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Ballads
Studio album by John Coltrane
Released	January 1963 (1963-01)
Recorded	December 21, 1961; September 18 and November 13, 1962
Studio	Van Gelder (Englewood Cliffs)
Genre	Jazz
Length	32:18
Label	Impulse! A-32
Producer	Bob Thiele
John Coltrane chronology
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (1963) Ballads (1963) Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane (1963)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
DownBeat (Original Lp release)
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
New Record Mirror
The Penguin Guide to Jazz
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

Ballads is a jazz album by John Coltrane released in January 1963 by Impulse! Records. It was recorded in December 1961 and 1962, and released with catalogue number A-32 (mono) and AS-32 (stereo). Critic Gene Lees stated that the quartet had never played the tunes before. "They arrived with music-store sheet music of the songs" and just before the recordings, they "would discuss each tune, write out copies of the changes they'd use, semi-rehearse for a half hour and then do it". Each piece was recorded in one take, except for "All or Nothing at All". In 2008, the album was a recipient of the Grammy Hall of Fame award.

Track listing

Original

1. "Say It (Over and Over Again)" (Jimmy McHugh)– 4:18
2. "You Don't Know What Love Is" (Gene DePaul)– 5:15
3. "Too Young to Go Steady" (Jimmy McHugh)– 4:23
4. "All or Nothing at All" (Arthur Altman)– 3:39
5. "I Wish I Knew" (Harry Warren)– 4:54
6. "What's New?" (Bob Haggart)– 3:47
7. "It's Easy to Remember" (Richard Rodgers)– 2:49
8. "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" (Jimmy Van Heusen)– 3:10

2002 deluxe edition

Disc two

1. "They Say It's Wonderful"
2. "All or Nothing at All" - Alternate take
3. "Greensleeves" - Alternate take
4. "Greensleeves" - Alternate take
5. "Greensleeves" - Alternate take
6. "Greensleeves" - Master take
7. "Greensleeves" - Alternate take
8. "It's Easy to Remember" - Alternate take
9. "It's Easy to Remember" - Alternate take
10. "It's Easy to Remember" - Alternate take
11. "It's Easy to Remember" - Alternate take
12. "It's Easy to Remember" - Alternate take
13. "It's Easy to Remember" - Alternate take
14. "It's Easy to Remember" - Alternate take

Personnel

• John Coltrane – tenor saxophone
• McCoy Tyner – piano
• Jimmy Garrison (#1–6, 8), Reggie Workman (#7; Disc 2, #3–14) – bass
• Elvin Jones – drums

Production

• Rudy Van Gelder – recording engineer
• Jim Marshall – photography

References

1. ^ DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Schmaler, Wolf; Wild, David (2013). Porter, Lewis (ed.). The John Coltrane Reference. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. p. 658. ISBN 9780415634632. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
2. ^ "13 ABC, 7 Impulse LPs Bow At N.Y. Distrib Meet" (PDF). Cash Box. New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. January 5, 1963. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
3. Down Beat: March 28, 1963 vol. 30, no. 8
4. AllMusic review
5. Watson, Jimmy (13 July 1963). "John Coltrane Quartet: Ballads" (PDF). New Record Mirror. No. 122. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
6. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
7. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 46. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
8. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
9. Original liner notes by Gene Lees
10. Grammy Hall of Fame website, retrieved 9 November 2013.

• 1963 albums
• Impulse! Records albums
• John Coltrane albums
• Albums produced by Bob Thiele
• Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio
• Ballads