John Coltrane - Turning Point: The Bethlehem Years (1957) [2014 Bethlehem Album Collection 1000]

Features the latest remastering. Includes a Japanese description, lyrics, and bonus tracks. Features original cover artwork. The complete recordings done by John Coltrane for Bethlehem Records – mostly cut during December of 1957, and issued on the albums The Winner's Circle and Art Blakey Big Band! Both albums were a bit unusual for the label – in that The Winner's Circle was sort of a blowing/jam session type record, cut with some of the big poll winners of the year, but with shorter tracks than the usual Prestige-styled set of that nature. The lineup includes Donald Byrd, Al Cohn, Eddie Costa, Oscar Pettiford, and Philly Joe Jones – and Coltrane's a bit buried in the group, but gets out some nice licks from time to time.

The second set of tracks was recorded for a unique big band session led by Art Blakey – featuring a core group with Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Walter Bishop Jr, and Wendell Marshall on some tracks – plus a larger lineup on a number of others. The CD brings together a whopping 46 tracks from these sessions, including some great alternate takes, false starts, and breakdowns – and titles include "Midriff", "Tippin", "The Outer World", "The Kiss Of No Return", "Pristine Take", and "Oasis" – a previously unreleased track!

Tracks:

CD1
01 - Midriff (Take 1)
02 - Midriff (Take 2) (false start) (unreleased)
03 - Midriff (Take 3)
04 - Midriff (Take 4) (only announcement)
05 - Ain't Life Grand (Take 1) (false start) (unreleased)
06 - Ain't Life Grand (Take 2)
07 - Ain't Life Grand (Take 3) (breakdown) (unreleased)
08 - Ain't Life Grand (Take 4)
09 - Ain't Life Grand (Take 5) (breakdown) (unreleased)
10 - Ain't Life Grand (Take 6) (only announcement) (unreleased)
11 - Ain't Life Grand (insert take) (ending part) (unreleased)
12 - Ain't Life Grand (insert take) (ending) (unreleased)
13 - El Toro Valiente (Take 1)
14 - El Toro Valiente (Take 2) (only announcement) (unreleased)
15 - The Kiss Of No Return (Take 1)
16 - The Kiss Of No Return (Take 2) (false start) (unreleased)
17 - The Kiss Of No Return (Take 3) (breakdown) (unreleased)
18 - The Kiss Of No Return (Take 4) (false start)
19 - The Kiss Of No Return (Take 5)
20 - The Outer World (Take 1) (false start) (unreleased)
21 - The Outer World (Take 2)
22 - The Outer World (Take 3) (false start) (unreleased)
23 - The Outer World (Take 4) (breakdown) (unreleased)
24 - The Outer World (Take 5)
25 - The Outer World (Take 6) (false start) (unreleased)
26 - The Outer World (Take 7) (false start of art) (unreleased)
27 - The Outer World (Take 8) (only announcement) (unreleased)
28 - Oasis (Take 1) (false start) (unreleased)
29 - Oasis (Take 2) (false start) (unreleased)
30 - Oasis (Take 3) (breakdown) (unreleased)
31 - Oasis (Take 4)

CD2
01 - Tippin' (Take 1)
02 - Tippin' (Take 2) (breakdown)
03 - Tippin' (Take 3)
04 - Tippin' (Take 4) (breakdown) (unreleased)
05 - Tippin' (Take 5)
06 - Tippin' (Take 6) (unreleased)
07 - Tippin' (Take 7) (false start) (unreleased)
08 - Pristine (Take 1) (false start)
09 - Pristine (Take 2)
10 - Pristine (Take 3) (false start)
11 - Pristine (Take 4) (beakdown) (unreleased)
12 - Pristine (Take 5) (breakdown) (unreleased)
13 - Pristine (Take 6)
14 - Pristine (Take 7) (unreleased)
15 - Pristine (Take 8)

Personnel:

John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Frank Rehak, Al Cohn, Eddie Costa, Freddie Green, Oscar Pettiford, Gene Quill, Philly Joe Jones, Idrees Sulieman, Bill Hardman, Ray Copeland, Melba Liston, Jimmy Cleveland, Sahib Shihab, Bill Graham, Bill Slapin, Walter Bishop Jr., Wendell Marshall, Art Blakey.