Coltrane: Both Directions At Once (lost album)

[Ken Dryden]

I also have had issues with quality control on some of these high priced LP only issues. The pressings tend be noisy in quieter passages and one set had a chip out of the disc, which neither the vendor nor the label was willing to make good, since I didn't open it promptly. Frankly, it was damaged before it was put into the gatefold sleeve, because there was no evidence of damage to the album jacket. Lessen learned, open LPs promptly or just avoid recently pressed LPs.

[Brad]

I received an email from Pledge Music indicating you can buy a reel to reel version for $500. 

[mikeweil]

I still have to get me the complete Sun Ship sessions ..... 

[Stefan Wood]

21 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

I don’t think it’s jaded at all. I have 92 discs worth of Coltrane as a leader. I’m reasonably convinced I’ve already heard him say everything he had to say. And I’ve already heard him say it, MANY times over. The Olatunji Concert was the last “new” release I bought, and I think it soured me towards purchasing any later “lost recordings”. 

Like you, if I hear plaudits and claims that this is way beyond anything else we heard from him before, I may add it to the collection. Otherwise this news is a big meh, in my book. 

Scott, I prefer this kind of release over the 100th iteration of A Love Supreme.  Granted, it is scraping the bottom of the barrel for material, but unless unissued broadcast performances are discovered, this is a nice surprise.

[bertrand]

17 hours ago, Brad said:

 

This is the one that might be by McCoy?

[Ken Dryden]

43 minutes ago, Stefan Wood said:

Scott, I prefer this kind of release over the 100th iteration of A Love Supreme.  Granted, it is scraping the bottom of the barrel for material, but unless unissued broadcast performances are discovered, this is a nice surprise.

A Love Supreme is not among my favorite John Coltrane albums. I look forward to this discovery.

[felser]

1 hour ago, Ken Dryden said:

A Love Supreme is not among my favorite John Coltrane albums. I look forward to this discovery.

Ken, what are your favorites?  I can't objectively rate ALS, as it is the album from which I discovered jazz.  Hooked the minute Elvin Jones comes in on the first cut.  "Transition" is probably my Coltrane desert island disc, or maybe "Live at Birdland", but there are so many (including ALS) that I treasure, even some of the Prestige titles.

[Scott Dolan]

3 hours ago, Stefan Wood said:

Scott, I prefer this kind of release over the 100th iteration of A Love Supreme.  Granted, it is scraping the bottom of the barrel for material, but unless unissued broadcast performances are discovered, this is a nice surprise.

That fair, and I agree that it’s a better choice than the “complete sessions” this or “legacy edition” that. The kind of bunk that has been the bread and butter of Jazz labels the past couple of decades. 

I guess my point is that I’m more interested in hearing something new. Not slight variations on things I’ve already heard hundreds of times already. “Hey, remember all that stuff he played in ‘63? Well, here’s more of it!” 

*yawn*

2 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

A Love Supreme is not among my favorite John Coltrane albums. I look forward to this discovery.

It took me a long, LONG time to “get” A Love Supreme. I’d probably rank it in my top five Coltrane albums nowadays. 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Scott Dolan

[Ken Dryden]

I have always been more interested in the 1961 Village Vanguard sessions

. 

[Scott Dolan]

That was my introduction to both Eric Dolphy, and what eventually turned into Free Jazz, which occupied my listening habits for about two decades. 

So, yeah. Me, too. But that still doesn’t diminish the greatness of A Love Supreme. 

[clifford_thornton]

6 hours ago, mikeweil said:

I still have to get me the complete Sun Ship sessions ..... 

me too!

I wasn't that floored by this premiered 1963 cut, to be completely honest.

[Ken Dryden]

I am a bit different as I discovered Eric Dolphy before John Coltrane. I bought either Outward Bound or Last Date first after hearing Frank Zappa's Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue. Soon I was exploring Coltrane, Mingus and others with whom Dolphy recorded. It is a shame that he didn't live into his eighties.

 

[Rooster_Ties]

At the risk of being castigated for this line of inquiry, I'll ask if there's any discographical ("sessiongraphal"?) clues as to the proportion of tenor vs. soprano?

 

[JSngry]

39 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

me too!

I wasn't that floored by this premiered 1963 cut, to be completely honest.

