From the archives
Geoffrey Smith on the headline-grabbing release of a ‘lost’ album by the iconic saxophonist John Coltrane
The announcement, in June this year, of a longlost album by saxophonist John Coltrane made headlines in unlikely places, even attracting a feature on Radio 4’s flagship Today programme. But then Coltrane is a true icon – not just a jazz genius, but a spiritual force trailing the mystic aura of the 1960s. Any new addition to his legacy is bound to excite hopes and expectations.
And, after all the speculation, Both Directions at Once: The
Lost Album (Impulse!/decca 674 9299) is a worthy addition to the Coltrane canon. Though not so much ‘lost’ as overlooked amid the saxophonist’s teeming output for the Impulse! label, the March 1963 session catches him at a particularly rich phase of his creative career, between the melismatic wail of ‘My Favorite Things’ and the heaven-storming ecstasy of ‘A Love Supreme’. In fact, he isn’t just looking in both directions, but all directions, exploring the different possibilities of repertoire, instrumentation, format and, above all, his own expressive language – what he has to say, and how to say it.
The impetus and variety of his quest, the sense of being present at works in progress, gives the album a special fascination. Two of the most interesting tracks are untitled, as if the important thing was just to get them down. The first, a quirky blues with Coltrane on soprano, feels more modal than bluesy at first, while the second, with Coltrane also on soprano, combines a kind of soul riff with a middle-eastern tang.
Throughout, Coltrane and his men – whether in quartet or trio mode – are completely at one. The whole band is on top form, with pianist Mccoy Tyner at his prodding, probing best, underpinned by bassist Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones in particularly fiery form on drums. Ranging from the standard ‘Nature Boy’, to the lyrical ‘Vilia’ from The Merry Widow, to Coltrane’s ‘Impressions’, ‘One Up, One Down’, and a smoking ‘Slow Blues’, the album is a boon to all Trane-lovers, conjuring the full flow of his epoch-making gifts.