John Coltrane - Plays It Cool (2000)

The John Coltrane Quartet's mind expanding quality is displayed on a half-dozen trinkets with Coltrane's innovative dressing of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things," and the high-energy "Blue Trane," the glossiest. He shows a softness on "Naima," and links the jazz idiom with divine power on "Spiritual" for a musical baptismal that's excellent for impromptu meditation sessions. The six tracks, which include Billy Eckstine's much recorded "I Want to Talk About You," flows for more than 60 minutes, which is enough of 'Trane and his crews' therapeutic expressions to clear the cobwebs, tranquil nerves, and soothe the savage beast. ~ Andrew Hamilton