John Coltrane – Live in Finland 1961/62 [Mono] (UHQCD dublu)

John Coltrane was not a loner. A tireless worker, he constantly sought to learn from others and build symbiotic relationships with them. Before he played, he listened. The 1950s were dazzling and decisive years for him: he performed with Johnny Hodges from Ellington’s orchestra, worked with Dizzy Gillespie’s band and met Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. Then he met Miles Davis. Coltrane continued his search. Within a few months, he met Thelonious Monk, Yusef Lateef, Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Eric Dolphy. They all shared the same passion for musical creativity, explored new forms of expression and sounds, and sought a playing style that could span astonishingly fast tempos.
 
On November 22, 1961, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman and Elvin Jones finally stood together on stage in Helsinki. It has often been said that Trane did everything in excess – drugs and alcohol, then cigars, vegetarianism and finally religion. However, what was overlooked was his love of friendship and group performances that highlighted the contribution of each individual musician. Even his spiritual conversion in old age was not egocentric. Miles Davis wrote in his autobiography that Coltrane had turned into a diamond. He could have added that Trane was considered a beacon; he shaped music in general and jazz in particular, and mentored entire generations of great jazz musicians.

Frédéric D’Oria-Nicolas, the musical treasure hunter behind The Lost Recordings, describes the path the label had to take to make this release a reality: “Among unreleased recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans, Sarah Vaughan and Ben Webster, we discovered two concerts by John Coltrane! Unfortunately, the initial audio quality of the Coltrane excerpts suggested that the tapes were unusable. It wasn’t until July 2025 that we traveled to Helsinki in person with all our equipment. On the last morning, when we had some time left, we decided to listen to the Coltrane tapes – but without much hope. We put the first tape into our tape recorder. The first few seconds were remarkable, but the sound quality quickly deteriorated: never before had a tape left so much residue on the playback heads! So we decided to listen to the tape minute by minute and clean the heads with alcohol between each playback. The result was incomparably better than the excerpts we had heard before. After weeks of restoration work, we are proud to present this historic edition.”

“The Lost Recordings” is celebrated worldwide for preserving an invaluable musical legacy and for the unmatched quality of its Phoenix-Mastering™ restorations, and is releasing these legendary concerts – recorded at Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland, on November 22, 1961, and November 20, 1962 – now also as a double UHQCD in absolute reference quality.

MUSICIANS

November 22, 1961 (UHQCD 1 & UHQCD 2, Track 1)
John Coltrane (tenor & soprano sax)
Eric Dolphy (alto sax & flute)
McCoy Tyner (piano)
Reggie Workman (bass)
Elvin Jones (drums)

November 20, 1962 (UHQCD 2, Track 2-4)
John Coltrane (tenor & soprano sax)
McCoy Tyner (piano)
Jimmy Garrison (bass)
Elvin Jones (drums)

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

Lista pieselor

UHQCD 1

1.    My Favorite Things
2.    Blue Train
3.    I Want To Talk About You

UHQCD 2

1.    Impressions
2.    I Want To Talk About You
3.    Everytime We Say Goodbye
4.    Bye Bye Blackbird