Olé Coltrane

Olé Coltrane
Studio album by John Coltrane
Released	February 1962
Recorded	May 25, 1961 A&R Studios, New York City
Genre	Modal Jazz
Length	36:50 original LP 45:50 CD reissue
Label	Atlantic SD 1373
Producer	Nesuhi Ertegun
John Coltrane chronology
Africa/Brass (1961) Olé Coltrane (1962) Live! at the Village Vanguard (1962)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Down Beat	[2]

Olé Coltrane is the ninth album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1962 on Atlantic Records, catalogue SD 1373. The album was recorded at A&R Studios in New York, and was the last of Coltrane's Atlantic albums to be made under his own supervision.

Background

Two days prior to the recording of Olé Coltrane, Coltrane had made his inaugural recording session for his new label, Impulse Records, at the new Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.^[3] With one further album due his old label Atlantic, he brought in his working quintet along with two participants in the Africa/Brass sessions, Art Davis and Freddie Hubbard.^[4] Owing to his concurrent contract with Prestige Records, Eric Dolphy was listed on the credits under the pseudonym George Lane.^[5]

Coltrane's interest in the music of Spain evident in "Olé", may have been spurred by his ex-employer Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain from the previous year.^[6] The structure and melody of the modal jazz vamp "Olé" was borrowed from the Spanish folk song El Vito (maybe better known as El Quinto Regimiento from the Spanish Civil War, which was made known by Pete Seeger), while the soprano saxophone work recalled 1961's "My Favorite Things". The titles for the songs on side two reflect the band's continued interest in African forms as expressed on the May 23 Africa/Brass recordings.

On September 19, 2000, Rhino Records reissued Olé Coltrane as part of its Atlantic 50th Anniversary Jazz Gallery series. Included was a single bonus track which had appeared on The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings in 1995.

Track listing

Side one

Side two

2000 reissue bonus track

Personnel

• John Coltrane — soprano saxophone on "Olé" and "To Her Ladyship; tenor saxophone on "Dahomey Dance" and "Aisha"
• Freddie Hubbard — trumpet
• Eric Dolphy — flute on "Olé" and "To Her Ladyship"; alto saxophone on "Dahomey Dance" and "Aisha"
• McCoy Tyner — piano
• Reggie Workman — bass on "Olé," "Dahomey Dance" and "Aisha"
• Art Davis — bass on "Olé," "Dahomey Dance" and "To Her Ladyship"
• Elvin Jones — drums

Production personnel

• Nesuhi Ertegün — production
• Phil Ramone — engineering
• Jagel & Slutzky Graphics — cover design
• Ralph J. Gleason — liner notes
• Patrick Milligan — reissue supervision
• Dan Hersch — digital remastering
• Rachel Gutek — reissue design
• Sevie Bates — reissue art direction
• Neil Tessler — reissue liner notes
• Vanessa Atkins — reissue editorial supervision
• Shawn Amos — reissue editorial coordination

Influence

Paul Weller included the title track on a 2003 compilation called 'Under The Influence', which included a selection of his favourite tracks. He had initially been turned on to the track by Alfreda Benge, who recalled that the track was a favourite in London mod clubs in the early 1960s. Olé has also been performed and recorded by Noah Howard on his live albums Live In Europe, Vol. 1 (1975) and Berlin Concert (1977) and by Coltrane's later sideman Pharoah Sanders, on his live album Heart is a Melody from 1982.

References