The best of John Coltrane:
1 My Favorite Things (Atlantic, 1960)
2
Giant Steps (Atlantic, 1960)
3
Africa/Brass (Impulse!, 1961)
4
Coltrane (Impulse! 1962)
5
Lush Life (Prestige, 1960)
6
A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1964)
7 Crescent/Impressions (Impulse!, 1964 & 1965)
8 Coltrane (aka First Trane) (Prestige, 1957)
9 Live at Birdland (Impulse!, 1963)
10 Blue Train/Soultrane (Prestige, 1957 & 1958)
Honorable mention:
(not specifically a Coltrane album, but
The Avant-Garde was recorded by
Coltane, Cherry, Charlie Haden, Percy Heath and Ed Blackwell in 1960, and finally released by Atlantic in 1966.)
----------------------
The best of the later 'Trane:
(some of these were recorded years before being released)
1 Living Space (Impulse!, 1967)
2
Live at the Village Vanguard Again! (Impulse!, 1967)
3 Ascension (Impulse!, 1965)
4 Live in Japan (Impulse!, 1966)
5 Om (Impulse!, 1965)
6 Meditations (Impulse!, 1965)
7 New Thing at Newport (Impulse!, 1965)
8 Live in Seattle (Impulse!, 1965)
9 Sun Ship (Impulse!, 1971)
10 Interstellar Space/Stellar Regions (Impulse!, 1974)