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JOHN COLTRANE QUARTET

with ELVIN JONES, McCOY TYNER, JIMMY GARRISON

A towering musical figure of the 20th century, saxophonist John Coltrane reset the parameters of jazz during his decade as a leader. At the outset, he was a vigorous practitioner of hard bop, gaining prominence as a sideman for Miles Davis before setting out as a leader in 1957, when he released Coltrane on Prestige and Blue Train on Blue Note. Coltrane quickly expanded his horizons, pioneering a technique critic Ira Gitler dubbed "sheets of sound," consisting of the saxophonist playing a flurry of notes on his tenor within the confines of a few chords...

"BALLADS"

<reissue, originally published in 1963>     

LP    IMPULSE! RECORDS     STEREO A-32

PRINTED IN USA    1968 REPRESSING

GATEFOLD COVER + COMPANY INNER SLEEVE

THICK CARDBOARD COVER (AMERICAN STYLE)

NOTES: Black center labels with red rim; rainbow box with Impulse! and ABC logos is connected. Bottom rim text: A Product of ABC Records, Inc. New York, N.Y. 10019 • Made in USA

Stereo and A-32 on cover, AS-32 on center labels.

Thick cardboard gatefold sleeve externally laminated.   With Impulse factory printed inner sleeve.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Barcode: none

LABEL: IMPULSE! - BLACK LABEL  w/RED RIM- SILVER TEXT (White on rim)

Catalog on cover: A-32  

Catalog on labels: AS-32-A / AS-32-B

Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): AS-32·A· LW    (Stamped): STEREO   VAN GELDER

Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): AS-32·B  LW    (Stamped): STEREO VAN GELDER

On labels: rim text reads "A Product of ABC Records...........Made in USA"

On inside panels: Tracklist & Credits

Notes by Gene Lees

Producer: BOB THIELE

Made in U.S.A.

On back cover: Printed in U.S.A.   A Product of ABC-Paramount Records, Inc.

 tracklisting

Side A: SAY IT (OVER AND OVER AGAIN) - YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS

TOO YOUNG TO GO STEADY - ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL

Side B: I WISH I KNEW - WHAT'S NEW

IT'S EASY TO REMEMBER - NANCY (WITH THE LAUGHING FACE)

grading

RECORD EX but (please, read above description)

SLEEVE NEAR EX but (please, see pictures and read above description)

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...(AllMusic)