Blue Train (album)
| Blue Train | ||||
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| Studio album by John Coltrane | ||||
| Released | 1957 | |||
| Recorded | September 15, 1957 Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack |
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| Genre | Hard bop | |||
| Length | 42:50 | |||
| Label | Blue Note Records BLP 1577 |
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| Producer | Alfred Lion | |||
| John Coltrane chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [1] |
Blue Train is a hard bop jazz album by John Coltrane, released in 1957 on Blue Note Records, catalogue BLP 1577. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, it is Coltrane's second solo album, the only one he recorded for Blue Note as a leader, and the only one he conceived personally for the label. It has been certified a gold record by the RIAA.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Content
All of the compositions were written by Coltrane, with the exception of the standard "I'm Old Fashioned." The title track is a long, rhythmically variegated blues with a brooding minor theme that gradually shifts to major during Coltrane's first chorus. "Locomotion" is also a blues riff tune, in thirty-two-bar form.[3] During a 1960 interview, Coltrane described Blue Train as his favorite album of his own up to that point.[4]
[edit] Legacy
Coltrane's next major album, 1960's Giant Steps, would break new melodic and harmonic ground in jazz, whereas Blue Train adheres to the hard bop style of the era. Two of its songs — "Moment's Notice" and "Lazy Bird" — demonstrate Coltrane's first recorded use of Coltrane changes, which he would later expand upon on Giant Steps. Musicologist Lewis Porter has also demonstrated a harmonic relationship between Coltrane's "Lazy Bird" and Tadd Dameron's "Lady Bird".[5]
In 1997, The Ultimate Blue Train was released, adding two alternate takes and enhanced content, and in 1999 a 24bit 192kHz DVD-Audio version was issued. In 2003, both a Super Audio Compact Disc version was released, as well as a remastered compact disc as part of Blue Note's Rudy Van Gelder series.
The artwork on the cover was inspired by Picasso's Blue Period, and Coltrane is said to have been a proponent of Picasso's avant-garde movement, consequently giving his album name deeper interpretational, and perhaps more significant meaning.[citation needed] The iconic cover photo taken by Francis Wolff would inspire the cover design of Scott Weiland's 1998 album 12 Bar Blues and All of the Above by J-Live. The cover of Blue Train is also seen on a wall in a coffee shop on the South Park episode With Apologies to Jesse Jackson.
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Side one
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Blue Train" | John Coltrane | 10:43 |
| 2. | "Moment's Notice" | John Coltrane | 9:10 |
[edit] Side two
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Locomotion" | John Coltrane | 7:14 |
| 2. | "I'm Old Fashioned" | Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern | 7:58 |
| 3. | "Lazy Bird" | John Coltrane | 7:00 |
[edit] 2003 bonus tracks
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Blue Train" (alternate take) | John Coltrane | 9:58 |
| 2. | "Lazy Bird" (alternate take) | John Coltrane | 7:12 |
[edit] Personnel
- John Coltrane – tenor saxophone, bandleader
- Paul Chambers – double bass
- Kenny Drew – piano
- Curtis Fuller – trombone
- Philly Joe Jones – drums
- Lee Morgan – trumpet
[edit] References
- ^ Blue Train (album) at Allmusic
- ^ RIAA Gold and Platinum Search retrieved August 2, 2011
- ^ Jazz Discography on-line
- ^ Lewis Porter. John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1999. ISBN 0-472-10161-7, p. 157.
- ^ Porter, pp. 128-131.
