John Coltrane’s rise as a solo voice in jazz after being in bands led by Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk reached an apex in 1958. The work he recorded for Prestige in 1958 was what critic Ira Gitler described as “sheets of sound.” The saxophonist’s time in Davis’ First Great Quintet helped to develop his sound and expand his ideas about improvisation. Once the group disbanded in 1957, Coltrane started working with the Prestige label on his own without Davis’ group.Â
Coltrane’s recordings of “Lush Life,” “Stardust” and “Black Pearls” are among the songs included on Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings coming out March 29th on Craft Recordings. The box set has 8 LPs or 5CDs and the digital format. The sessions took place at Rudy Van Gelder’s legendary home studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. The majority of the music recorded then did not get released until the ’60s. The new box set is the first time the songs will be distributed together to tell the story of Coltrane’s artistic direction at the time.Â
The 37-song box set can be pre-ordered now and special bundle packages featuring a limited-edition Prestige t-shirt are available from the Craft Recordings online store.Â
