| My Favorite Things | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by John Coltrane | ||||
| Released | March 1961 | |||
| Recorded | October 21, 24, 26, 1960 | |||
| Genre | Modal Jazz | |||
| Length | 40:42 | |||
| Language | Instrumental | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer | Nesuhi Ertegün | |||
| John Coltrane chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
My Favorite Things is the seventh album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1961 on Atlantic Records, catalogue SD-1361. It was the first album to feature Coltrane's playing on soprano saxophone, and yielded a commercial breakthrough in the form of a hit single that gained popularity in 1961 on radio, an edited version of the title song, "My Favorite Things."[2] In 1998, the album was a recipient of the Grammy Hall of Fame award.[3]
Contents |
In March 1960, while on tour in Europe, Miles Davis purchased a soprano saxophone for Coltrane. The instrument had become little used in jazz at that time. Intrigued by its capabilities, Coltrane began playing it at his summer club dates.[4] He would continue to use the soprano sax in the future.
After leaving the Davis band, for his first regular bookings starting at New York's Jazz Gallery club in the summer of 1960 Coltrane assembled the first version of John Coltrane Quartet, the line-up settling to McCoy Tyner on piano, Steve Davis on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums by the fall.[5] Sessions the week before Halloween at Atlantic Studios yielded the track "Village Blues" for Coltrane Jazz and the entirety of this album, along with the tracks that Atlantic would later assemble into Coltrane Plays the Blues and Coltrane's Sound.
Released a mere month after Coltrane Jazz, unlike his first two albums for Atlantic, this one contains no original compositions, instead jazz versions of four pop standards. The album was also the first to quite clearly mark Coltrane's change from bebop to modal jazz, which was slowly becoming apparent in some of his previous releases. The famous track is a modal rendition of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. The melody is heard numerous times throughout, but instead of having a solo over the written chord changes, both Tyner and Coltrane taking extended solos over vamps of the two tonic chords, E minor and E major, played in waltz time.[6] In the documentary The World According to John Coltrane, narrator Ed Wheeler remarks on the difference the popularity this song had on Coltrane's career:
"In 1960, Coltrane left Miles [Davis] and formed his own quartet to further explore modal playing, freer directions, and a growing Indian influence. They transformed "My Favorite Things", the cheerful populist song from 'The Sound of Music,' into a hypnotic eastern dervish dance. The recording was a hit and became Coltrane's most requested tune—and a bridge to broad public acceptance."
The standard "Summertime" is notable for its upbeat, searching feel, a demonstration of Coltrane's "sheets of sound," a stark antithesis to Miles Davis' melancholy, lyrical version on Porgy and Bess, and makes use of offbeat pedal points and augmented chords. "But Not For Me" is reharmonised using the famous Coltrane changes, and features an extended coda over a repeated ii-V-I-vi progression.
On March 3, 1998, Rhino Records reissued Coltrane Jazz as part of its Atlantic 50th Anniversary Jazz Gallery series. Included as bonus tracks were both sides of the "My Favorite Things" single, released as Atlantic 5012 in 1961.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "My Favorite Things" | Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers |
13:41 |
| 2. | "Everytime We Say Goodbye" | Cole Porter | 5:39 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Summertime" | Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward, George Gershwin | 11:31 |
| 2. | "But Not for Me" | Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin | 9:34 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "My Favorite Things, Part 1" (single A-side) | Rodgers and Hammerstein | 2:45 |
| 6. | "My Favorite Things, Part 2" (single b-side) | Rodgers and Hammerstein | 3:02 |