1961 · Album
Bags & Trane
Recorded 1961 · Atlantic Records · Produced by Not specified in available sources
Two Giants, One Afternoon of Tension
Jackson and Coltrane never recorded together again, and listening here, you hear why.
In 1961, Milt Jackson and John Coltrane sat down in the studio with Hank Jones on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Connie Kay on drums. On paper it looked like a dream session — two major voices, a solid rhythm section, plenty of time to work. What came out instead was stiff and oddly formal, a record that neither musician wanted to repeat.
The chemistry simply wasn't there. Jackson's vibraphone and Coltrane's tenor sax occupy different emotional spaces; Jackson favors brightness and swing, Coltrane was already deep into sheets of sound and harmonic restlessness. Jones, Chambers, and Kay do nothing wrong technically, but they can't bridge the gap. A DownBeat reviewer at the time nailed it: the session felt like something that could have been better, though still respectable. AllMusic later gave it five stars, but that's generosity toward the pedigree, not the actual compatibility.
The album exists now mainly because Coltrane's name sells, even though he was leaving Atlantic for Impulse when this was released and Jackson, signed to Atlantic through the Modern Jazz Quartet, was the real session leader. It's a historical artifact of two masters on the same date, nothing more. If you're curious about either musician, start elsewhere — A Love Supreme (1964) for Coltrane, or Bags' Groove (1952) for Jackson. This one's for completists.
Who's playing
Paul Chambersdouble bass
Hank Jonespiano
John Coltranetenor saxophone
Connie Kaydrums
Milt Jacksonvibraphone
Where next?
More by John Coltrane
All 19 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
