Review: Famously, John Coltrane recorded the music on Coltrane Plays The Blues during the sessions for the more celebrated and ground-breaking My Favourite Things, with his former label Atlantic - who had paid for the sessions - initially releasing the album against his wishes. In many ways it's great they did, because it remains one of jazz's truly great sets - albeit one that at the time was overshadowed by the saxophonist's other work of the 1960s. It's breezy, emotive, occasionally smoky and - as you'd expect from the title - effortlessly bluesy, with Coltrane improvising superb sax solos atop a bed of bass (played by Steve Davis), drums (Elvin Jones) and piano (McCoy Tyner). This reissue is a "hybrid CD", containing both regular and 'super audio' versions. For those with access to the latter technology, the album has never sounded better.
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