John Coltrane／COLTRANE TIME

John Coltrane COLTRANE TIME

Kenny Dorham／Trumpet
John Coltrane／Tenor Saxophone
Cecil Taylor／Piano
Chuck Israels／Bass
Louis Hayes／Drums

Blue Note / United Artists
October 13, 1958

01. Shifting Down

02. Just Friend (Cecil Taylor)

03. Like Someone In Love

04. Double Clutching

This is a most unusual CD due to the inclusion of Cecil Taylor on piano. Although Taylor and John Coltrane got along well, trumpeter Kenny Dorham (who is also on this quintet date) hated the avant-garde pianist's playing and was clearly bothered by Taylor's dissonant comping behind his solos. With bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Louis Hayes doing their best to ignore the discord, the group manages to perform two blues and two standards with Dorham playing strictly bop, Taylor coming up with fairly free abstractions and Coltrane sounding somewhere in between. The results are unintentionally fascinating.

This is a matchup that should have worked but was only a limited success. For the only joint recording ever of pianist Cecil Taylor and tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, trumpeter Ted Curson was scheduled to join the quintet but was unavailable; his replacement Kenny Dorham was much less sympathetic to Taylor's dissonant comping and constantly voiced disapproval. The tension can be felt on the four performances (two standards and a pair of blues), particulalry when Dorham is playing. This unintentionally fascinating encounter has often been reissued under Coltrane's name (including as a Blue Note CD) but it was originally Taylor's date.

Review(s) By Scott Yanow (allmusic.com)