Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane

Personnel includes: Karrin Allyson (vocals, piano); Steve Wilson (soprano saxophone); Bob Berg, James Carter (tenor saxophone); James Williams (piano); John Patitucci (acoustic bass); Lewis Nash (drums).
Recorded at Sound On Sound, New York, New York on November 6-12, 2000. Includes liner notes by Nat Hentoff and Karrin Allyson.
BALLADS: REMEMBERING JOHN COLTRANE was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and for Best Engineered Album.
Personnel: Karrin Allyson (vocals, piano); John Patitucci (strings, acoustic bass); Bob Berg (tenor saxophone); James Williams (piano); Lewis Nash (drums, cymbals).
Audio Mixer: Josiah Gluck.
Liner Note Authors: Karrin Allyson; Nat Hentoff.
Recording information: Kampo Audio Studios, New York, NY (11/06/2000-11/12/2000); Sound on Sound, New York, NY (11/06/2000-11/12/2000).
Director: Alexis Davis.
Since John Coltrane's original 1962 BALLADS is quite delberately one of his most mainstream efforts, the contemporary jazz singer Karrin Allyson's superb recreation of this landmark session is less of a conceptual stretch than it might have been otherwise. Neither is it a mere waxworks-like simulacrum. For one, Allyson's wholesome sound is perfectly suited to these songs. In fact, it's the very innocence of ballads like "I Wish I Knew," "Too Young To Go Steady," and "Nancy (With The Laughing Face)" which lent such poignancy to the iconic saxophonist's melodically rhapsodic readings, and now spur Allyson on to such beautifully-rendered performances of her own. The singer also receives sympathetic support from the pianist James Williams, and one of John Coltrane's worthiest descendants, the saxophonist James Carter.