John Coltrane Quartet • Ballads

 

Review by Sam Samuelson
Throughout John Coltrane's discography there are a handful of decisive and controversial albums that split his listening camp into factions. Generally, these occur in his later-period works such as Om and Ascension, which push into some pretty heady blowing. As a contrast, Ballads is often criticized as too easy and as too much of a compromise between Coltrane and Impulse! (the two had just entered into the first year of label representation). Seen as an answer to critics who found his work complicated with too many notes and too thin a concept, Ballads has even been accused of being a record that Coltrane didn't want to make. These conspiracy theories (and there are more) really just get in the way of enjoying a perfectly fine album of Coltrane doing what he always did -- exploring new avenues and modes in an inexhaustible search for personal and artistic enlightenment. With Ballads he looks into the warmer side of things, a path he would take with both Johnny Hartman (on John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman) and with Duke Ellington (on Duke Ellington and John Coltrane). Here he lays out for McCoy Tyner mostly, and the results positively shimmer at times. He's not aggressive, and he's not outwardly. Instead he's introspective and at times even predictable, but that is precisely Ballads' draw.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/ballads-mw0000649453

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Reseña de Sam Samuelson
A lo largo de la discografía de John Coltrane hay un puñado de álbumes decisivos y controvertidos que dividen su campo de escucha en facciones. Por lo general, esto ocurre en sus trabajos de la última época, como Om y Ascension, que se adentran en algunos soplos embriagadores. ¡Por el contrario, Ballads es a menudo criticado como demasiado fácil y como un compromiso entre Coltrane e Impulse! (los dos acababan de entrar en el primer año de representación del sello). Visto como una respuesta a los críticos que encontraban su obra complicada con demasiadas notas y un concepto demasiado fino, Ballads ha sido incluso acusado de ser un disco que Coltrane no quería hacer. Estas teorías de la conspiración (y hay más) realmente sólo se interponen en el camino de disfrutar de un álbum perfectamente bueno de Coltrane haciendo lo que siempre hizo: explorar nuevas vías y modos en una búsqueda inagotable de la iluminación personal y artística. Con Ballads se adentra en el lado más cálido de las cosas, un camino que tomaría tanto con Johnny Hartman (en John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman) como con Duke Ellington (en Duke Ellington and John Coltrane). Aquí, se pone a las órdenes de McCoy Tyner, y los resultados brillan positivamente a veces. No es agresivo, ni exterior. En cambio, es introspectivo y a veces incluso predecible, pero ese es precisamente el atractivo de Ballads.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/ballads-mw0000649453

Tracklist
1 - Say It (Over And Over Again) - 4:17
2 - You Don't Know What Love Is - 5:12
3 - Too Young To Go Steady - 4:21
4 - All Or Nothing At All - 3:34
5 - I Wish I Knew - 4:55
6 - What's New - 3:44
7 - It's Easy To Remember - 2:47
8 - Nancy (With The Laughing Face) - 3:11


Credits:
    Bass – Jimmy Garrison
    Drums – Elvin Jones
    Engineer – Rudy Van Gelder
    Piano – McCoy Tyner
    Producer – Bob Thiele
    Tenor Saxophone – John Coltrane


Notes:
Recorded December 21st 1961, September 18th, 1962, November 13th 1962 at Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Originally Released as AS-32 in 1962.


Label: Impulse! ‎– B0010115-02, Impulse! ‎– AS-32
Series: Impulse! Originals –
Genre: Jazz
Style: Modal, Cool Jazz
https://www.discogs.com/John-Coltrane-Quartet-Ballads/master/37346

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