John Coltrane - John Coltrane 100: Highlights From 1957-1964 [2LP]

John Coltrane 100: Highlights From 1957-1964 marks the saxophonist's centenary with a double LP that squeezes eight extraordinary years onto four sides.

The span tells the story. In 1957 Coltrane was rebuilding himself, cutting his first records as a leader and sharpening his ideas on the bandstand with Thelonious Monk. By the end of 1964 he was leading the quartet that recorded A Love Supreme. In between came his return to Miles Davis's group and a run of records that rewrote what the tenor saxophone could say, and this collection follows that climb across labels, with Monk and Davis sessions beside his own.

"Blue Train" captures hard bop at its most muscular, all brassy confidence and blues in the bones. "Giant Steps" follows with the cycling chord changes that remain a rite of passage for serious players, while "My Favorite Things" turns a show tune into a hypnotic soprano saxophone meditation, McCoy Tyner's piano churning underneath.

The final side lands on "A Love Supreme, Pt. I - Acknowledgement", the opening of the suite many hear as his spiritual statement, its chanted refrain arriving like a door swinging open.

As a starting point it is hard to beat, and as a hundredth-birthday tribute it is a reminder of how much ground one musician covered in so little time.