John Coltrane"s work on Atlantic Records marked both his ascent as a leader and the refinement of his trademarked "sheets of sound" improvisational style. This 1961 release features Trane with a variety of celebrated bandmates: pianists Sonny Rollins, Wynton Kelly, and McCoy Tyner, bassists Steve Davis and Paul Chambers, and drummers Lex Humphries, Jimmy Cobb, and Elvin Jones. Stylistically, Trane spans some diverse musical territory. There"s his down-home and hypnotic takes on the blues, "Village Blues" and the Thelonius Monk-like "Harmonique." Coltrane and his crew poetically and rhythmically remake the standard "My Shining Hour," and "Like Sonny," a shout-out to Sonny Rollins, is a dancing Afro-Latin excursion. This date offers a preview of the important music that Coltrane, Tyner, and Jones would unleash in a few years before the saxophonist"s death in 1967. --Eugene Holley Jr.