Search - John Coltrane :: Like Sonny

Like Sonny and Ray Draper - A Tuba Jazz on the same CD

El Roi | Atlanta, GA USA | 02/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is actually two LP's on one CD. The first four tunes are from:

John Coltrane - Like Sonny (Roulette ROU 1012): John Coltrane (ts) McCoy Tyner (p) Steve Davis (b) Billy Higgins (d)

United Recording Studios, Los Angeles, CA, September 8, 1960

#1 Exotica (alt. take)

&

John Coltrane/Lee Morgan - The Best Of Birdland, Vol. 1 (Roulette SR 52094): same session - United Recording Studios, Los Angeles, CA, September 8, 1960

#2 Exotica

#3 One For Four (aka Mr. Day)

#4 Simple Like (aka Like Sonny)

And the last six are from:

Ray Draper - A Tuba Jazz (Jubilee JLP 1090): Ray Draper (tu) John Coltrane (ts) John Maher (p) Spanky DeBrest (b) Larry Richie (d)

NYC, November, 1958

#5 Essil's Dance

#6 Doxy

#7 I Talk To The Trees

#8 Yesterdays

#9 Oleo

#10 Angel Eyes"

An often overlooked gem

El Roi | 10/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The outstanding tracks from this recording are the first four from a 1960 session with McCoy Tyner, Steve Davis and Billy Higgins. This session released on Roulette marks a bridge between Coltrane's Prestige/Blue Note recordings and those on Atlantic.
The quartet sounds fresh, relaxed and spontaneous, the session has an effervescent spirituality and transcendence that is more subtle and less weighty than some of his later "religious" recordings, e.g. A Love Supreme.
McCoy Tyner sounds light and joyous, and on these four cuts, Coltrane seems to have found whatever he was searching for all those years.
After listening to this album for over 25 years, it's haunting beauty continues to grow on me. It has always between my favourite Coltrane recording and possibly my favourite jazz album of all time. Do not overlook this recording!"

Coltrane at his most accessible

thisnicknameisnottaken | 05/17/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You won't find any of the incredible, epic solos that made Coltrane famous here; _Like Sonny_ can better be described as 'pleasant' than 'epic'. That's not to say it's bad, though, or even shallow, of course.. this is unmistakably Coltraneish (and Tynerish - actually, the first four tracks on this CD represent the first time they played together), but in a more playful frame of mood. (Hey, how serious can you be with a tuba as part of your jazz ensemble?) Rewards close listening, also rewards uncritical grooving to the beat. My personal favourite tracks are "One and Four", the disc opener with the trademark Coltrane bass-then-drums-then-everyone-else opening and a casually sublime head, and "I Talk to the Trees", which starts with a neat drum solo and quickly reveals itself as a smouldering, effortlessly cool Latin groove."