Song:Greensleeves
Album:Verve Presents: The Very Best Of Christmas Jazz
John Coltrane on a Christmas CD? From what I can tell, this was the only time Coltrane recorded what could be called a Christmas song and that's why it appears on a various artists Christmas CD. But there are a couple of interesting things about his recording of Greensleeves. Coltrane signed with Impulse Records in 1961. And this is also when he started what is known as the Classic Quartet with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. But Greensleeves was on his 1961 debut album Africa/Brass with a much larger band. Impulse liked Greensleeves enough that they wanted to release it as a single. But it was ten minutes long. So they edited it and released it as a single. This was obviously influenced by the success of Coltrane's recording of My Favorite Things. The single was never on a Coltrane album though it did appear on the Deluxe Edition CD of Ballads which is out of print. Africa/Brass is available as a budget CD. Coltrane also recorded Greensleeves on Live At The Village Vanguard but it only appeared on the 1997 complete recordings box set. But Verve has included the single version on some various artists Christmas CDs including this budget CD released in 2001. Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Smith, Kenny Burrell, Mel Torme and Oscar Peterson are among the artists on this CD. As I have said in the past, I am always asked about jazz Christmas CDs and there are very few with Coltrane on it. Here's a video of Greensleeves by John Coltrane.
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