John Coltrane / The Believer

Reissued as an individual compact disc through the OJC imprint, The Believer is also available on CD as part of John Coltrane's huge Prestige box set, Fearless Leader. However, the original LP as included in the box set only contains half an hour of music, and is here supplemented by two bonus tracks of over seven minutes each, "Filidia" and "Paul's Pal," performed by the Ray Draper Quartet featuring Coltrane and originally included on an album released by the New Jazz label. On the first three (non-bonus) tracks, the masterful tenor saxophonist is joined by pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Louis Hayes, and either Donald Byrd or a young Freddie Hubbard on trumpet. An interesting aspect to the set is that it is the first example of Coltrane being associated with pianist McCoy Tyner. Tyner is not on the date, but he contributed "The Believer," which Coltrane performs along with Calvin Massey's "Nakatini Serenade" and the Rodgers & Hammerstein ballad "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?" _x000D_ Review by Scott Yanow