Few people have influenced popular music in America as much as jazz legend John Coltrane. He is credited as one of the creators of Hard Bop, Free Jazz, and pioneered the use of modes in jazz. Since his death in 1967 the question has been asked hundreds of times, what else would he have made if he hadn’t passed? Well last week that question was answered when Impulse! Records released the lead single off of a previously unreleased album, Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album that they are putting out at the end of the month.
The recordings are from 1963, 2 years before Trane would release A Love Supreme, one of his most influential albums and also his last studio album. Listening to the song “Unreleased Original 11383”, you hear a jazz giant playing at their full potential, seemlessly moving through complex chord structures in a way that only John Coltrane can. Because A Love Supreme was 2 years away from these recordings you would expect for them to bridge the gap between his more accessible releases from the early 60s and the experimental sound that he would leave us with. This single doesn’t quite do that, but rather it acts as a reminder that John Coltrane was one of the greatest minds in Jazz.
Listen to the single here.
Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album comes out June 29th on Impulse! Records.