John Coltrane Soultrane

While Coltrane was still in The Miles Davis Quintet at the time, this 1958 album (his fourth as a leader) finds the saxophonist in the thick of his ascendancy to jazz’s preeminent tenor saxophone chair. Also featuring the Red Garland trio, the faster tunes here–“Good Bait,” “You Say You Care,” and particularly “Russian Lullaby”–highlight the saxophonist’s famed “sheets of sound” approach. (Ira Gitler actually coins the term in the liner notes.) But the bluesy ballad work is equally strong on the long version of “I Want to Talk About You” and the soulful “Theme for Ernie.”