Original Jazz Classics returns October 9 with three landmark recordings: The Miles Davis Quintet’s Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet, John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio, and Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas.
The releases continue the year-long centennial celebrations of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, while A Charlie Brown Christmas, recently certified 6X Platinum by the RIAA as the best-selling jazz album of all time, joins the OJC series for the first time.
Each title features all-analog mastering from the original master tapes and is presented on 180-gram black vinyl in faithfully reproduced tip-on packaging with an obi. Relaxin’ and John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio were cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed at RTI, while A Charlie Brown Christmas was cut by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab and pressed at QRP. All three also make their debut in 192/24 hi-res audio.
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THE MILES DAVIS QUINTET: RELAXIN’ WITH THE MILES DAVIS QUINTET
Few band names have proved as accurate as Miles Davis’ First Great Quintet. With John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums, Davis assembled a group that became one of the defining units of the hard-bop era.
Relaxin’ came from two marathon 1956 sessions at Rudy Van Gelder’s Hackensack studio. Those dates produced enough material for four albums: Cookin’, Relaxin’, Workin’, and Steamin’, all captured as Davis prepared to move from Prestige to Columbia.
Originally released in 1958, Relaxin’ earns its title without ever drifting into the background. “If I Were a Bell,” “You’re My Everything,” and “I Could Write a Book” show off the group’s lyrical side, while Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo” and Dizzy Gillespie’s “Woody’n You” leave considerably more room for sparks to fly.
JOHN COLTRANE: JOHN COLTRANE WITH THE RED GARLAND TRIO
Recorded in 1957, John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio catches Coltrane during a period of remarkably fast artistic development.
The personnel also makes the connection to Davis’ quintet impossible to miss. Coltrane is joined by his fellow First Great Quintet players Red Garland and Paul Chambers, with Art Taylor taking the drum chair.
The album opens with the expansive “Traneing In,” giving Coltrane and Garland plenty of room to work before moving through the original “Bass Blues” and standards including “You Leave Me Breathless” and “Soft Lights and Sweet Music.”
Later reissued as Traneing In in 1961, the session catches Coltrane increasingly confident as a leader while retaining the chemistry he had built alongside Garland and Chambers.
VINCE GUARALDI TRIO: A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
Then there’s the record that introduced countless kids to jazz without calling attention to the lesson.
Originally released by Fantasy Records in 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas paired Vince Guaraldi’s originals with his trio’s distinctive takes on traditional holiday music. “Linus and Lucy,” “Christmas Time Is Here,” and “Skating” now sit alongside the likes of “O Tannenbaum” and “What Child Is This” as part of the sound of the season.
The sessions feature Guaraldi alongside bassists Fred Marshall and Monty Budwig and drummers Jerry Granelli and Colin Bailey. More than six decades later, the album has been certified 6X Platinum by the RIAA and stands as the best-selling jazz album of all time.
Now, for the first time, Charlie Brown and the gang get the Original Jazz Classics treatment.
LISTENING NOTES
“If I Were a Bell” – The Miles Davis Quintet
Relaxed doesn't mean sleepy. Start here for Miles at his most lyrical, then listen to how naturally the rest of the quintet falls into the conversation around him.
“Oleo” – The Miles Davis Quintet
Turn up the temperature. Sonny Rollins’ composition gives Davis, Coltrane, Garland, Chambers, and Jones a compact framework for some serious hard-bop interplay.
“Traneing In” – John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio
More than 12 minutes of Coltrane stretching out with musicians he already knew inside out. If you want to hear why this quartet was such fertile ground for him, give this one the time.
“Bass Blues” – John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio
The title isn't kidding. Paul Chambers gets plenty of room here, including alongside Coltrane, making this a particularly fun listen for anyone who usually focuses exclusively on the tenor.
“O Tannenbaum” – Vince Guaraldi Trio
You know the Christmas carol. Guaraldi uses it as a starting point, then lets the trio settle into something warmer, looser, and unmistakably their own.
THREE WAYS INTO OJC
Miles Davis and John Coltrane were still shaping the music that would define their legacies when Relaxin’ and John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio were recorded. A Charlie Brown Christmas, meanwhile, shows what happened when jazz found its way into millions of living rooms and became part of an entirely different tradition.
Together, the three releases cover a remarkable amount of ground, from the hard-bop intensity of Prestige’s 1950s sessions to Guaraldi’s inviting West Coast swing.
With all-analog mastering from the original tapes and carefully produced 180-gram pressings, the latest Original Jazz Classics releases put the focus back where it belongs: on three very different records worth hearing closely.
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