indication of what was to come. Coltrane demonstrates an emotional committment to the blues form on this album that isn't really heard anywhere else, and it is also amazing to hear the things he could do harmonically with the very structured form.

9. Classic Quartet: Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings: OK, maybe it's cheating to include this along with some of the individual albums, but if you were to buy only one John Coltrane collection, this is the one you'd have to have. Everything done by the quartet between 1961 and 1965 is here on this 8-CD set, and it is breathtaking. This music stands with the best in jazz--Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, the original Bill Evans Trio, and both of Miles Davis' classic quintets.

10. John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman: Another of Coltrane's more conservative albums that followed the critical attacks on his 1961 work. Johnny Hartman's voice is the perfect match for Coltrane's tenor sound, and the songs are great, especially the rendition of "Lush Life".