John Coltrane
My Favorite Things

After a very respectable apprenticeship, spent alongside some well-known pranksters of the Jazz scene of the '50s (do the names Earl Bostic and Dizzy Gillespie ring any bells?), and the consecration at the court of the quintessential funny guy, Mr. Miles Davis, the moment finally comes for the good Coltrane to form his own first historic quartet.

After playing on "Kind of Blue", you can't just surround yourself with random people. In fact, the choice falls on a pianist with real chops like McCoy Tyner, and a rhythm section that wouldn't miss a beat even under threat of death. That is: Elvin Jones on drums and Steve Davis on double bass (of the latter, I actually don't know much else, apart from the participation on the album in question). The four find themselves at the Atlantic studios, and between a game of bridge and a round of rummy, they even manage to come up with some good ideas. The pianistic introduction of the title track (do you remember "Trouble Man" by the Juggaknots? No? What a shame...) grabs us by the ear and transports us straight into an exchange of phrases between McCoy, who sets the rhythm, and John, who draws a classy melodic plot on top. And just to show that yes, they can afford to play whatever they want, they shift from the lightheartedness of Swing to the melancholy of Blues, with the same nonchalance with which a mere mortal switches from coffee to the house's round of bitters. "Everytime We Say Goodbye" is... You know when... It's all too... Really... Well, I wouldn't know. A mix between the melancholy for a girlfriend on her period on days of chronic flag-raising and a "But come on, after all, there are people who have it much worse: the sick, the hungry, Gigi D'Alessio's fans...".

No sooner have we dried our eyes, Trane, out of the blue, puts down the soprano sax to switch to the tenor. He doesn’t want to tarnish a musical blend of such fine quality, does he? No way, he doesn't even dream of it! And to prevent some little idiot from walking around boasting that he and his guys are softies, he takes a Classic, with a capital C. Avoiding easy mannerisms because not only does he play it in a completely different register from all the versions that had appeared up until that moment, but halfway through he even lets Davis and Jones take deserved applause, each with a solo and a delightful call and response. What better way to bring such a divine gift to a conclusion than to spice things up? So let the grandmothers feel as beautiful as when they were girls, the grandfathers invite them to dance, and set the digital camera to "black and white" mode on the contagious "But not for Me". Then on Facebook, the girls go wild for these vintage photos. What? It doesn't quite capture the idea? Who cares.

Are you still here reading my ramblings? Come on, turn off the computer and go find this awesome disc. You’ll be doing yourself a favor, not me. And what do you expect? It’s one in the afternoon, I’ve slogged through six hours of work, haven't had lunch yet, and I’m already on my fourth joint.