Sunday, March 31, 2019

Album Review: Coltrane '58: The Prestige Recordings


I devoured all five hours and 38 minutes of Coltrane ‘58: The Prestige Recordings in just two listening sessions this weekend.  After devoting much of March to the avant-garde sounds of today, bingeing on one of the most disruptive artists of 1958 has been as refreshing as chugging cool water on a hot summer day.  Even though I’m familiar with most of the material on the new box set, hearing it presented in chronological order provides fresh perspectives.  I’m particularly struck by my reaction to Red Garland.  The pianist’s combination of intelligence and soulfulness on the earliest dates are awe-inspiring.  Yet Garland’s inability to adjust to Coltrane’s rapid evolution occasionally threatens to send me into a blind rage.  (To be fair, pianists Tommy Flanagan, Elmo Hope and Kenny Drew also had a hard time keeping up.)  I can only imagine Coltrane’s frustration.


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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I reviewed Dave Scott’s In Search of Hipness and suggest that Kansas City is the land that time forgot at Plastic Sax.

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Scott Walker has died.

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Ranking Roger has died.

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The lineup of the We Out Here festival in August makes me giddy.  Round-trip flights to London start at $650.  Do I dare pull the trigger?

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Shafiq Husayn’s The Loop would be a contender for my album of the year if the songs were just a little less loopy.  RIYL: To Pimp a Butterfly, marijuana, There’s a Riot Goin’ On.

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I’m not laughing at the Faint; I’m laughing with them.  The members of the Omaha band sound as if they’re having a blast crafting variations on decades-old industrial pop and electronic funk on Egowerk.  RIYL: Front Line Assembly, Wax Trax, Front 242.  Here’s “Child Asleep”.

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(Original image of an old OJC reissue by There Stands the Glass.)

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