This essential 1962 album showcases the modern jazz saxophone innovator performing alongside the colossus of jazz piano and composition. Only Coltrane could be this 'fiercely tender,' and there's no better forum for his sensitive side than the music of Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, who contributes the album's true gem, 'My Little Brown Book.' Ellington is wise enough to appreciate the nature of the session and is quite content to feed chords in service of the young master--proving the old master's open mind and good taste— most obviously on their now-classic 'In a Sentimental Mood'.

One of the Duke's great collaborative albums where he invited prominent saxophonist John Coltrane into the studio to work with a small ensemble on a focussed yet innovative set. Standards such as 'In A Sentimental Mood' are less straightforward than the original audience might have guessed.

FFO: Yusef Lateef, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders.

By Martha