Bahia

2014 vinyl LP pressing reissue. When Bahia was recorded in late 1958, John Coltrane was running out of patience with the standard song form as a vehicle for improvisation. Although he would go on to make one unforgettable album of standards in the early 1960s, by mid-1959 his incredible energies were increasingly directed into modal and scalar channels that would lead him to some of the most expansive and, ultimately, mysterious creative expression in all of jazz. Bahia presents Coltrane still working within the song form. He all but explodes it in the title tune and, particularly, 'Goldsboro Express.' But in the album's lovely ballads, he caresses and embellishes the melodies and chords as if preparing to bid them a reluctant farewell. With Wilbur Harden, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Arthur Taylor and Jimmy Cobb.