180-Gram Virgin Vinyl Limited Edition – * Down Beat Coltrane’s sessions for Atlantic in late October 1960 were prolific, yielding the material for My Favorite Things, Coltrane Plays the Blues, and Coltrane’s Sound. My Favorite Things was destined to be the most remembered and influential of these, and while Coltrane Plays the Blues is not as renowned or daring in material, it is still a powerful session. As for the phrase “plays the blues” in the title, that’s not so much an indicator that the tunes are conventional blues (which they aren’t). It’s more indicative of a bluesy sensibility, whether he is playing muscular saxophone or, on “Blues to Bechet” and “Mr. Syms”, the more unusual-sounding (at the time) soprano sax. Elvin Jones, who hadn’t been in Coltrane’s band long, really busts out on the quicker numbers, such as “Blues to You” and “Mr. Day”. 180-gram VIRGIN VINYL LIMITED EDITION. The Complete Album + 2 Bonus Tracks.

180-Gram Colored Vinyl Edition – *(*) AllMusic. In 1960, and after recording the music to be issued on The Avant Garde (with Don Cherry), Coltrane’s Sound and the all-time classic My Favorite Things, he embarked on the making of Coltrane Plays the Blues, a thematic LP consisting of six tunes based on the blues. “Blues for Bechet”, one of the two pieces on this album on which Trane plays the soprano sax, is obviously dedicated to the jazzman who brought this instrument to jazz: Sidney Bechet. Pianist McCoy Tyner sits out on “Blues to Bechet” and both takes of “Blues to You”, reducing the band to a trio on these tracks. THE COMPLETE LP + 2 BONUS TRACKS – 180-GRAM BLUE COLORED VINYL -Contains new specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz’s writer BRIAN MORTON and by Paris’ prestigious JAZZ MAGAZINE.