A fast moving train

THE TENOR saxophonist John Coltrane recorded this album in 1957 at the beginning of his brief career, cut short by liver cancer in 1967, as a leader of small groups, in this case a sextet. It doesn't have the emotional and spiritual intensity of his later works, but there is plenty of restrained energy which many jazz fans prefer to some of the tortured outpourings of his later years.

This "train" was drawn by six engines: Curtis Fuller (trombone), Lee Morgan (trumpet), Kenny Drew (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums) all pulling their weight behind the leader. The music is powerful, fast-moving for the most part, befitting the image of a train, from the opening (title) track to the deceptively titled "Lazy Bird" closing the album. Only the penultimate number, "I'm Old Fashioned", is a slow ballad.

The presence of six instruments gives plenty of scope for variation in the sound textures on offer, each quite delectable in the performer's hands. All the musicians were well established in the contemporary hard bop style in which they performed this album, a style based on driving rhythm and less of a jagged melody line than the be-bop from which it had evolved. From be- bop the genre had inherited strong emphasis on solo improvisation, and all six musicians take turns to pitch in with solos, especially Coltrane, Fuller, Morgan and Drew. This album launched Coltrane into the ranks of all-time greats of jazz.

FOR JAZZ buffs, the absence of information about the musicians performing and the recording dates can inhibit the urge to buy an album. Although we have here such an undocumented cassette, the title, indicating that it was recorded on a concert tour identified by time and place, enables this writer to deduce from other Thelonious Monk records in his collection that the pianist was supported by Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Butch Warren on bass and Frankie Dunlop on bass.

Monk was generally recognised as an eccentric genius whose deliberate use of irregular tempo and unusual note sequences deterred many listeners, who knew him rather better from other performers' renditions of his famous compositions than from his own performances. The support of Rouse's tenor sax, with its warm, friendly tone, did a lot to soften Monk's inaccessibility. We thus find Monk here both at his creative best and his most appealing.

All the compositions played here are Monk's own, well balanced between his own piano work and the work of Rouse, Warren and Dunlop, all of whom step into the spotlight with solos. Monk is thoughtful, striking the keys powerfully, and that technique stamps the album, especially in "Just a Gigolo", where he plays solo without rhythm. On other tracks Rouse is as prominent in taking solos as Monk. This album is a happy choice to introduce the many-faceted talent that was Thelonious Monk.

JAZZEBEL

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