On the first three 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?" [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.]
–
Scott Yanow, Rovi