Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 50
 Crescent and more January 4, 2006
Stanley (Seattle, WA USA)
8 out of 17 found this review helpful
Crescent reminds me of how great a period of supreme artistry that Coltrane sustained during the last few years of his life. I feel a need to inform all fellow lovers of this period of a little known album,currently out of print, called "Infinity" that truely ranks with his best. It was rescued from the vaults back in 1972 by Alice Coltrane who added a string arrangement which truely lends a mysterious quality and produces probably the most unique Coltrane recording of all time. I first heard this album as a teenager and its mystic tones were a religious experence for me. There is something about the music that speaks of a man who knows he is near physical death and is searching for a path to eternal life. Please note that I accidently gave "Cresent" a one star rating - I meant to give it five stars.
 One of his best albums November 19, 2005
lil' rook (danbury, ct)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I think crescent is one of John Coltrane's five best albums. It's one of his first albums I got and I have always loved it. It was recorded in 1964 right before A love supreme and in my opinion it is as good. The best songs are Crescent and Lonnie's Lament. The songs are pretty long the longest being 11:45. If you don't have this album make shure it's the next album you get.
The classic quartet's finest October 25, 1999
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
The catalogue of the classic John Coltrane Quartet 1960-65 is surely at the summit of 20th century musical endeavour.This album is at the apex of this achievement, comparing to A Love Supreme in both its unity and spiritual intensity. But here the characteristic yearning, searching, pulsating sound of the group has an altogther more melancholy, and reflective feel. The lyricism of Crescent, Wise One and Lonnie's Lament is sublime and, typically for the quartet, never sentimental. Music that shimmers like gold.
Ignore at your peril April 5, 2003
Stephen E. Andrews (Somerset United Kingdom)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Almost every artist of stature becomes overly associated with one work, which is often deemed to be their finest or most representative. With 'Trane, the seminal album is supposedly 'A Love Supreme'.
Those listeners who wish to look beyond the critical consensus should make straight for 'Crescent', which immediately precedes 'Supreme' and was perceptively described by a critic as 'the dark night of the soul' before the epiphany of the album that followed. As another reviewer here has pointed out, this is a deeply lyrical work, with a cool, heavy mood that makes it one of the most affecting records in modern jazz.
If you are a listener attuned to moody rock like David Sylvian, John Cale, Nico and similar romantics, 'Crescent' is the 'Trane for you. Leave the admittedely great but over-discussed 'supreme' to the trendies...or at least until you have managed to extricate yourself from the shadowy solitude of this beautiful album.
Hey, it's not just lovely, it's lively, too... July 3, 2003
William E. Adams (Hobbs, NM USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Several of the 21 reviewers who got to this CD before me see "Crescent" as dark, heavy, brooding, somber. I think those words have a negative feel which is inaccurate. I like this 40-minute release from 1964 more than "A Love Supreme" which followed it a year later. These five Coltrane originals may not have the "force" of the later disc, but they are more enjoyable as a casual listening experience, by far. While the four ballads and one blues are on the mellow side, there is nothing dull here. Beauty is created at Rudy Van Gelder's NJ studio once again by John, McCoy, Jimmy and Elvin and producer Bob Thiele. If you like Coltrane at all, don't be afraid of "Crescent"---while there is an edge to it that John didn't show in his 1950's albums, it is a gentle surface, harmless and harmonic.
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