Settin' the Pace


Settin' the Pace is an album credited to jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1961 on Prestige Records, catalogue 7213. It is assembled from unissued results of a single recording session at the studio of Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1958. Coltrane on tenor saxophone is accompanied by the Red Garland Trio with Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. With Garland and Chambers Coltrane had played together since at least October 1955 in Miles Davis' band. With Art Taylor they were part of the Tenor Conclave recordings in September 1956. As a quartet they had already recorded two albums for Prestige, John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio and Soultrane. The material the quartet recorded on this session were extended interpretations of three popular songs not played by jazz musicians before, and "Little Melonae", a classic bebop tune written by Jackie McLean. Of note is Coltrane's use of the sheets of sound technique, particularly on Little Melonae.

Release history

As Coltrane's fame grew during the 1960s long after he had stopped recording for the label, Prestige used unissued recordings to create new marketable albums without Coltrane's input or approval. The original mono recordings were not remastered in stereo until 1970 and released on Prestige's "Jazz Classic Series" as Trane's Reign. Original Jazz Classics reissued the album again in 1983 on LP, then followed by its first digitally remastered CD release in 1987. A technically advanced remastering was produced by Akira Taguchi for JVC in 2008 with an additional bonus track.

Track listing

  1. "I See Your Face Before Me" – 9:59
  2. "If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You" – 9:22
  3. "Little Melonae" – 14:05
  4. "Rise 'n' Shine" – 7:16
2008 reissue bonus track
  2. "By the Numbers" – 12:00

    Personnel