John Coltrane & Kenny Burrell

The last meeting for the saxophonist and guitarist before their styles radically diverged is revivified in yellow vinyl

1187

Coltrane and Burrell’s performance history went back to their time as members of the Dizzy Gillespie band in 1951 and subsequent recordings together on other musicians’ albums. This collaboration proved to be the last time they recorded together.

Generally extremely well received upon release (five stars in Downbeat) this slightly unlikely combination brought out the best in both players, aided and abetted by an excellent rhythm section.

Thereafter, Coltrane and Burrell’s paths took a decidedly different route, the saxophonist taking the music into uncharted territory and the guitarist further establishing himself as one of the main men on his instrument in the post-bop era.

For those collecting this variously coloured vinyl series from Waxtime, this one comes in yellow…

Discography
(1) Freight Trane; I Never Knew; Lyresto; (2) Why Was I Born?; (1) Big Paul; (3) Russian Lullaby (43.02)
(1) Coltrane (ts); Burrell (g); Tommy Flanagan (p); Paul Chambers (b); Jimmy Cobb (d). New Jersey, 7 March 1958.
(2) as (1) but Coltrane and Burrell only.
(3) Coltrane (ts); Red Garland (p); Chambers (b); Art Taylor (d). New Jersey, 7 February 1958.
Waxtime In Color 950728