There is something wonderfully nostalgic about opening up a brand new John Coltrane album from the Impulse! label, complete with the iconic orange siding, recorded, mixed and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder in Englewood Cliffs, NJ and filled with liner notes AND the all important gate booklet. AH! I’m discovering jazz again!!!
But I digress…
This recording session from June 24, 1964 never saw the light of day on an album, as it was the soundtrack for an obscure film Le chat dans le sac. The recording comes right after the period of Coltrane’s Crescent album, with the classic team of McCoy Tyner/p, Elvin Jones/p and Jimmy Garrison/b in simpatico form. The only song never heard before is the six minute “Blue World” with Garrison leading into a bluesy line that has the band giving an “Equinox” feel to the groove. There are two takes of “Naima,” with the first one more majestically pulsed forward than expected, and the second at a bit of a slower clip but still assertive.
Three takes of “Village Blues” features Tyner’s rich hands in a swinging mood as Jones thunders a nice cadence. Garrison leads into a muscular trio setting on “Traneing In” with the band digging deep for three minutes before Coltrane cannonballs into the pool and creates large ripples. A quick “Like Sonny” has Coltrane and Jones out in front for a dance, and the cymbals are flying. The sound is wonderful, the music illuminating and inspiring and the return to the love of my youth a fountain of joy. Historical album of the year? Should we wait for hints of other finds before voting?