John Coltrane – Ole Coltrane – Analogue Productions Atlantic 75 Series Hybrid Stereo SACD

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series)
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records!
Coltrane’s final album for Atlantic
Hybrid Stereo SACD

“His sheer ability as a maverick — beyond his appreciable musical skills — guides works such as this to new levels, ultimately advancing the entire art form.” — AllMusic

Coltrane’s final album for Atlantic — released in November 1961 — bookends the exploratory motifs he explores on his Impulse! debut, Africa/Brass, recorded concurrently, with each involving knotty rhythmic shifts and Spanish-derived textures.

Bonding with an amazing band including pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and an uncredited Eric Dolphy, Coltrane welcomes improvisations ranging outside conventional parameters, all the while retaining melodic beauty.

Coltrane’s interest in the music of Spain evident in Olé, may have been spurred by his ex-employer Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain from the previous year. The structure and melody of the modal jazz vamp “Olé” was borrowed from the Spanish folk song “El Vito” (later used as the tune of “El Quinto Regimiento” from the Spanish Civil War, which was made known by Pete Seeger), while the soprano saxophone work recalled 1961’s My Favorite Things.

Writing for All About Jazz, John Ballon commented: “A transitional record, Olé Coltrane successfully navigates the line between Trane’s sonically challenging later years and his earlier accessibility. A magnificent milestone in Trane’s artistic growth, this is an essential recording for any collection.”