Reissue : ‘Impulse! Years’: Lasting Impressions of Coltrane

JOHN COLTRANE ‘A John Coltrane Retrospective: The Impulse! Years”

Impulse!/GRP

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It is ironic, indeed almost unfathomable, that the enormous impact John Coltrane had on jazz came in a brief 12-year period, beginning with his recordings with Miles Davis’ quintet in 1955 and ending with his demise in 1967 of liver cancer.

This exceptional three CD-set documents the last half of Coltrane’s career, when his fascination with traditional, chordal-based improvisation had given way to a zealous brand of free-wheeling spontaneity that occasionally approached musical anarchy.

The saxophonist’s proclivity for playing with abandon over a throbbing yet mostly straight-ahead rhythmic pulse is highlighted in such sterling examples as 1961’s “Impressions,” a two-chord modal piece patterned to a degree on Davis’ “So What.” Here, Coltrane--his tone gruff and dark one moment, golden and buoyant the next--takes slivers of ideas and, like a cubist, examines them from a score of aural angles. Then there’s 1965’s “Nature Boy,” which begins with a tender melody reading and becomes a roaring, sometimes screaming, exposition. “Chim Chim Cheree,” “Chasin’ the Trane” and “Miles’ Mode” are similarly unbridled.

Less intense than these wild forays are pieces that are slow and sensuous, yet still full of adventure, such as the comely “Spiritual” and the searching “Crescent,” where Coltrane seems to hold a question-and-answer session with himself.

Finally, there are the love songs--”What’s New”--and tunes that sound like prayers--”Dear Lord”--where the saxophonist demonstrates that no matter how much he pushed the edges of his music, there was still a place in his work for pure melody.

While the collection is an ideal starting point for listeners who wish to become familiar with the revered jazzman’s later stages, it will also prove rewarding for Coltrane aficionados who may own only a CD or two, or who enjoy the breadth of scope that only an anthology can present.