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My Favourite Things: Expanded Edition | 
| Artist: John Coltrane
Label: Wsm
Category: Music
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £8.79
You Save: £1.20 (12%)
New (8) Used (1) from £4.49
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 18433
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.3
UPC: 081227658823
EAN: 0081227658823
ASIN: B0006M4SOG
Release Date: January 31, 2005
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | My Favourite Things | | • | Every Time We Say Goodbye | | • | Summertime | | • | But Not For Me | | • | My Favourite Things | | • | My Favourite Things |
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| Customer Reviews:
Trane's Favourites September 22, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Jazz musicians, from Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis covering Michael Jackson's "Human Nature", often used standards as launch pads for explorations, and Trane does exactly that in this wonderful album. The key track is of course the title track: you will probably know it from The Sound Of Music (though I did not when I first heard it). But Trane makes it all his own: in a 3/4 waltz time, Trane takes the harmony with a soprano sax (a gift from Miles Davis) while McCoy Tyner plays some astonishing long solos on a close-miked piano and comps the rhythm while Trane solos to see the song out. What's fascinating is the way that Trane plays with the melody, bending and misshaping it, and how Tyner's solo stretches out, almost peering towards infinity, yet never becomes boring. Trane continued to use My Favourite Things as a concert standard thorughout his life - but forever making it anew, as he explored into dissonance, chromaticism and the free jazz of "Ascension" that he is perhaps better known for. (His version from the Village Vanguard near the end of his life is breathtakingly powerful but extremely dissonant - not easy listening!).
"Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye" is a lush tune, a cover of the Cole Porter song. It's a great reminder that while Trane was known as being a hugely powerful sax player, he always loved playing ballads. It's not quite up to "After The Rain" from "Impressions", perhaps his greatest ballad, but it's not far off for its sheer emotive quality, similar to "Blues In Green" from Davis' "Kind Of Blue" (which Trane played on, of course).
"But Not For Me" and "Summertime" are more energetic, with the latter having a bouncy exhuberance, and the former a manic compulsiveness. They further demonstrate Trane's variety, technique, imagination, and band-leading qualities, as Elvin Jones drums superbly (especially on "Summertime") and Tyner plays wonderfully throughout. (It helps that the piano is higher in the mix than, say, in Miles Davis albums of the same period.)
If you are new to Coltrane, then this is probably the best place to start, as it contains in embryo or miniature many of his remarkable qualities, and is easier on the ears than "A Love Supreme" or "Acension", both of which are more experimental (and completely successful). Treat yourself and find out why Coltrane is spoken of in such exhalted terms.
One of My Favorite Things June 4, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
If you are reading this review wondering where to start with Coltrane, this is a pretty good place. If the title isn't enough of a clue, the track listing should help you figure out that this is Coltrane playing standards. And playing them as melodic standards, not the free jazz you may have been fearing. It's an enormously accessible album - I defy anyone to resist the Cole Porter classic Every Time We say Goodbye - and a great showcase for Coltrane's skills. Unusually, the two "bonus tracks" even merit inclusion. It should leave you wanting to hear more Coltrane - I'd recommend "Crescent" after this - and maybe, like me you'll want to hear more of McCoy Tyner who plays piano wonderfully on both albums.
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