Kenny Burrell/John Coltrane: Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane (Original Jazz Classics series) [CRAFT]

Why you'll love it

This Original Jazz Classics edition is all-analog: Matthew Lutthans cut the lacquers from the original tapes and RTI pressed it on 180g vinyl. It's a rare meeting of Burrell's silky guitar and Coltrane's tenor, with Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb behind them.

This edition

• Original Jazz Classics series
• 180g vinyl
• Mono
• AAA lacquers cut from the original master tapes
• Pressed at RTI
• Obi strip
• Pressed in the USA

About the album

Some of the best jazz records began as a day's work. On March 7, 1958, Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane walked into Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, with a first-class rhythm section in tow, and played. Prestige's New Jazz imprint finally put the session out in 1963, by which point Coltrane had become a very different, very famous musician.

Tommy Flanagan sets the tone with two of his own tunes, the bright, swinging opener "Freight Trane" and the easy-rolling closer "Big Paul," a nod to bassist Paul Chambers. Burrell's "Lyresto" gives everyone room to stretch, "I Never Knew" moves at a happy clip, and "Why Was I Born" strips things down to guitar and tenor alone, a gorgeous, unhurried duet that shows how well these two listened to each other.

Coltrane had just rejoined Miles Davis and was about a year from Kind of Blue and Giant Steps, so this catches him right on the cusp. Five tracks, one afternoon, and still more conversation than most of us manage at a dinner party.

Also at Kops: more Kenny Burrell on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On New Jazz / Craft (cat# CR00720), a reissue of the 1963 album.