The Pick and Rofl Offence: Dun Know The Trane

This is a mix which I’ve used a few times to introduce some people to John Coltrane. It’s just an introductory selection of his music, some favourites of mine which I think cover a good range of his career and output. Trane had many different phases, participating in varied movements in music, obsessively seeking out new styles, new methods, new ideas. I tried to include some examples of many of them – from beautiful, restrained ballads (In A Sentimental Mood, Central Park West) to displays of furiously technical brilliance (Countdown), from avante-garde assaults (Sun Ship, Mars) to sombre funereal laments (Alabama), magnificent swinging hard bop (Moment’s Notice, Giant Steps) and enduring collaborations with fellow legends (Take The Coltrane, Monk’s Mood). However, no tracks on here are taken from his most famous and perhaps most important album, A Love Supreme – an incredible suite of music, but best-enjoyed when listened to as a whole (link provided separately, below).

John Coltrane – Dun Know The Trane

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01. Moment’s Notice (Blue Train)
02. Take The Coltrane (Duke Ellington & John Coltrane)
03. Greensleeves (Africa/Brass)
04. My Favourite Things (My Favourite Things)
05. Monk’s Mood (Thelonious Monk Quartet w/ John Coltrane)
06. Lush Life (John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman)
07. In A Sentimental Mood (Duke Ellington & John Coltrane)
08. Alabama (Live at Birdland)
09. Dear Lord (Transition)
10. Central Park West (Coltrane’s Sound)
11. Body & Soul (Coltrane’s Sound)
12. Mr. Day (Coltrane Plays The Blues)
13. I Want To Talk About You (Afro-Blue Impressions)
14. Giant Steps (Giant Steps)
15. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings)
16. Countdown (Giant Steps)
17. Sun Ship (Sun Ship)
18. Mars (Interstellar Space)

John Coltrane – A Love Supreme

Coltrane here focuses his soul and spirit into crafting an offering to God: expressing a deeply spiritual journey of struggle and epiphany, and affirming thanks and devotion to the truth and beauty of the almighty. It’s powerfully intense and sublimely emotional, and culminates in Trane playing out the cadence of a poem/prayer he included in the liner notes. Intense and amazing music.