I love you (John Coltrane) (LP 4840 - 4842)

John Coltrane  Lush Life (Vinyl, Prestige Records, 1961) ****  

Charlie Hunter Trio  Bing, Bing, Bing! (Vinyl, Blue Note Records, 1995/ reissued 2022) ****  

The Dave Brubeck Quartet  Jazz at Oberlin (Vinyl, Fantasy Records, 1953/ reissued 2023) *** 

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I Love You (Lush Life)

Gear costume: Bullethead (Bing, Bing, Bing!), Perdido (Jazz at Oberlin)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: I picked up these albums from the $10 sale bin at Palmerston North's JB Hi Fi recently. 

Coltrane's Lush Life is a compilation of unissued tracks from earlier sessions in 1957 and 1958. How extraordinary is that! These are brilliant sessions with Coltrane in fine form. He's joined at various times by Red Garland (a favourite of mine) and Paul Chambers. I was also able to get two other early Coltrane albums on Prestige in the sale on vinyl that I already have on CD - Coltrane (his first session as leader) and Soultrane.

Lush Life features Coltrane in a trio with Earl May and Art Taylor on side one (my preference) and then as a quartet and quintet on side two.

Charlie Hunter has featured on my collection countdown previously (see here). Bing, Bing, Bing! was his first album for Blue Note and it features him with his trio. Charlie plays eight-string guitar (yes - 8 - the eighth creates the basslines), Dave Ellis is on sax and Jay Lane plays the drums.

It's an excellent album from some terrific master musicians. The AllMusic review that I consulted prior to purchase said, "The music on Bing, Bing, Bing! crosses over between straight-ahead jamming to '70s retro-funk (à la Eddie Harris) that is infectious enough to fit into an acid jazz setting. However, even at its funkiest, the rhythms are subtle and the improvising reasonably creative, making this a potentially popular group who should still interest jazz listeners".

Jazz at Oberlin is a 1953 album by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. My Dad was a big fan of The DBQ, but he didn't have this one in his collection (which has passed to me), nor is it a featured album on any of the CD compilations that I own.

So, I was really excited to grab this for under $10 at JB Hi Fi along with those other albums. It's great getting a new pressing of an album that predates me by four years! There's the heavy cardboard cover and the heavy weight pristine vinyl before the needle even hits the grooves.

When it does the Quartet explodes into action with a superb The Way You Look Tonight. Paul Desmond is in firey form throughout. Perdido is one of my favourites from The Dave Brubeck Quartet and they include an excellent version on Jazz at Oberlin.

Some quibbles - the abrupt audience cut off after each track is off-putting and Dave's piano is low in the mix. I guess blame live recording techniques of the early 1950s? Apart from that this is a terrific record of their historic trip to Oberlin College.

Where do they all belong? Go JB! You've done it again!