The previous reviews are very useful and accurate if you're considering buying the album "Coltrane" on Impulse!, recorded in 1962. But this is actually the 1957 album "Coltrane", which came out on Prestige.

Coltrane's career didn't begin when he signed to Impulse! (contrary to what the label sometimes tries to imply), nor did it begin when he signed to Atlantic.

Before both of these labels, he was on Prestige recording a bunch of albums which tend to get overlooked nowadays. The assumption that these albums are "merely" orthodox hard bop is a stupid slander.

There's some great Coltrane stuff on Prestige, "Settin' The Pace" (with a ridiculous Trane solo on "Little Melonae", and some great work by Red Garland), "Lush Life", with a lovely Milesish statement of "Like Someone in Love" and some brilliant drum performances from Art Taylor, particularly on "I Love You".

And this album is a nice one too, the opener is beautifully orchestrated, reminding me of some of Dolphy's orchestrations on the "Far Cry" album with Booker Little. "Straight Street", a tune with some nicely executed metrical chopping and a head doubled by Trane and Johnny Splawn swings like a bastard. And with Mal Waldron and Paul Chambers in tow, you can't go wrong.

John Coltrane recorded so frequently for the Prestige label during '56-'58 that it's tough to figure out where to start. This May 1957 recording, coming just after his departure from the Miles Davis Quintet, is a pretty good initiation; it doesn't reach the heights of Blue Train (the indisputable classic from Trane's early period, recorded for Blue Note) but is still a great session of hard bop with plenty of Coltrane's powerful, intense playing. The album's peaks are two ballads ("Violets for Your Furs", "While My Lady Sleeps" -- Coltrane was already an incredible ballad player by this time) and the tense "Bakai". The other tracks are all prime hard bop. My only real complaint is about the rest of the players: the rhythm section (Mal Waldron and Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Al Heath on drums) is excellent, but Johnny Splawn (trumpet) and Sahib Shihab (baritone sax) pale in comparison to some of the other horn players Coltrane recorded with around this time. Nevertheless, First Trane is a great purchase for any Coltrane fan; the 20 bit remaster by Fantasy has crystal clear sound. One final note: this album is actually titled "Coltrane" on the CD. There's another (excellent) album of the same name which John Coltrane recorded in 1962 for the Impulse! label in a very different style. Be aware which one you are buying.

[This review is based on the K2 20-bit remaster, which if other comparisons offer any guide, has superior sound quality to the OJC version issued in 1991.]

Beautiful sound. Coletrane hits the ground running with this recording. Worth the money several times over.

Someday, when music critics are looking back for a sound that truly speaks to the inner heart and soul of the early '60s in America, it may well be the virtuosity of John Coltrane. Bob Thiele's recording sessions with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, along with Coltrane's legato and what Elvin Jones does to the waltz tempo of Arlen & Mercer's "Out Of This World", is simply, just that.