The second volume in the Prestige Profiles series features Red Garland's quintets with John Coltrane. Essentially this series is compiled of album cuts from the catalogue recorded in 1957, when Trane was moving into his own. The rest of the band included drummer Art Taylor, trumpeter Donald Byrd, and bassist Jamil Nasser (at that time known as George Joyner). There are two exceptions in these six tracks, "Soft Winds" and "On Green Dolphin Street," taken from a 1961 date with Oliver Nelson on tenor, Richard Williams on trumpet, Charlie Persip on drums, and Peck Morrison on bass, previously released on the Rediscovered Masters Series, Vol. 2. The cuts with Coltrane, including "Billie's Bounce," "Solitude," "Soul Junction," and "Our Delight," are straight ahead hard bop and ballads with Coltrane almost stealing the show via his knotty solos and confident blowing. There is also a stand alone bonus disc that includes a preview sampler from the rest of the volumes that includes Coleman Hawkins, Billy Taylor, Miles Davis Tommy Flanagan (with Kenny Burrell and Coltrane), Thelonious Monk, Mose Allison and Ray Bryant. It's a strange collection of cuts, but it's a cool little freebie.
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