John Coltrane Quartet - Ballads - UHQR 2 x 200g 45rpm LP Box Set

2024

Michael Fremer Rated 10/10 Music, 9/10 Sound.
Coltrane's 1963 Impulse Classic Now on UHQR - Limited to 5,000 Copies.

Audiophile reviews rave about saxophone master John Coltrane's immortal Impulse! records, A Love Supreme (1964) and Ballads (1963). Ballads is an album that will never go out of style and will always be welcome on any jazz lover's turntable.

You're about to experience Ballads at its peak of vinyl perfection - in UHQR format on Clarity Vinyl, with the added bonus of a double 45-RPM cut by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound. Ryan's cut has his characteristic clarity and transparency all set against Quality Record Pressing's usual noiseless backgrounds on 200-gram flawless records. Each UHQR will be packaged in a deluxe box and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a UHQR along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection. This will be a truly deluxe, collectible product.

For this 45-RPM 2LP edition you'll also receive a 12" x 12" 12-page booklet featuring liner notes by Ashley Kahn and recording session images by Jim Marshall.

The intense passionate Coltrane interpretation of standards such as "All or Nothing at All," "What's New," "It's Easy to Remember" and the Sinatra classic "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" are the essence of Ballads. When asked why attempt such an undertaking, Coltrane replied, "Variety."

While it may have been a short detour by Trane before he exploded off into the nether regions of jazz music a few years later, it is still a fantastic document of one of the premier jazz groups of the 1960s.

Recorded December 21, 1961 and September 18 & November 13, 1962 at Rudy Van Gelder Studios.