Totally unmissable just for the opener, a killer, 15-minute version of Arlen’s show-tune Out Of This World — drums and bass locking it down, Trane taking flight. From 1962, between Ole and Impressions.

With the classic, studio version of the title track. The drummer John Stevens used to rave about Steve Davis, seldom recorded but here on bass.

Trane’s majestic debut for Atlantic, ushering in the 1960s. Refreshingly the CD-only alternates are intriguing (from several dates in 1959 with various pianists and drummers).

Commissioned in 1964 for a film soundtrack — though only half the music was used — this is the classic quartet in gorgeous, relaxed, contemplative, from-the-heart re-visitings of Naima, Village Blues, Like Sonny and Traneing In; plus a new composition, Blue World. Nothing eye-opening, but so what. Warmly recommended.

The more expensive iteration is from Acoustic Sounds.

The trumpeter in particular thriving in the strangeness of the set-up — Trane with Ornette’s band, on soprano, playing three Colemans, a Monk and a Cherry.
Superior 180g vinyl via Rhino, in mono.

Hard-blowing bop classic from 1958, when Trane was with Monk. A crack sextet rounded out by the richly soulful trombone of youngster Curtis Fuller. Next stop, Giant Steps.

Crucial music from three different 1957 sessions, originally released in 1961, after the opining emergence of Coltrane. Different lineups introduce Art Blakey, Wilbur Ware, Coleman Hawkins, Gigi Grace, Ray Copeland…
Newly all-analogue-mastered from the original tapes and presented in a tip-on sleeve with obi.

Remastered, adding a bundle of alternate takes and versions — including rehearsal and incomplete takes, as well as false starts — only previously included in the box-set The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings. Decent booklet, too.

‘In August of 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played an engagement at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York. Coltrane’s Classic Quartet was not as fully established as it would soon become and there was a meteoric fifth member of Coltrane’s group those nights — visionary multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. Ninety minutes of never-before-heard music from this group were recently discovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, offering a glimpse into a powerful musical partnership that ended much too soon. In addition to some well-known Coltrane material (My Favorite Things, Impressions, Greensleeves), there is a breathtaking feature for Dolphy’s bass clarinet on When Lights Are Low, and the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane’s composition Africa, from the Africa/Brass album. This recording represents a very special moment in John Coltrane’s journey — the summer of 1961 — when his signature, ecstatic live sound, commonly associated his Classic Quartet of ‘62 to ‘65, was first maturing. He was drawing inspiration from deep, African sources, and experimenting with doubled-up basses both in the studio (Ole) and on stage. This truly rare recording of Africa captures his expansive vision at the time.’