It sounds like a rehearsal tape, to be honest, but again, that appeals to me because a band like that, rehearsals were just to lay out the basics, learn where the signposts are, very much exculpatory in nature. You want to save the heavy stuff for the gig and/or the session. I know many people don’t particularly enjoy revising blueprints or floor plans, their desire is to get in the house and live in it. I do, and when I see, what, 3-4 takes of Impressions, all uned 5? minutes, I’m thinking hmmmm...let’s see what that’s all about. Nothing life-changing expected, just a little bit of “pre- history” for a geek such as I.

[Niko]

if you scroll down to approximately the middle of this page

http://www.barrykernfeld.com/aop.htm

you'll find a more detailed description starting with "Unissued session of March 6, 1963". This contains among other things the details on soprano vs tenor...

[Dave James]

I just ordered the deluxe 2-CD edition from Amazon, so it is available again.

I would assume since Ravi was involved in readying this for prime time that he may have had a hand in naming the album.  Based on several of song titles, this strikes me as a transitional recording...a bridge between some relatively conventional work and what he was headed for not too far down the road.

Edited June 9, 2018 by Dave James

[Scott Dolan]

5 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

I am a bit different as I discovered Eric Dolphy before John Coltrane. I bought either Outward Bound or Last Date first after hearing Frank Zappa's Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue. Soon I was exploring Coltrane, Mingus and others with whom Dolphy recorded. It is a shame that he didn't live into his eighties.

 

Oddly enough, I discovered both Coltrane AND Dolphy via Zappa thanks to Ben Webster’s biography, The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play!  

[Chuck Nessa]

2 minutes ago, Scott Dolan said:

Oddly enough, I discovered both Coltrane AND Dolphy via Zappa thanks to Ben Webster’s biography, The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play!  

Never knew the Brute cared for Zappa.

[Ken Dryden]

3 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Never knew the Brute cared for Zappa.

I was listening to Zappa long before that book was published. Oddly enough, I've owned a copy for a long time and never gotten around to reading it.

[mikeweil]

7 hours ago, Niko said:

if you scroll down to approximately the middle of this page

http://www.barrykernfeld.com/aop.htm

you'll find a more detailed description starting with "Unissued session of March 6, 1963". 

Thanks for that link - I wonder what became of these tapes,especially after reading this sentence: " Coincidentally the following morning Guernsey’s phoned to report that attorneys for the Impulse! label had just threatened a lawsuit if the reels were not withdrawn from the auction." 

Edited June 10, 2018 by mikeweil

[Hot Ptah]

I listened to “Untitled Original 11383” and that is enough to interest me in this set.

5 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Never knew the Brute cared for Zappa.

The author is Ben Watson.

Purely as a book, it is a very interesting book.

1 hour ago, Ken Dryden said:

I was listening to Zappa long before that book was published. Oddly enough, I've owned a copy for a long time and never gotten around to reading it.

It is worth reading. 

[Scott Dolan]

Yeah, it was certainly an entertaining read. About as disjointed and wild as Zappa’s music.  

[clifford_thornton]

On 6/9/2018 at 1:04 PM, JSngry said:

It sounds like a rehearsal tape, to be honest, but again, that appeals to me because a band like that, rehearsals were just to lay out the basics, learn where the signposts are, very much exculpatory in nature. You want to save the heavy stuff for the gig and/or the session. I know many people don’t particularly enjoy revising blueprints or floor plans, their desire is to get in the house and live in it. I do, and when I see, what, 3-4 takes of Impressions, all uned 5? minutes, I’m thinking hmmmm...let’s see what that’s all about. Nothing life-changing expected, just a little bit of “pre- history” for a geek such as I.

oh sure, I agree. I'm sure it'll be interesting but the hype is, as usual, out of control.

[mjzee]

On 6/9/2018 at 0:59 PM, Niko said:

if you scroll down to approximately the middle of this page

http://www.barrykernfeld.com/aop.htm

you'll find a more detailed description starting with "Unissued session of March 6, 1963". This contains among other things the details on soprano vs tenor...

This is fascinating.  I guess we now have a sense of future Impulse releases.  I, for one, can't wait for the complete Coltrane & Hartman sessions.

[bertrand]

Why are they going through pledge music for this???