tectactoe: TIER LIST: John Coltrane

tectactoe 08.03.22	Before anyone bitches, here is a quick explanation of the tier system: It is entirely within the context of the artist e.g. I took Coltrane’s discography and divvied the albums up within six different tiers considering a normal(ish) distribution (with a much higher standard deviation). This gives you the lowest number of albums in the best/worst tiers, and the largest grouping of albums in the middle tiers. This is not to say that things in the “C-Tier” are average in a vacuum, per se, they are just average in the context of Coletrane’s discography. • Albums in each tier are (very) roughly ranked according to personal preference. Moon emojis signify where score cut-offs lie. • I did not include live albums. • I only included studio albums whereupon Coltrane has a leading credit (so no Davis albums, either). • I did include posthumous releases if they featured previously recorded and unreleased Coltrane material (even if Alice recorded over them). • I did not include compilation material that was mostly released elsewhere, even if reissued or re-recorded (e.g. The Mastery series). • I did not include both recordings of Ascension. Mostly because they are both fantastic in their own ways, but also because Coltrane himself decided on a “definitive” version before his death. • I did, however, include the second session recording of Africa / Brass because it was never intended to usurp the original recording, and it also includes “new” material.
tectactoe 08.03.22	For the record, if live albums were allowed, Olatunji would be S-tier.
bgillesp 08.03.22	Well I mostly like the list but it is beyond blasphemy to not have A Love Supreme is S tier! Cool stuff though. Need to finish his discog someday
tectactoe 08.03.22	I know it. It’s literally just one spot on the outside tho! Truth is it probably deserves S-tier from a contextual perspective but I personally prefer the four above it for various reasons. But yeah it’s still amazing and only NOT in S-tier because of the distribution I used.
bgillesp 08.03.22	Yeah you’re fine. It’s just my fav jazz album ever (:
granitenotebook 08.04.22	wish I liked free jazz more, my fave is the stuff that pushes at it but not quite into it, like love supreme and first meditations. I need to try more of his stuff, only heard like 10 things on here. solid list we need more jazz discussion on here
Winesburgohio 08.04.22	Yes! I note that Sun Ship has grown on me the most. Have u heard his 4-disc live in Japan album? Immense, but essentially a way of speed-dialling god
DaveTrane 08.04.22	man, a coltrane list - feels nice some unexpected choices but nice list with a hell lot of emojis ^^ how u think about Stellar Regions and Óle?
DaveTrane 08.04.22	need to respin Olatubji
Zig 08.04.22	A Love Supreme is S-tier in all jazz
ReefaJones 08.04.22	Om, Ascension and Meditations are all E Tier for me Giant Steps, Love Supreme and My Favorite Things are S Tier
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.22	My Favorite Things is S tier yuh Blue Train forever great forever overrated
Trifolium 08.04.22	Coltrane and tec in one list, bliss!!! Love this thing!
tectactoe 08.04.22	@granite: Coltrane is probably a good place to start, in general, for people trying to bridge the gap into free jazz. He, perhaps more than anyone else, fortified his free jazz with strong spiritual jazz essence which gave many of those pieces a more unified feeling or theme. I definitely think still like ASCENSION, OM and MEDITATIONS are more "accessible" (for lack of a better term) to "regular" (again) jazz fans than albums like ORNETTE!, SPIRITUAL UNITY, FOR ALTO, or MACHINE GUN just to name a few.
tectactoe 08.04.22	@Wines: I have not! But it sounds unctuous - right up my alley. And this is the third time it has been recommended to me in the last few months, so god must be waiting for my call. Soon! @Dave: Thanks, mate. Óle is A-tier and Stellar Regions is B-Tier, but I really love them both (both score 8/10 for me). The title track to Óle is probably one of my favorite recorded pieces of his. @Zig: Can't outright deny that. Had my tiers had a wider bell curve, it would've been in the S-tier. @Reefa: To each their own, but that makes me sad to hear 😟
tectactoe 08.04.22	@Johnny: 'Blue Train forever great forever overrated' - funny, this is precisely how I feel about MY FAVORITE THINGS 🤔 @Trif: 💜
GhandhiLion 08.04.22	" I did not include live albums" why not
ReefaJones 08.04.22	I just can't get into free jazz. It sounds like the equivalent of putting screws in my ears
tectactoe 08.04.22	"I did not include live albums" "why not" I don't have a great answer tbh. I've always struggled rating live albums alongside studio recordings for various reasons. It's why I don't have any ratings on sput or RYM for live albums, either. (Same for singles.) Though I've recently been entertaining the idea of allowing the rating/ranking of live albums that are either comprised of mostly new/unreleased material and/or so drastically different from the studio recorded versions of the tracks that it clearly identifies as its own thing. In which case, albums like OLATUNJI and PUBLIC CASTRATION and PLAGUE MASS would easily qualify. But then it opens a can of worms about 'qualifications' which I've yet had the desire to tackle e.g. what about albums like THE GREAT DECEIVER? Or even better, STOP MAKING SENSE?
