Jazz

John Coltrane: Crescent

Crescent

Music
by John Coltrane | Jun 28, 2022

Music

Sonics

Released in July of 1964, Crescent occupies a unique place in the discography of John Coltrane’s classic quartet, as it’s the first studio album where an unaugmented version of the group recorded a full album of all-original material. The recordings took place earlier that year at Van Gelder Studios, where the music literally received the white glove treatment. Mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog tapes, the Acoustic Sounds vinyl edition of the stereo recording stands out for its transparency, pinpointing the individual contributions of each band member and also capturing the synergy of an ensemble that, since its first performance in 1960, continued to reach new musical heights. The deep, woody sound of Jimmy Garrison’s bass solo on “Lonnie’s Lament” and the timbre of Elvin Jones’ drum solo on “The Drum Thing” have a startling in-the-room presence. On “Wise One” and on the quieter passages that appear on the title track and “Lonnie Lament,” the nuanced interplay between all four musicians (including the piano work of McCoy Tyner) is worth savoring. And when the quartet launches into “Bessie’s Blues,” it delivers a lesson in swing. Quite simply, the masters at work.

Tags: JAZZ MUSIC

More Info

Media	LP
Label	Impulse/Acoustic Sounds
Contributors	John Coltrane Primary artist

By Jeff Wilson

This will take some explaining, but I can connect the dots between pawing through LPs at a headshop called Elysian Fields in Des Moines, Iowa, as a seventh grader, and becoming the Music Editor for The Absolute Sound. At that starting point—around 1970/71—Elysian Fields had more LPs than any other store in Des Moines. Staring at all the colorful covers was both tantalizing and frustrating. I had no idea who most of the artists were, because radio played only a fraction of what was current. To figure out what was going on, I realized that I needed to build a record collection—and as anyone who’s visited me since high school can testify, I succeeded. Record collecting was still in my blood when, starting in the late 1980s, the Cincinnati Public Library book sale suddenly had an Elysian Fields quantity of LPs from people who’d switched to CDs. That’s where I met fellow record hawk Mark Lehman, who preceded me as music editor of TAS. Mark introduced me to Jonathan Valin, whose 1993 detective novel The Music Lovers depicts the battles between record hawks at library sales. That the private eye in the book, Harry Stoner, would stumble upon a corpse or two while unraveling the mystery behind the disappearance of some rare Living Stereo platters made perfect sense to me. After all, record collecting is serious business. Mark knew my journalistic experience included concert reviews for The Cincinnati Enquirer and several long, sprawling feature articles in the online version of Crawdaddy. When he became TAS music editor in 2008, he contacted me about writing for the magazine. I came on board shortly after the latest set of obituaries had been written for vinyl—and, as fate had it, right when the LP started to make yet another unexpected comeback. Suddenly, I found myself scrambling to document all the record companies pressing vinyl. Small outfits were popping up world-wide, and many were audiophile-oriented, plus already existing record companies began embracing the format again. Trying to keep track of everything made me feel, again, like that overwhelmed seventh grader in Elysian Fields, and as Music Editor I’ve found that keeping my finger on the pulse of the music world also requires considerable detective work. I’ve never had a favorite genre, but when it comes time to sit down and do some quality listening, for me nothing beats a well-recorded small-group jazz recording on vinyl. If a stereo can give me warmth and intimacy, tonal accuracy, clear imaging, crisp-sounding cymbals, and deep, woody-sounding bass, then I’m a happy camper.