Elvin Jones: Dear John C. (Acoustic Sounds) (180g) (LP)

After Elvin Jones recorded the septet album *Illumination!* for Impulse! in 1963 alongside bassist Jimmy Garrison, his longtime partner from the John Coltrane Quartet, Records, the drummer released his first album as a bandleader on the label in 1965, titled “Dear John C.” Although the album’s title track was, of course, a tribute to Coltrane, Jones placed great importance on creating a certain distance from the modal music he had been playing at the time with the tenor saxophonist’s quartet. He did this, on the one hand, by curating the repertoire, which included not only pieces by Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie but also several classic pop songs. Additionally, he did not cast a tenor saxophonist in his quartet but instead chose alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano, who had previously made a name for himself on the West Coast scene. Verve Acoustic Sounds Series: fully analog mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound from the original tapes, QPR pressing (180 g), sturdy tip-on gatefold sleeve (Stoughton Printing), padded inner sleeve