1961 · Album
Settin’ the Pace
Recorded 1958, Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey · Prestige Records · Produced by Bob Weinstock
Coltrane Finds His Footing in Hackensack
Four players locked into a loose, swinging groove, with Coltrane still testing the edges of his voice.
Settin' the Pace opens the way a good mainstream jazz record should: a quartet settles into a tempo, the piano comps lightly, the bass walks with easy confidence, and the drums keep things buoyant. John Coltrane on tenor saxophone sounds relaxed and lyrical, stating themes plainly before stretching out into solos that are inventive but not yet the fire-breathing playing he would become known for. The mood is warm and unhurried, more hard bop than avant-garde.
The session took place in 1958 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, with Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. Those three had already been working with Coltrane in Miles Davis' band and on earlier Prestige dates, so the rapport is easy to hear. The material was drawn from three pop standards, interpreted at length, and the album was not released until 1961, when Prestige assembled it from previously unissued tracks. That delay matters: it is a document of a working band in a moment just before Coltrane's sound began to change.
As a place to start with Coltrane, this is not the obvious choice. AllMusic reviewer Stacia Proefrock wrote that it shows a player beginning to push against boundaries while still playing with thoughtful, imaginative lyricism, and recommended it to anyone who enjoys mainstream '50s jazz or wants to hear Coltrane in a more easygoing setting. For listeners who already know Blue Train (1957) or the later classics, this is a pleasant side trip rather than a peak, and it fills in how the saxophonist sounded before the sharper turns came.
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