Blue Train (album)

Blue Train
Studio album by John Coltrane
Released	January 1958 (1958-01) [1]
Recorded	September 15, 1957
Studio	Van Gelder Studio Hackensack, NJ
Genre	Hard bop
Length	42:14
Label	Blue Note BLP 1577
Producer	Alfred Lion
John Coltrane chronology
Coltrane (1957) Blue Train (1958) John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio (1958)

Blue Train is a studio album by the jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. It was released through Blue Note Records in January 1958. ^[1] It is Coltrane's only session as leader for Blue Note. ^[8] The recording took place at Rudy Van Gelder's studio on September 15, 1957.

Coltrane wrote four of the record's five tracks. His playing exhibits early elements of the signature style for which he later became known. Blue Train attained a gold sales certification by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2001.

Background

The album was recorded in the midst of Coltrane's residency at the Five Spot as a member of the Thelonious Monk quartet. The personnel include Coltrane's Miles Davis bandmates, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums, both of whom had worked before with pianist Kenny Drew. Both trumpeter Lee Morgan and trombonist Curtis Fuller were up-and-coming jazz musicians, and both were members of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in due course. Unlike his previous label, Blue Note paid the musicians to rehearse the music for a couple of days before the recording session. ^[9]

Composition

All of the compositions were written by Coltrane, with the exception of the standard "I'm Old Fashioned". Though at this point his compositions used conventional diatonic harmonies, they were set in unconventional ways. ^[10] The title track is a bluesy song with a quasi-minor (Eb7#9) theme. "Locomotion" is also a blues riff tune, in forty-four-bar form. ^[11] "Lazy Bird" is in part a transposition into the key of "G" of the Tadd Dameron composition "Lady Bird". ^[12]

Style

Coltrane's playing exhibits the move toward what would become his signature style. His solos are more harmonic or "vertical" and lines arpeggiated. His timing was often apart from or over the beat, rather than playing on or behind it. ^[9] During a 1960 interview, Coltrane described Blue Train as his favorite album of his own up to that point. ^[13]

John Coltrane's next major album, Giant Steps , recorded in 1959, would break new melodic and harmonic ground in jazz, whereas Blue Train adheres to the hard bop style of the era. Musicologist Lewis Porter has also demonstrated a harmonic relationship between Coltrane's "Lazy Bird" and Tadd Dameron's "Lady Bird". ^{[14] [15]}

While on Joe Vella's podcast "Traneumentary", Michael Cuscuna, the reissue producer at Blue Note, commented:

We’re listening to Blue Train, which to me is one of the most beautiful pieces on one of the most beautiful records that Coltrane recorded in the fifties. It’s his first real mature statement and he wrote all but one of the tunes on this album which was very rare in the fifties and each one is a gem, particularly the title tune Blue Train. And while it’s kind of easy to play the blues, this has a suspended and haunting kind of quality to it. ^[16]

Reissues and certification

It had sold more than half a million copies by April 2001 and was thus certified with a gold sales certification by the RIAA the following year. ^{[7] [17]}

In 1997, The Ultimate Blue Train was released, adding two alternate takes and enhanced content, and in 1999 a 24bit 192 kHz DVD-Audio version was issued. In 2003, both a Super Audio Compact Disc version was released, as well as a remastered compact disc as part of Blue Note's Rudy Van Gelder series.

In 2015, Blue Note/Universal released a Blu-ray audio edition of the album with four bonus tracks, one of which is a previously unreleased take of "Lazy Bird". Alternate takes of "Moment's Notice" were released on Blue Train: The Complete Masters, in 2022.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[18]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[19]
Tom Hull	A− [20]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[21]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[22]

In 2000 it was voted number 339 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums . ^[23] He stated "Coltrane may have made more important albums, but none swung as effectively as this one.

Track listing

All tracks written by John Coltrane except where noted.

