From one Jazz Giant to another ...
Where can you go from Miles? To Coltrane, that's where.
John Coltrane 'Both Directions At Once - The Lost Album'
Recorded in Rudy Van Gelder's studio on a single afternoon in the spring of 1963, the band were in a hurry as they had to get to a gig that evening. This was a time when Trane was at a creative peak, recording and playing constantly with his band: McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. This same group would lay down the definitive 'A Love Supreme' some 18 months later in the same studio, also in just one day.
The tapes from this session were stashed in a cupboard and left there. Coltrane's output was so prolific that he viewed much of this as 'work in progress' and didn't feel a need to get it released. The master tapes were shipped around to storage facilities and eventually destroyed in a space-saving exercise. But - Van Gelder always made mono copies of his sessions and gave a 1/4" reel to Coltrane. This eventually emerged from a cupboard having been 'lost' for 50+ years and has been cleaned and renovated for its presentation to the world.
So, the music: restrained and controlled. Melodic but exploratory. The band are searching for new ground, intense, telepathic. giving each other room for expression and supportive of their efforts. You can see the template for 'A Love Supreme' being carefully shaped here.
The 2-CD version contains a second disc with all of the alternative takes made that afternoon, 6 March 1963.
Historic and worthwhile.
