"But Not for Me" from John Coltrane's 1960 album My Favorite Things presents another George Gershwin standard in the quartet's distinctive modal-influenced approach. Performed in E-flat major with a 32-bar ABAB' form at 200 BPM, the track features three choruses from Coltrane on tenor saxophone followed by three piano choruses from McCoy Tyner. Coltrane's solo begins with relative restraint before building in intensity, his lines becoming increasingly complex and harmonically adventurous as the solo progresses. Tyner's three-chorus contribution is equally compelling, his left-hand voicings creating a rich harmonic cushion beneath fleet right-hand lines. The performance captures the quartet in its early stages, with the musical empathy between Coltrane and Tyner already evident. The album was recorded at Atlantic Studios in New York and produced by Nesuhi Ertegun, capturing a pivotal moment in Coltrane's evolution. While the title track received the most attention for its innovative approach to song form, performances like this one demonstrate that the group was equally capable of swinging hard within more traditional structures. The Gershwin standard provides a familiar harmonic framework that allows the listener to appreciate the originality of Coltrane's and Tyner's improvisational choices in sharper relief.
