Top notch musicians, top notch arrangements, great album. Coltrane brought in a great band on this record and a nice bluesy flair. The first song Blue Train has in my opinion one of Coltrane's Greatest beginnings to a solo I have heard by him, there's great solo's throughout that song in general. Moment's Notice has a beautiful main theme reminiscent of a big band like style. Locomotion has one of my favorite main theme's on this album, a nice driving bluesy theme. I found it a rare occurrence for an artists to let another member of the band play the main theme on the track Lazy Bird, which I think is a great thing to do. Alongside Coltrane's great solos is Lee Morgan on the Trumpet which is my favorite up front soloists on this album, makes me think of him as the Louis Armstrong of Bop. Curtis Fuller is a great Trombonists, which he puts to good use seemingly with ease. It's also great to have Paul Chambers on there one of my favorite bassists does great accompaniment as usual, and great solo's. I have trust with Coltrane to bring a good drummer on an album and he does with Philly Joe Jones who is great also.
By: Craiglend.
Blue Train is a studio album by jazz legend John Coltrane, released in January 1958 on Blue Note Records, catalogue BLP 1577. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, it is the only Blue Note recording by Coltrane as session leader.
The album was recorded in the midst of Coltrane's residency at the Five Spot as a member of the Thelonious Monk quartet. The personnel include Coltrane's Miles Davis bandmates, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums, both of whom had worked before with pianist Kenny Drew. Both trumpeter Lee Morgan and trombonist Curtis Fuller were up-and-coming jazz musicians, and both were members of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in due course. Unlike his previous label, Blue Note paid the musicians to rehearse the music for a couple of days before the recording session.
All of the compositions were written by Coltrane, with the exception of the standard "I'm Old Fashioned". Though at this point his compositions used conventional diatonic harmonies, they were set in unconventional ways. The title track is a blues with a quasi-minor (Eb7#9) theme. "Locomotion" is also a blues riff tune, in forty-four-bar form. "Lazy Bird" is in part a transposition into the key of "G" of a Tadd Dameron composition of the same title.
Coltrane's playing exhibits the move toward what would become his signature style. His solos are more harmonic or "vertical" and lines arpeggiated. His timing was often apart from or over the beat, rather than playing on or behind it. During a 1960 interview, Coltrane described Blue Train as his favorite album of his own up to that point.
A1 Blue Train
A2 Moment's Notice
B1 Locomotion
B2 I'm Old Fashioned
B3 Lazy Bird
• Bass – Paul Chambers (3)
• Design [Cover] – Reid Miles
• Drums – "Philly" Joe Jones
• Lacquer Cut By – HL*
• Liner Notes – Robert Levin (2)
• Mastered By – Alan Yashida
• Photography By – Francis Wolff
• Piano – Kenny Drew
• Producer – Alfred Lion
• Recorded By – Rudy Van Gelder
• Research [Art Archives] – Tom Vadakan
• Tenor Saxophone – John Coltrane
• Trombone – Curtis Fuller
• Trumpet – Lee Morgan
Recorded on September 15, 1957.
Back to Black – reissue thru Universal Music.
Includes a download voucher MP3.
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