John Coltrane Quartet - Ballads (1963, Impulse! Records)

Ballads is a jazz album by John Coltrane. It was recorded in December 1961 and 1962, and released on the Impulse! label in 1963 as A-32 and later AS-32 (the "s" is for "stereo"). Critic Gene Lees stated that the quartet had never played the tunes before. "They arrived with music-store sheet music of the songs" and just before the recordings, they "would discuss each tune, write-out copies of the changes they'd use, semi-rehearse for a half hour and then do it". All the pieces were recorded in one take, except for "All or Nothing at All". In 2008, the album was a recipient of the Grammy Hall of Fame award.

Personnel:

John Coltrane – tenor saxophone

McCoy Tyner – piano

Reggie Workman – bass (on #7)

Jimmy Garrison – bass (all others)

Elvin Jones – drums

Tracklist:

01. Say It (Over and Over Again) (4:20)

02. You Don’t Know What Love Is (5:16)

03. Too Young to Go Steady (4:24)

04. All or Nothing At All (3:38)

05. I Wish I Knew (4:55)

06. What’s New (3:47)

07. It’s Easy to Remember (2:48)

08. Nancy (With the Laughing Face) (3:12)

Rudy Van Gelder – recording engineer

Jim Marshall – photography

1963, Impulse! Records.

In the world of jazz, the name John Coltrane is recognized by all, and is surrounded by legend, myth, some mystery, and, most importantly, virtuosic and revolutionary music. The name John Coltrane, if you know his music, conjures up the sounds of continuous streams of notes (or “sheets of sound” as it is sometimes called) in the mind of the listener. On recordings of his such as “Giant Steps,” “My Favorite Things,” and his solos on Miles Davis’ record “Kind of Blue”, this is a style that Coltrane implements frequently, and it came to be the sound that he was most known for.

In the two years leading up to “Ballads,” Coltrane’s releases on Impulse! (“Live! at the Village Vanguard” and “Coltrane”) were adventurous and had a mixed reception with critics. Coltrane strays to some degree from his “sheets of sound” approach on these albums, and the music is much more free, open, and organic than it previously was. Some listeners had a hard time following what was going on because of the casting off of a more traditional structure, hence the amount of negative criticism it received.

“Ballads” is refreshing because it is a return to tradition for Coltrane, not only in his approach to soloing, but in the way the quartet approaches the arrangement of the songs. There are no extended solo sections or long vamps like in “Live! at the Village Vanguard”, and the songs are usually no more than four and half minutes. They also respect the harmonic progression of the compositions and do not stray from this original form. The nature of the recording session may have been the cause of this, as there was little rehearsal, the arrangements were written hastily, and all but one of the tracks are first takes. This process was common historically in jazz, where recording session were often impromptu, with little to no rehearsal time.

As the title implies, all of the songs on “Ballads” are ballads. The slow tempo that ballads have gives Coltrane a chance to show off his ability to play beautiful melodic lines, while also at times implementing his “sheets of sound” approach. It is intriguing that while his playing on “Live! at the Village Vanguard” garnered so much negative feedback, it is just as melodic, if not more so, than his playing on “Ballads.”

from:

http://kerwinsreviews.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/john-coltrane-quartet-ballads-1963-impulse-records/

當妳試圖多了解一些John Coltrane時，經常會遇到 “sheets of sound”這個詞。
台灣的謝啟彬老師所做的解釋，是迄今見到的最適當的中文解釋！

【Sheets of Sound】

說明 – 謝啟彬

很多外文書都會寫Coltrane會吹所謂的「Sheets of Sound」，原來發明這個形容詞的名樂評家Ira Gilter是指Coltrane把樂句壓縮，原來兩小節長的句子擠成一小節，好像把大東西塞進小容器一樣，一次想吹很多東西，Trane必須想快一倍（背景和絃速度照舊），並真正拼命練習他所排出來的音符組合（Grouping、Digital Patterns、Scale等等）。這樣的手法一連續結合起來，聲音就會是一片一片的聲響（因為音多又快，除了換氣之外句子都很長），而非只是一顆一顆地符合拍型，最好的例子就是他在《Someday My Prince Will Come》裡及「Soultrane」專輯裡的一些Solo，那就是「Sheets of Sound」（不過那時是搭著用的，他還在嘗試中），後來他在Impulse!時期吹Free Form的曲子，這種具彈性速度的“醉拳”式手法就會非常地適切，而關於有些樂評會說他在Prestige時期的部份錄音或甚至《Giant Steps》的演奏是「Sheets of Sound」，就是錯誤的說法，因為那是曲子速度快他也快，他是吹一顆一顆（或八分音符或十六分音符）的符合拍型句子。「Sheets of Sound」會讓和絃變多，不過那是Trane即興自己時加的，也不會到一小節“二十”個，這個就不是Bebop手法了，是Coltrane開創的手法之一。

http://www.chipin-kaiya.com/c/c-transcription/c-transcription/SheetsOfSound.html


在陰雨綿綿的星期日下午，聆聽這張唱片，真是滿心歡喜！