Research on yet another extracurricular (i.e., non-Rifftides) project involving John Coltrane has led me into several byways that the great tenor saxophonist took in his pre-“Giant Steps†days of the 1950s. One of those paths branched off from the association with Miles Davis that formed a milieu in which Coltrane flowered. After he left Davis, he formed his own band and played an essential role in changing the music’s direction. In the studio on his own in the fifties, he often had Davis’s rhythm section with him. In the case of his 1957 recording of “You Leave Me Breathless,†he took two-thirds of the section; pianist Red Garland and bassist Paul Chambers, with Arthur Taylor on drums rather than Davis’s Philly Joe Jones. Coltrane created a spell with a lavishly slow take on the 1938 Hollander-Freed song.
“You Leave Me Breathless,†by the way, provided the harmonic framework on which in 1956 Quincy Jones created the celebrated “Stockholm Sweetnin’†for his big band.
More on the latest Coltrane project as it gets nearer to seeing the light of day. Rifftides output is likely to slow a bit while this is underway.
Have a good weekend.