Requisites

My Favorite Things ~ John Coltrane

My Favorite Things was the seventh studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, recorded on October 21, 24, 26, 1960. Released in 1961 on Atlantic Records, it was the first album to feature him playing soprano saxophone, a gift from Miles Davis while they were on tour in Europe. An edited version of the title track became a hit single that gained popularity in 1961 via radio airplay, thus helping the record become a major commercial success. In 1998, the album received the Grammy Hall of Fame award. Fifty-eight years after its release, in 2018 the album attained gold record status, having sold 500,000 copies.

The title track is a modal rendition of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music. The melody is heard numerous times throughout, but instead of playing solos over the written chord changes, both Tyner and Coltrane take extended solos over vamps of the two tonic chords, E minor and E major played in waltz time. This use of modal jazz is evident throughout the album.

The album consists of four songs with Cole Porter’s Ev’rytime We Say Goodbye following the title track on Side 1, then two from the brothers Gershwin, George and Ira, with Summertime and But Not For Me on Side 2. The length of the album is a mere 40:25 but is well worth the listen and a valued addition to any music library that one desires to build.

In the documentary The World According to John Coltrane, narrator Ed Wheeler remarks on the impact that this song’s popularity had on Coltrane’s career: The recording was a hit and became Coltrane’s most requested tune, and a bridge to his broad public acceptance.

The band features John Coltrane playing soprano saxophone on Side 1 and tenor on Side 2, McCoy Tyner on piano, Steve Davis on the double bass, and rounding out the quartet is drummer Elvin Jones.

The production team was Nesuhi Ertegün ~ producer, Tom Dowd, Phil Iehle ~ engineers, Lee Friedlander ~ photography, Loring Eutemey ~ cover design and Bill Coss wrote the liner notes.

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