Lost Coltrane Recording Discovered

[bwv 1080]

https://pitchfork.com/news/lost-john-coltrane-album-discovered/

From 1963, the Impressions / Love Supreme period

https://www.youtube.com/v/q7X2X7LDFok&feature=youtu.be

[Karl Henning]

Wonderful!

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Will be getting the double LP as soon as it's released!

[Alek Hidell]

Yes, I'll be on it like stink on you-know-what!

It's amazing, given Coltrane's almost cult-like following (among some of his fans, that is) and the demand for his every recorded note, that there is still anything left to find. But apparently there is.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I am wondering whether it is worth getting the regular LP or the two LP set. From what I can surmise, the latter includes a bunch of alternate takes--has anyone bought or listened to this yet?

[Gurn Blanston]

I saw bits and pieces on a TV advert: it's on my list too.  0:)

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Just picked up the double LP at my local crack den audio dealer. The music is great-classic Coltrane-Tyner-Jones-Garrison sound! The packaging is pretty good if a bit unconventional, but there are extensive liner notes on the other side of a nice (not really suitable for framing because of folds) poster.

I digitized the first LP yesterday and was surprised (and slightly disappointed) to find that the recording is mono! I thought most everyone was doing stereo (or at least offering it alongside monos) by 1963.

[king ubu]

Those were the mono tapes that Coltrane - as a very special service - would get dubs of right after the session ... of course the session would have been done in stereo, but don't ask me why the original tapes are lost. Either way, what I'm lost on is the stereo fetish of many listeners - actually in jazz and rock, many seem to prefer the mono mixes which were done way into the sixties and were often considered the original mix into which lots of work was put, while the stereo was done for ... don't quite know whom, the stiff upper lippers? 

Anyway, excellent release in good sound - the "Slow Blues" is certainly a great addition to the canon and the whole session is pretty good. As a huge Coltrane fan, obviously I wouldn't want to be without the alternate takes. Got the 2 CD version of it, which comes in a lovely cardboard package.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I do agree with you on the stereo fetish. For so many types or music--especially solo instruments or small ensembles, I don't think it makes a great deal of difference. (At how many seats in a concert hall or even small hall are you hearing true stereo?) I record LPs to FLAC all the time and I sometimes notice that some recordings labeled STEREO actually sound mono, and the peaks and waveforms match up very closely (of course they are never EXACTLY the same even in true mono). Other recordings that were labeled mono actually look and sound stereo--possible mis-labeling I suppose.

That being said, I do prefer stereo when available and always look for it for certain labels--Capitol, RCA, Mercury, etc. It's not even so much that I am into the stereo separation and imaging so much as the stereo recordings to my ear often have improved treble extension and "air". However, many if not most of my most prized recordings are in mono, and many of these have astonishing sound quality (e.g., old Westminster, Columbia, Capitol, Period etc.)

[king ubu]

Yeah, I see the point - but for all those small jazz labels of that era (Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside, Pacific Jazz, Contemporary, Impulse ...) I don't really care - or rather I'd actually wish when they were doing all the reissues they'd have used the mono versions more often.

And yes, I've noticed the similarity in WAV forms often for such recordings (speaking of jazz mostly) - the narrow spread makes it even weirder that they did not use mono versions (maybe they thought it didn't matter much?).

Anyway, for the Beatles for instance, I went with the mono box (adding the missing reissues separately). For the Stones I don't bother too much (the best albums in my book are BB and EOMS and they're too late in the game to be proper mono, I assume, the early stuff is okay but more often I'd rather play some real blues). The Dylan and Miles mono sets are both lovely though (althouth I wish for the Miles they'd have completed the sessions and not stuck with the "album only" concept, which I find stupid, but which has been to the fore since the later days of the CD reissue era, with some RVGs having been done differently than initially planned, and the stoopid "Originals" series on Universal succeeding better earlier series ...)