Liner Notes

It would be the legendary saxophonist’s sole album as a leader for Blue Note, a locomotive 5-track album fueled by the bluesy title track that featured a dynamic 6-piece band with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Kenny Drew on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. To mark the 65th anniversary of the album’s recording, Blue Train will be released in 2 special editions as part of Blue Note’s acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series: a 1-LP mono pressing of the original album and a 2-LP stereo pressing of Blue Train: The Complete Masters which includes a 2nd disc of alternate and incomplete takes, 4 of which have never been released before, and none of which have been available previously on vinyl.

The 2-LP set comes with a bound booklet featuring session photos by Francis Wolff and an essay by Coltrane expert Ashley Kahn. Both Tone Poet Vinyl Editions were produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in deluxe gatefold tip-on jackets.

On September 15, 1957, John Coltrane went into Rudy Van Gelder’s living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey and recorded his first great masterpiece: Blue Train .