It’s a most welcome and inevitably stunning missing chapter from one of jazz’s finest quartet.
Whatever the plan was, Both Directions at Once isn’t just a treat for the hardcore, either in terms of Coltrane or jazz more broadly.
Regardless of the intent, there’s plenty to savor here, from an era when the saxophonist was edging ever further from the center of jazz and closer to the increasingly ambitious and ecstatic approach he would take in the three years before his death in 1967.
Here is a great band, finding new footing even as it sits at a moment that we all thought was a temporary respite from change.
Both Directions at Once is truly a rare thing: an important discovery from the vault that's also a blast to hear.
These on-the-fly Coltrane experiments were part of a 1960s step-change in the evolution of jazz and much else in contemporary music, still making waves from those long-gone analogue days to the eclectic present.
55 years ago on March 6th, 1963, 36-year-old American jazz composer and saxophonist John Coltrane entered his favorite vaulted, wood-and-masonry-block recording studio at 445 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey for a five-hour long recording session with engineer Rudy Van Gelder. Session producer Bob Thiele had originally scheduled Coltrane (tenor/soprano saxophone) and his quartet McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass) and Elvin Jones (drums) from 2:00pm in the afternoon until ... read more
words that women think men want to hear :
"You are sexy" "Damn, you are strong"
words that men want to hear :
"it's an original isn't it?" "11382--uhh 383 original"
I think it should be commended on how clean this sounds for being a "lost recording" The music here from Coltrane and the Quartet is outstanding as usual and 55 years later new music from them still impresses. 11386 is definitely the stand out. Everyone here is on there a game. This doesn't drive the genre forward any as much as more modern stuff does now cause we've heard Coltrane excell the genre at the same time this was recorded but man this one still bops and there's a somewhat ... read more
words that women think men want to hear :
"You are sexy" "Damn, you are strong"
words that men want to hear :
"it's an original isn't it?" "11382--uhh 383 original"
This is a nifty album, and I think it's great, but I can see why this material was not released. Not Coltrane's best, but still very, very, very good. The Coltrane textures you usually expect aren't as prominent and the arrangements could use a bit a work. Even so, I even learned a couple of these untitled tracks, I think they are really strong heads with great form but I don't necessarily think this is a great recording of them. I impulse bought this vinyl and haven't come back except for the ... read more
1 | Untitled Original 11383 5:41 | 95 |
2 | Nature Boy 3:23 | 88 |
3 | Untitled Original 11386 8:38 | 93 |
4 | Vilia 5:32 | 93 |
5 | Impressions 4:30 | 90 |
6 | Slow Blues 11:25 | 93 |
7 | One Up, One Down 7:58 | 95 |
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#43 | / | The Line of Best Fit |
#44 | / | Treble |
#58 | / | Fopp |