Mostly Coltrane

'Mostly Coltrane' is a celebration of the magisterial music of John Coltrane. In 1960 Steve Kuhn was the original pianist in John Coltrane's quartet, preceding McCoy Tyner.

'Mostly Coltrane' focuses on music either written by Coltrane or strongly associated with him, plus Kuhn's "With Gratitude", offered in tribute, and the solo "Trance". Particularly fascinating is the scope of material selected, which not only includes tunes Kuhn once played with Coltrane - "Central Park West", "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes", "I Want To Talk About You" - but goes right through Coltrane's life, including pieces from the very final months, such as "Configuration" and "Jimmy's Mode"...

These tremendous group performances, with Kuhn joined by Joe Lovano, a musician many critics believe to be the world's premier tenor player right now, effectively retrace Coltrane's last decade - but they also suggest a "What if" scenario: if Kuhn had remained with Coltrane, what music might they have made together. Steve Kuhn certainly has the capacity to play with invention across the full range of modern jazz piano, from post-bop, to modal jazz and into the free.

Brilliant playing also from drummer Joey Baron, at liberty here to underline his own roots in the innovations of Elvin Jones, while the rock-solid David Finck anchors everyone's soloistic flights.

Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone and tarogato; Steve Kuhn: piano; David Finck: double-bass; Joe Baron: drums