Bessie's Blues is an instrumental composed by John Coltrane, who is its sole credited writer. It was recorded by the John Coltrane Quartet on 27 April 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with Coltrane on tenor saxophone, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. The piece is the third track on side one of the album Crescent, released by Impulse! in July 1964 and produced by Bob Thiele. It runs 3:22 and is published by Jowcol Music. The tune is a 12-bar blues in 4/4 in the key of E-flat, with more traditional changes than some of Coltrane's earlier blues pieces. The album Crescent was praised by AllMusic, The Penguin Guide to Jazz (3.5 out of 4) and the Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (4 out of 5). Later performers of the tune include Roland Kirk, McCoy Tyner, Roy Haynes, Eric Alexander and Ari Hoenig.
