Out of this World...

[7/4]

From the Coltrane list!

Out of this World and Into the Shower with John Coltrane

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK, NY, April 1, 2004—Following a path-breaking discovery Verve Music

Group today releases the recently discovered unreleased tapes from John

Coltrane’s major tours. The 10 CD box set will be released through Verve’s

Impulse GRP label.

The 28-bit mastered box has been entitled Out of this World – and into the

Shower with John Coltrane. In addition to practices and preparations from

Alice and John Coltrane’s home at Dix Hills, the box set covers performances

at John Coltrane’s major tours abroad, in Europe 1961-65, as well as to Japan

1966, in addition to tapes from Seattle and San Fransisco.

Coltrane aficionados can hear Coltrane crooning I'm Just a Gigolo in the

bathroom of the Paris Hilton and catch Trane lamenting What Kind of Fool Am I?

in the Stuttgart Marriott loo on the 1961 JATP European Tour. Astounding is

the 25 minute explorative rendition of the original Swedish folk song Ack

Värmeland du sköna, the well known basis for Stan Getz’ Dear Old Stockholm, at

the Hotel Viking in Oslo 1962. The advanced use of dia- and tritonics and

modal drones through a complex combination of guttural humming and extended

wind breaking has been preserved thanks to the use of professional recording

equipment. Accord-ing to Trane’s biographers Yasuhiro Fujioka and Lewis

Porter, these performances clearly point to Coltrane’s 1965-67 musical

innovations. In fact, as shown by Porter, the Oslo per-formance includes major

elements of the Venus duet performance with Rashied Ali in Febru-ary 1967: “It

is all there – more than four years ahead”, says Lewis Porter.

Other eye-opening discoveries include the five CDs of material from showers of

the Osaka Grand, Hakata Imperial, Kobe International, and Tokyo Prince Hotels

in Japan.  These reveal Coltrane's apparent infatuation with the just-released

Beatles Revolver album.  Trane sings all of the Revolver material (from the

extended UK album, not the US Capitol version). Included is a celestial

45-minute Tomorrow Never Knows (at Tokyo Prince) and a 90-minute tour de force

And Your Bird Can Sing in the Kobe Hilton. An 82-minute alternate version is

taken from the Osaka Four Seasons.

Adding panache is the recording's incredible ambient reverb. “We didn't have

to doctor up these recording with digital reverb,” says producer Michael

Cuscuna.  “The shower stall and bathroom acts as a natural reverb plate.

Listeners will appreciate the otherworldly quality of such songs as Mona Lisa

from the Stockholm Grand and Unforgettable from the Seattle Hil-ton. The

latter, though of a lower acoustical quality, also has a fully comparable

alternate take from Dix Hills.

“Several titles were recorded by Rudy van Gelder,”  adds Cuscuna. “That is the

clincher—that is what gives this set its overall sonic excellence.  I believe

that these are important recordings in the legacy of John Coltrane.  Every

Coltrane listener will need a copy.

The meticulously crafted packaging includes a 100-page booklet with all the

words to the songs and a psycho-acoustic exposition on bathroom sound science.

As a consequence of the discovery of these tapes, Lewis Porter concludes in

his contribution to the liner notes that the Coltrane history needs to be

completely rewritten. David Wild, an expert on John Coltrane and his music, is

raving; “here we see in full-fledged form what Coltrane was trying to achieve

in his creation of music on and off stage. Coltrane’s almost mono-maniac

occupation with practising on his horn clearly included his bathroom habits –

even more – evidently the bathroom was his major research laboratory”. Ed

Rhodes, Jr. comments: “The fact that there is no performance of titles from

the main Coltrane book is astounding – and emphasises the point that for

Coltrane the titles themselves were just basic vehicles, work horses or

frameworks to set the general stage for the creation of new music. The

facility with which he plays with a different set of melodical framework and

transforms it into music that – in spite of its strangeness – is obviously

Trane-ish, will be a revealing path to understand his music, even for

newcomers to Coltrane”.

The first 1000 people who purchase the box set will receive an added bonus—a

bar of soap with the cover image of the original edition of A Love Supreme

engraved, above an Impulse logo. “It's real, pure, 100% natural glycerin,”

enthuses Cuscuna.

Release date is April 1, 2004.

[jazzbo]

NOW THAT'S A BLAST FROM THE PAST!

Think I first saw that an April 1 about six years ago. . .mabye seven. . . ?

STILL WAITING FOR THE DAMN THING TO HIT STORES!

[7/4]

I've never seen it before.

[TedR]

The portions produced by Phil Schapp include courtesy flushes.

[Chrome]

The first 1000 people who purchase the box set will receive an added bonus—a

bar of soap with the cover image of the original edition of A Love Supreme

engraved, above an Impulse logo. “It's real, pure, 100% natural glycerin,”

enthuses Cuscuna.

Release date is April 1, 2004.

[7/4]

Really?

[jazzbo]

I don't see how that is possible! With all that lathering it can't smell!

[AfricaBrass]

I can't wait to get this one!

[7/4]

Don't hold your breath. B)

[AfricaBrass]

Don't hold your breath. B)

At least I have my fine collection of Kenny G CDs to listen to in the meantime. B)