Coltrane’s lost 1963 album delivers
It’s a rare pleasure to hear this “lost” John Coltrane album for the first time. The component sounds of his classic quartet are so familiar that it’s like hearing from an old friend — but the songs and solos are truly new. The original high-quality tape recording, fruit of a glorious one-day session at Rudy Van Gelder’s famed New Jersey studio, was in the hands of the family of Coltrane’s ex-wife Naima, and the well-produced CD released 55 years later captures the quartet in its prime.
Both Directions at Once: The lost album is not a boot leg, a rehearsal or a throwaway album. It may lack the majesty of A love supreme or the commercial appeal of My Favorite Things, but it does not fall far short of those masterpieces. It’s not just Coltrane, of course, but the distinctive blend of Mccoy Tyner’s piano, Elvin Jones’ drums and Jimmy Garrison’s bass that makes this release so vital. The band fits together perfectly; there isn’t a moment of discord or misunderstanding.
Coltrane’s work on both tenor and soprano sax is astonishing. The solos so ar, yet he never seems to be straining. The songs build in familiar ways, but he manages to surprise. The sound is so assured and diverse that it’s hard to believe it was performed in a single afternoon before the quartet rushed off to Birdland across the Hudson River in Manhattan for several live sets. Coltrane, who died of cancer in 1967 at age 40, was back in the studio the next day, recording another album with singer Johnny Hartman. He was clearly bursting with ideas, and totally confident in his ability to make them work.
The deluxe version comes with a second CD, adding more tunes to the mix.