Crescent (John Coltrane)

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Crescent
Studio album by John Coltrane
Released	1964
Recorded	April 27 - June 1, 1964
Genre	Jazz
Length	40:10
Label	Impulse! Records
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link

Crescent is a 1964 (see 1964 in music) studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane. It features his jazz quartet group of McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones playing all original Coltrane compositions.

The music on Crescent portrays a vast range of moods — much of it contemplative or reverent — along with a masterly sense of form and structure; the performances of these compositions are considered some of the finest and most lyrical playing ever recorded by the Coltrane quartet. The album's closing track is an improvisational feature for Jones' drums (with spare melodic accompaniment from Coltrane's tenor sax and Garrison's bass at the song's beginning and end): Coltrane would continue to explore drum/saxophone conversations both in live performances with this group and on subsequent recordings such as the posthumously-released Interstellar Space (with Rashied Ali).

The album's liner notes are written by Nat Hentoff and the original LP's inner gatefold profile photograph of Coltrane is the same one which would be featured on the cover of Coltrane's next Impulse! album release, A Love Supreme.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Crescent" – 8:41
2. "Wise One" – 9:00
3. "Bessie's Blues" – 3:22
4. "Lonnie's Lament" – 11:45
5. "The Drum Thing" – 7:22

All songs composed by John Coltrane.

[edit] Personnel

• John Coltrane - tenor saxophone
• Jimmy Garrison - double bass
• Elvin Jones - drums
• McCoy Tyner - piano