John Coltrane – Blue Train (2022 Blue Note Tone Poet Reissue – Mono)

If you can only own 10 jazz albums, Coltrane’s Blue Train should be one of them. This album was released just a few years before Coltrane turned into a musical deity. He was still a mere mortal when he recorded this album. Despite, what would follow, this is an important LP to appreciating Trane – and it is very accessible. Not pop jazz, just easy to enjoy.

Blue Note has an amazing vinyl reissue series that they call Tone Poet. These are awesome reissues. They are great examples of how great vinyl can sound when executed properly. However, they are pricey, for example, this single-disk Coltrane is $40. However, it is the difference between top shelf and rail (well) booze (e.g. Evan Williams vs DH Taylor bourbon). Tone Poet is the good shit. This is my fourth Tone Poet release.

Per Blue Note:

The Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series is our top-of-the-line vinyl series. Produced and curated by the “Tone Poet” Joe Harley, the series presents all-analog, 180g audiophile quality vinyl reissues from the Blue Note Records catalog and our family of labels which also includes Pacific Jazz, United Artists, and Solid State. Tone Poet vinyl is mastered by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio directly from the original analog master tapes and manufactured at Record Technology Inc. (RTI) in Camarillo, California. The releases come packaged in deluxe Stoughton Printing “Old Style” Gatefold Tip-On Jackets which are adorned by stunning photography from the recording sessions by Francis Wolff, giving the listener a glimpse into the studio on the day the music was created. “I’ve been obsessed with jazz and sound for as long as I can remember,” says Harley. “I will never forget the first time we heard a real Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note master tape on Kevin’s system. Let me tell you, those master tapes sound big, dynamic and real, as if the players are right in front of you!” “Our sonic goal became clear,” he explains. “We started on a quest to capture the sound of those master tapes on vinyl and to allow listeners to know what it would sound like to actually be in Rudy’s living room in Hackensack or later in Rudy’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Short of having an actual time machine, this is as close as you can get to going back and being a fly on the wall for an original Blue Note recording session.” “We wanted these to be definitive in every way, from the mastering to the pressings, packaging, and authenticity of the artwork, including the actual labels. When it comes to Blue Note LP packaging, extreme attention to detail has been paid to getting these right in every conceivable way, from the jacket cover graphics to the printing quality. Every aspect of these Blue Note releases is done to the highest possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version. This is IT.”

When possible for albums from the 60s and before I prefer the mono version. An album like Blue Train was conceived, recorded, and mixed for mono as that was the standard back in the day. After the fact, an alternative stereo mix would be issued, but often it was an afterthought with no input from the artist and original production team. Often the stereo mix was gimmicky – piano on the left channel and drums on the left channel – very unnatural sounding. Mono can sound very full in the right hands. Blue Train sounds better in mono.

If you like Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue you will like Blue Train. Blue Train was recorded about 18 months before Kind Of Blue (Trane was an important player on Kind Of Blue). Blue Train is hard bop vs. the modal jazz of Kind Of Blue, but they share accessibility for new jazz fans. Within a few years, Trane would become much more experimental in his approach bordering on the avant-garde. This is a great place to hear the foundation of the future and the raw beauty of Trane’s tenor saxophone tone.

Per Wikipedia:

Coltrane’s playing exhibits the move toward what would become his signature style. His solos are more harmonic or “vertical” and lines arpeggiated. His timing was often apart from or over the beat, rather than playing on or behind it. During a 1960 interview, Coltrane described Blue Train as his favorite album of his own up to that point.

Like all of the Tone Poet releases I have, this vinyl reissue sounds fantastic. Clean vinyl – next to no noise. The packaging is high quality – a nice reproduction of the original packaging. If you want to hear how magical vinyl can sound this a great example.

The streaming version below has the stereo version, some outtakes, and a mono version