Olé Coltrane

1961 studio album by John Coltrane
Olé Coltrane
Studio album by
John Coltrane
ReleasedNovember 1961 (1961-11)[1][2]
RecordedMay 25, 1961
StudioA & R (New York City)
GenreModal jazz
Length36:50 original LP
45:50 CD reissue
LabelAtlantic
SD 1373
ProducerNesuhi Ertegun
John Coltrane chronology
Africa/Brass
(1961) 		Olé Coltrane
(1961) 		Settin' the Pace
(1961)

Olé Coltrane is an album by jazz musician John Coltrane released in November 1961 on Atlantic Records.[1][2] The album was recorded at A&R Studios in New York, and was the last of Coltrane's Atlantic albums to be made under his own supervision.

Background

Two days prior to the recording of Olé Coltrane, Coltrane had made Africa/Brass, his inaugural recording session for his new label, Impulse! Records, at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.[3] With one further album due his old label Atlantic, he brought in his working quintet along with two participants in the Africa/Brass sessions, Art Davis and Freddie Hubbard.[4] Owing to his concurrent contract with Prestige Records, Eric Dolphy was listed on the credits under the pseudonym George Lane.[5]

Coltrane's interest in the music of Spain evident in "Olé", may have been spurred by his ex-employer Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain from the previous year.[6] The structure and melody of the modal jazz vamp "Olé" was borrowed from the Spanish folk song "El Vito" (later used as the tune of "El Quinto Regimiento" from the Spanish Civil War, which was made known by Pete Seeger), while the soprano saxophone work recalled 1961's "My Favorite Things".

The titles for the songs on side two reflect the band's continued interest in African forms as expressed on the May 23 Africa/Brass recordings. McCoy Tyner commented: "On 'Dahomey Dance' [Coltrane] had a record of these guys who were from Dahomey, which is why he used two bassists. He showed that rhythm to Art Davis and Reggie Workman. So the influence was there."[7] Tyner's "Aisha," a ballad, was named after the pianist's then-wife.[8]

On September 19, 2000, Rhino Records reissued Olé Coltrane as part of its Atlantic 50th Anniversary Jazz Gallery series. Included was a single bonus track which had appeared on The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings in 1995.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Down Beat[10]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz[11]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[12]
All About Jazz[13]

In a review for AllMusic, Lindsay Planer wrote: "The complicated rhythm patterns and diverse sonic textures on Olé Coltrane are evidence that John Coltrane was once again charting his own course. His sheer ability as a maverick -- beyond his appreciable musical skills -- guides works such as this to new levels, ultimately advancing the entire art form."[9]

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 3 stars, noting that the presence of Hubbard "helped expand the timbral range, pointing to the new, more orchestrated sound Coltrane was interested in developing at the time," but cautioned: "interesting as it is episodically, Olé never quite holds the attention."[11]

Writing for All About Jazz, John Ballon commented: "A transitional record, Olé Coltrane successfully navigates the line between Trane's sonically challenging later years and his earlier accessibility. A magnificent milestone in Trane's artistic growth, this is an essential recording for any collection."[13]

In an article for Treble Zine, Jeff Terich stated: "You can point to any moment of Coltrane's playing on Olé and it would pretty much seal up why this hovers among the highest tier of the best John Coltrane albums. But it's how the entire ensemble works in harmony to create a stunning whole that this belongs not just in the ranks of the best John Coltrane albums, but jazz’s greatest albums as well."[14]

Recording engineer Phil Ramone recalled that the recording session taught him a great deal about "how to condense a musical thought without diluting its coherence or artistic intention," and acknowledged that Coltrane's ability to self-edit affected the way he shaped other records with which he was involved.[15]

Track listing

Side one

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Olé"John Coltrane18:17

Side two

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Dahomey Dance"John Coltrane10:53
2."Aisha"McCoy Tyner7:40

1989 reissue bonus track

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
4."To Her Ladyship"Billy Frazier8:54

Personnel

Production personnel

Influence

Olé has also been performed and recorded by Noah Howard on his live albums Live In Europe, Vol. 1 (1975) and Berlin Concert (1977) and by Coltrane's later sideman Pharoah Sanders, on his live album Heart Is a Melody from 1982.

In 1978, McCoy Tyner recorded a trio version of "Aisha" with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams for the album Counterpoints.[16]

In a 1998 interview for Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Ray Manzarek cited Coltrane’s Ole as an influence to his solo in The Doors’ song “Light My Fire.”

References

  1. ^ a b DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Schmaler, Wolf; Wild, David (2013). Porter, Lewis (ed.). The John Coltrane Reference. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. p. 612. ISBN 9780415634632. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b Editorial Staff, Cash Box (November 18, 1961). "November Album Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  3. ^ Lewis Porter. John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1999. ISBN 0-472-10161-7, p. 364.
  4. ^ "Olé Coltrane. Rhino R2 79965, liner notes, pp. 2-4.
  5. ^ Porter, p. 212
  6. ^ Porter, p. 212
  7. ^ Watrous, Peter (1993). "John Coltrane: A Life Supreme". In Rowland, Mark; Scherman, Tony (eds.). The Jazz Musician. St. Martin's Press. pp. 177–178.
  8. ^ "A Song I Love – Aisha by John Coltrane". Music Enthusiast. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  9. ^ a b Planer, Lindsay. "John Coltrane: Olé Coltrane". AllMusic. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  10. ^ Down Beat: February 1, 1962 vol. 29, no. 3
  11. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  12. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 47. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  13. ^ a b Ballon, John (November 23, 2003). "John Coltrane: Olé Coltrane". All About Jazz. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  14. ^ Terich, Jeff (September 24, 2019). "A Beginner's Guide to the Transcendent Jazz of John Coltrane". Treble Zine. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  15. ^ Ramone, Phil (2007). Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music. Hachette Books.
  16. ^ Dryden, Ken. "McCoy Tyner: Counterpoints: Live in Tokyo". AllMusic. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
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