• Track Listing

Are these recordings—unknown until 2004 and unreleased ’til now—historically significant? Well, there’s no better authority than Sonny Rollins, who said that discovering these tracks was "like finding a new room in the Great Pyramid." Indeed, this is Coltrane’s "Classic Quartet" of Trane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, recorded at the end of a two-week run at Birdland. It’s the sound of an unspeakably influential unit wielding the exquisite jazz sound they had perfected: "Nature Boy," "Vilia," "Slow Blues," "One Up, One Down," "Impressions" and two untitled originals. Deluxe edition (2 CDs or double vinyl) adds seven alternate takes—and you know that every newly discovered performance by John Coltrane and this band is worth its weight in gold! Verve.