John Coltrane

- AN ALL-TIME CLASSIC EXPANDED TO INCLUDE UNRELEASED
  SEXTET RECORDINGS FROM COLTRANE'S PERSONAL TAPES

- EXTRAORDINARY DOCUMENT OF AN EXTRAORDINARY RECORDING

"A Love Supreme" is one of the most popular albums in the last 60 years of jazz, selling the kind of numbers usually reserved for pop. If Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" is the most frequently bought first jazz album for those curious about the genre, A Love Supreme is easily number two. But though they were released just seven years apart, there's a world of difference between the two records, and the success of A Love Supreme is trickier to explain.

For all its structural daring, "Kind of Blue" also functions as an ambient record, with slower tempos and late-night ambiance. "A Love Supreme" is harder to get a handle on. Though conventionally beautiful in many ways, for many marks the exact point beyond which jazz becomes too experimental.

THE 2 CD VERSION (The new and previously unreleased part!) It's possible to hear on this newly presented 2CD set how the album might have gone even further. Although they had the music in the can from the first day (the music on A Love Supreme was recorded on a single day, December 9, 1964), Coltrane wanted to try something else.

So on December 10, he called the young tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp, and a second bassist, Art Davis to play with his quartet. The six musicians then ran through two versions of "A Love Supremes"’ opening "Acknowledgment", so that Coltrane could explore what the music might sound like with another horn and additional low-end rhythm.

The different versions in the second CD do what any good collection of outtakes will demonstrate. These versions clearly show where Coltrane was going, and taken as a whole, they constitute a separate musical statement all their own.

DISC 1:

- THE ORIGINAL STEREO ALBUM, Impulse! AS-77
01. Part I - Acknowledgement (7:42)
02. Part II - Resolution (7:20)
03. Part III - Persuance (10:41)
04. Part IV - Psalm (7:05)

- TRANE'S ORIGINAL MONO REFERENCE MASTERS
05. part III - Pursuance (10:42)
06. Part IV - Psalm (7:02)

DISC 2:

- QUARTET SESSION: DECEMBER 9, 1964
01. Part I - Acknowledgement  vocal overdub 2 (2:00)
02. Part I - Acknowledgement  vocal overdub 3 (2:05)
03. Part II - Resolution take 4 / alternate (7:25)
04. Part II - Resolution take 6 / breakdown (2-13)
05. Part IV - Psalm undubbed version (6:59)

- SEXTET SESSION: DECEMBER 10, 1964
06. Part I - Acknowledgement take 1/alternate (9:24)
07. Part I - Acknowledgement take 2/alternate (9:47)
08. Part I - Acknowledgement take 3/breakdown with studio dialogue (1:26)
09. Part I - Acknowledgement take 4/alternate (9:04)
10. Part I - Acknowledgement take 5/false start (0:34)
11. Part I - Acknowledgement take 6/alternate (12:33)

DISC 1 [5-6] & DISC 2: PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, except Disc 2 [3,4,6,7]
previously issued 20o2. Tracks 6 & 7 are in stereo for the first time.

PERSONNEL:

JOHN COLTRANE, tenor sax
McCOY TYNER, pian
JIMMY GARRISON, bass
ELVIN JONES, drums

On Disc 2 [6-11]: add ARCHIE SHEPP, tenor sax and ART DAVIS, bass.