I remember reading in Miles Davis’ autobiography that he found out John Coltrane was quitting his quintet after reading it in an article. Though small in size, after he read the article, he went up to Coltrane and punched him in the stomach for not telling him first. Though this event by no means is comparable to the East Coast-West Coast rap wars, it was an excellent opportunity for Coltrane to go on his own path of defining his sound and becoming the legendary and revolutionary jazz legend he is now known as today.
The recordings on this six CD box set include sessions which would later lay the ground work for such classic albums as Coltrane, Traneing In, Soultrane, The Believer, and Lush Life. All of these albums recorded during and after his sideman gig in the Miles Davis Quintet, which was disbanded in 1957, and signing on to the Prestige label as a first-time band leader at the age of 30.
While this set does not include the far-out genre pushing playing that he would do on his later recordings, it does focus on his earlier straight ahead style of playing and really shows his dexterity and ability to play the tenor sax fast and slow with a warmth and style that would later be front and center on his masterpiece recording A Love Supreme.
With a thick 64 page booklet full of photos and liner notes on many of the records he put out on the Prestige label, this is a nicely packaged set, showing the musical prowess of my favorite jazz legend. While Fearless Leader is more for someone who is already knowledgeable about jazz (seriously, only jazz geeks could appreciate track-for-track liner notes), it is a good introduction to the state of jazz back when it was cool and still edgy, rather than the history lesson and tribute to the jazz greats the genre has become. |