John Coltrane

Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album

Verve

A NEW Coltrane album? The prospect provokes reverence - but this has too much life in it to be a sacred relic. The product of one 1963 session, this collection would be worthwhile for Untitled Original 11383 alone - an urbane 12-bar transfigured by Coltrane's modal melody, his nightingale flourishes and the sheer freshness of this quartet's chemistry. Jimmy Garrison's (unusually, bowed) bass solo soon sees the other players shutting up entirely.

The clarity and punch of these unreleased recordings situates us right in the studio. A delicious Slow Blues sees drummer Elvin Jones itching to raise the tempo until he gets his wish five minutes in, his powerful and good-humoured soloing makes closer One Up One Down incendiary, McCoy Tyner's piano steals the show in Untitled Original 11386. Though a couple of standards feel inessential, this collection is a welcome window on to a magisterial quartet and the liberality of its leader's genius.

Michael Dornan