Side one

1. "Blue Train" –10:43
2. "Moment's Notice" –9:10

Side 2

1. "Locomotion" –7:14
2. "I'm Old Fashioned" (Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern) –7:58
3. "Lazy Bird" –7:00

Personnel

Musicians

• John Coltrane – tenor saxophone
• Lee Morgan – trumpet
• Curtis Fuller – trombone
• Kenny Drew – piano
• Paul Chambers – bass
• Philly Joe Jones – drums

Technical personnel

• Alfred Lion – producer
• Rudy Van Gelder – recording engineer, mastering
• Reid Miles – design
• Francis Wolff – photography
• Robert Levin – liner notes

Charts

Chart performance for Blue Train: Complete Masters

Chart (2022)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [24]	31
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [25]	17
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [26]	75
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [27]	39
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [28]	12
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [29]	43
Japanese Hot Albums ( Billboard Japan ) [30]	62
Scottish Albums (OCC) [31]	23
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [32]	21
US Billboard 200 [33]	95
US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard) [34]	1

Certifications

Certifications for Blue Train

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [35]	Gold	50,000^
Italy (FIMI) [36]	Platinum	50,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [37]	Gold	100,000^
United States (RIAA) [38]	Gold	500,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. ^{[2] [3] [4]}
2. DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Schmaler, Wolf; Wild, David (2013). Porter, Lewis (ed.). The John Coltrane Reference. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. p. 484. ISBN   9780415634632.
3. Parnes, Sid, ed. (January 18, 1958). "January Album Releases" (PDF). The Cash Box . New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. p. 45. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 10, 2021.
4. Ackerman, Paul, ed. (January 27, 1958). "Packaged Records Buying Guide" (PDF). The Billboard . Cincinnati: The Billboard Publishing Co. p. 26. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 7, 2023.
5. "John Coltrane - Blue Train". Blue Note Records . Santa Monica: Universal Music Group. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023.
6. Coleman, Nick (September 18, 1997). "Jazz: Capturing the Real Stuff on the Hoof". The Independent . London: Independent News & Media.
7. Franckling, Ken (October 28, 2002). "Jazz Notes: Goings on in the Jazz World". United Press International . Florida: UPI. Archived from the original on May 9, 2021.
8. ^{[5] [6] [7]}
9. Nisenson, Eric (1993). Ascension: John Coltrane and his Quest. St. Martin's Press. p. 59. ISBN   978-0312098384.
10. Brown, Leonard (2010). John Coltrane and Black America's Quest for Freedom . New York: Oxford University Press. p.  146. ISBN   978-0-19-971650-0.
11. Jazz Discography on-line
12. Porter, Lewis (1999). John Coltrane: His Life and Music . Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 128. ISBN   0-472-10161-7.
13. Porter, Lewis (1999). John Coltrane: His Life and Music . Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 157. ISBN   0-472-10161-7.
14. Porter, Lewis (1999). John Coltrane: His Life and Music . Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. pp. 128–131. ISBN   0-472-10161-7.
15. Cook, Richard (May 1, 2004). Blue Note Records: The Biography. Justin, Charles & Co. p. 103. ISBN   1-932112-27-8.
16. "Traneumentary Podcast - Blue Train". Mosaic Records - Home for Jazz fans!. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
17. RIAA Gold and Platinum Search retrieved August 2, 2011
18. Blue Train at AllMusic
19. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
20. Hull, Tom (n.d.). "Jazz (1940s-50s)". tomhull.com. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
21. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 284. ISBN   978-0-14-103401-0.
22. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 46. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
23. Larkin, Colin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 135. ISBN   0-7535-0493-6.
24. "Longplay Charts vom 27. September 2022". Ö3 Austria Top 40 . Retrieved September 27, 2022.
25. "Ultratop.be – John Coltrane – Blue Train" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
26. "Ultratop.be – John Coltrane – Blue Train" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
27. "Dutchcharts.nl – John Coltrane – Blue Train" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
28. "Offiziellecharts.de – John Coltrane – Blue Train" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
29. "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2022-09-26/p/5" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
30. "Billboard Japan Hot Albums: 2022/09/21 公開". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved September 21, 2022.
31. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
32. "Swisscharts.com – John Coltrane – Blue Train". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
33. "John Coltrane Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
34. "John Coltrane Chart History (Top Jazz Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
35. "Canadian album certifications – John Coltrane – Blue Train". Music Canada.
36. "Italian album certifications – John Coltrane – Blue Train" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana . Retrieved August 29, 2022. Select "2022" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "Blue Train" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
37. "British album certifications – John Coltrane – Blue Train". British Phonographic Industry.
38. "American album certifications – John Coltrane – Blue Train". Recording Industry Association of America.