This 3 cd set of John Coltrane’s 1963 sessions can be purchases separately, or in a 5 cd set along with the essential Both Directions at Once which came out earlier in the year. This compilation features John Coltrane in a variety of settings, at the July 7th Newport Jazz Festival with Roy Haynes sitting in Elvin Jones’ drum spot, a at Birdland on October 8 with his quartet of McCoy Tyner/p, Jimmy garrison/b and Elvin Jones, and some March studio work that had him with both his quartet and vocalist Johnny Hartman sitting in for a classic and restrained session. The various sessions and personnel reflect a restless spirit that was searching for not only a sound but a worldview as well.
The most accessible of the material is the at-the-time bewildering mix Coltrane’s quartet and the Billy Eckstine-influenced crooner Johnny Hartman. The result is definitive reads of material such as “My One and Only Love,” “Lush Life,” “Autumn Serenade” and “They Say It’s Wonderfull.” The studio takes from March 6 have various reads of “Nature Boy,” Impressions,” “One Up, One Down,” Vilia” and some “Untitled Originals” that reflect changes in tempo and instrumentation, revealing the creative thought process and evolution of a final Coltrane product.
Also in a reflective mood are glorious studio pieces such as “After the Rain” and the thoughtful “Dear Old Stockholm,” while the riveting Newport Jazz Festival has Haynes bringing a different but still successful pulse to marathon versions of “My Favorite Things” and “Impressions”. The classic quartet is in an assertive mode at Birdland for a throbbing “Afro Blue” and anthemlike “Alabama” while his unaccompanied work on almost half of “I Want to Talk About You” is the sound of legend. Nothing feels static, and whether the tempo is slow or torrid, the feel is of a wandering pilgrim, progressing forward to the Promised Land.