Album of the Month: Blue Train - John Coltrane
John Coltrane was one of absolute premier players of his era, and his body of work is a staggering achievement in it's quality. 1958's Blue Train was only his 2nd album as band-leader. It features his at-the-time Miles Davis bandmates Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones (bass and drums), and soon-to-be members of The Jazz Messengers in Lee Morgan and Curtis Fuller (trumpet and trombone), alongside keyboardist Kenny Drew. Blue Train has some of Coltrane's absolute best arrangements. Less improvisational and experimental than his later works, Blue Train would preface his capabilities in the avant-garde with an absolute mastery in hard bop jazz.
Opener "Blue Train" instantly demonstrates what this record does best. A quick call-and-response between horns and piano leads into a blistering solo by Coltrane, punctuated by Morgan and Fuller's perfectly layered stabs carrying the tracks main motif. Jazz isn't usually typified by overt melody, but that is one of the key elements that make this album such a listening pleasure. Just about every track is driven by some melodic heartbeat, with the band taking turns carrying the torch forward.
The following track, "Moment's Notice", feels at parts like a nostalgic theme song. It's bouncy piano, walking bassline, and muted trumpet tone work together beautifully. For this, and despite it's reasonable tempo and technical playing, the song largely remains calm. That is until the mute comes off the trumpet and the drums open up. Suddenly the intermittent counter-point melody becomes a driving force through Morgan's extended solo.
And the closer "Lazy Bird", coming off of the very cool-jazz-esque standard "I'm Old Fashioned", absolutely blitzes the end of the album. With a particularly excellent performance from Jones, subtle only when necessary, and otherwise filling in the gaps with soft spikes of ghost-notes before leading to an astounding drum solo. The track also has my favourite of Coltrane's solos on Blue Train. It hits all the marks of a great Coltrane solo: flying through arpeggios, it's bright and flashy yet fast and obtuse enough to keep from feeling overly bombastic.
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