Tommy Flanagan/John Coltrane/Kenny Burrell/Idrees Sulieman: The Cats (Original Jazz Classics Series) [CRAFT]

Why you'll love it

This Original Jazz Classics pressing is all analogue, cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, in mono with an obi strip. It puts a young John Coltrane alongside Kenny Burrell and Tommy Flanagan in prime Prestige form.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• All-analogue mastering from the original tapes
• Lacquers cut by Kevin Gray
• Pressed at RTI
• Mono
• Obi strip
• Pressed in the USA

About the album

Detroit sent New York a remarkable crop of jazz players in the 1950s, and The Cats plays like a hometown reunion. Pianist Tommy Flanagan and guitarist Kenny Burrell both came up in the Motor City, and so did bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Louis Hayes, who complete the rhythm section on this April 1957 session. John Coltrane and trumpeter Idrees Sulieman make up the front line. It's a classic Prestige-style blowing date, recorded in a single day at Rudy Van Gelder's studio with no fuss and a lot of swing.

Flanagan leads, and his tunes set the agenda. "Minor Mishap" opens on a bright, bluesy line, "Eclypso" has a sly calypso bounce, and "Tommy's Time" is a long, relaxed blues where everyone gets room to stretch. In the middle, Flanagan's trio takes "How Long Has This Been Going On?" on its own, a gorgeous breather between the blowing.

Prestige issued the session in 1959 on its New Jazz imprint, by which time Coltrane was busy recording Giant Steps. Six cats, one session, and not a single hair on the furniture.

Also at Kops: more Tommy Flanagan on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On New Jazz / Craft (cat# CR00614), a reissue of the 1959 album.