Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
The development of John Coltrane (1926–1967) during a single year is documented on Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings (Craft).
(Photo: DownBeat Archive/Prestige Records)Opening with a version of “Lush Life,” recorded on Jan. 10, Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings collects leader sessions John Coltrane issued through the label during a single year.
Alongside the saxophonist for 37 tracks on 8 LPs or 5 CDs are some of the most recognizable names in the genre, folks like Art Taylor, Freddie Hubbard, Red Garland, Kenny Burrell and Paul Chambers. But there’s something more here than intriguing personnel, and sturdy renditions of “Good Bait” and “Black Pearls,” the latter not being properly issued until 1964.
“One of the interesting things about this box set,” says producer Nick Phillips in a video premiering above, “when you listen to Coltrane’s recordings on Prestige from 1958, and you’re listening in the way that we presented it, which is chronologically from January through December of that year, you really hear the evolution of Coltrane’s style and how rapidly his style changed and evolved even within the period of just one year.”
For additional information about the recordings, which are set for a March 29 release, visit the Craft Recordings homepage. DB
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
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