John Coltrane - Spiritual (2001)

John Coltrane's plaintive tenor saxophone tone and total engagement with his material could make any slow ballad sound like a prayer, so this set of nominally devotional numbers (recorded between 1961 and '67) doesn't shed any new light on his art. But it holds your attention, even if Coltrane's holy numbers tend to be slow or stately as hymns (if sometimes catchier: "Dear Lord" could pass for some unjustly forgotten ballad). The first movement of A Love Supreme was an inevitable choice, for Coltrane and bassist Jimmy Garrison's mantra-like repetitions, and for the saxophonist's speaking-in-tongues falsetto. (Garrison, the only sideman who appears on all tracks, is the CD's secret hero, whether adding punchy beats to the bottom end or flamenco-strumming through an intro.) On Coltrane's albums or gigs, spirituals often functioned as change-ups, a chance to catch one's breath before the next fast or frenetic number. They still sound most striking in relief, but assembled in one place, their power accumulates.