The recordings that make up this album were taped during a transitional period in John Coltrane's musical career. He had first joined the Miles Davis Quintet in 1955 and would form his own celebrated quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones in 1960. In the intervening years, he overcame his narcotics addiction and began to expand on his own musical ideas while experimenting with both the Thelonious Monk Quartet (in 1957, while he made this album) and the Miles Davis Sextet featuring Bill Evans and Cannonball Adderley (shortly after in 1958-59). With the latter group, he would record the famous Kind of Blue, one of the most fascinating jazz albums of all time. Although Trane belonged to both the Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk groups, he also recorded studio sessions with other musicians and presented his own albums during this period. Traneing In was the result of a single session recorded on August 23, 1957, which produced all of the tunes from the album. Alternate takes of "Bass Blues" (one take) and "Soft Lights and Sweet Music" (two takes) were made according to the recording sheets, but they were all erased after issuing the album and no longer exist.