John Coltrane: Cattin', 1957

Did John Coltrane record with Lester Young? Sadly no, but in 1957, he came pretty close as far as the ear is concerned. In May of that year, Coltrane recorded the album Cattin' for Prestige with tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette (pronounced QUIN-ah-shay). Coltrane's sax mate on the album was known in the jazz media as the Vice President or Vice Prez for his almost picture-perfect emulation of Lester Young, whom Billie Holiday had nicknamed “Prez" for his cool and dominant sound.

Joined by Mal Waldron (p), Julian Euell (b) and Ed Thigpen (d), Coltrane and Quinichette sounded great together on Cattin', leaving us only to imagine what could have been had Young been in good health in '57 or Coltrane and Young had teamed up earlier in the decade.

Since it's Friday, here's the entire Cattin' album (below).

Bonus: Here's Paul Quinichette soloing with Buck Clayton and Doc Severinsen (tp); Benny Morton and Jimmy Cleveland (tb); Tony Scott (cl); Sid Cooper (as); Ben Webster and Paul Quinichette (ts); Billy Taylor (p); Mundell Lowe (g); Eddie Safranski (b) and Ed Thigpen (d)...