tectactoe 08.04.22	The simple answer is "just rate live albums, idiot, who cares" but I dug myself into this hole six or seven years ago and it just keeps getting deeper.
Gyromania 08.04.22	Just put all his albums on a list and throw a dart at it, doesn't matter where you land because every album sounds the same
tectactoe 08.05.22	how do u delete someone else’s comment
GhandhiLion 08.05.22	How do u delete someone
Feather 08.05.22	And today I learned I don’t get jazz at all. Nice list tho, looks like tons of effort. I checked out some S-tier and I guess my ears just aren’t conditioned for this quite yet
foxblood 08.05.22	giant steps is the best
DaveTrane 08.05.22	Giant Steps t/t is one of his best songs ofc but as a whole album it cant hold up with A Love Supreme, Ole, etc bc of your list i jamed Ascension yesterday: fucking insane
DaveTrane 08.05.22	does Blue Train feels comfy with all those free/Avant in S-Tier lol
Winesburgohio 08.05.22	something about ‘meditations’ man. just feel absorbed into it every time I spin it
tectactoe 08.05.22	Indeed, ASCENSION is incredible. And BLUE TRAIN is probably an odd-choice for S-tier considering what else is there, but that's like the pinnacle of Hard Bop to me. And yeah MEDITATIONS is (among) peak jazz imo. Just like OM, it's a nearly perfect intersection of his two realms of free jazz and spiritual jazz.
tectactoe 08.05.22	(OM mad underrated btw)
Parallels 08.06.22	>The Cats >D-Tier I am wounded.
tectactoe 08.07.22	Sorta surprised that was the one to do the damage 😮
FR33L0RD 08.07.22	Much work in here, well done, respect 👍 love it! Agreed on the whole
tectactoe 08.09.22	God bless 🙏
dakotadsmith 08.10.22	This is awesome
tectactoe 08.10.22	Danke. It was a quite a journey, lots of early Tranes I hadn't heard until I decided to complete the canon. Don't regret one second of it.
AlexKzillion 08.29.22	any reason why impressions isn't present here? kind of grown into my favorite coltrane album over the past year and was unaware it did not fit your criteria
tectactoe 08.29.22	I decided to exclude 'Live' albums from the list here (otherwise e.g. OLANTUNJI would be in the S-tier). IMPRESSIONS is a tricky one, because it's technically half-live, half-studio recorded. I suppose I could've made an exception in that case, but thought it'd just be easier to define the list as a ranking of 'studio recordings' only.
AlexKzillion 08.29.22	oh i see haha sput has it listed as a studio album but rym has it as a live album didn't even realize that somehow
nash1311 06.19.23	Someone teach me to like Coltrane’s free jazz lol. I like Ornette and some others but Coltrane’s are so difficult for me
Flugmorph 06.19.23	nice moons, might use them in my next list aswell
MoM 06.19.23	^ I’d like that! It’s nice to look at.
tectactoe 06.19.23	Is there anything specific you can point to about Coltrane's free jazz that you find both off-putting and absent from Coleman's?
nash1311 06.19.23	Coltrane’s, to me, sounds way busier and more manic to the point there’s not much I can latch onto in the cacophony. Coleman however has more Melodies and things that I can hear and appreciate. Appears to be more method in the madness if you will
Ryus 06.19.23	interstellar space would prob make my S-tier
tectactoe 05.21.24	Still the goat.
Demon of the Fall 05.21.24	Hmm. Heard all of tier S/A but only “My Fave Things” beyond that
tectactoe 05.21.24	Looks like you've got some work to do.
Winesburgohio 05.22.24	i was just looking at this list to use as a template but for HBO shows! always a pleasure
Ryus 05.22.24	your s tier better be deadwood, sopranos, SATC, and curb
tectactoe 05.22.24	No 'The Wire' ?!?
tectactoe 05.22.24	Also: New Wines list? In.