John Coltrane - Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album (Impulse!/Verve/UMe, 2018)

This newly-unearthed set of recordings is from 1963. Unlike many posthumous sets that promote new recordings (but really contain a bunch of alternate versions of old cuts) this one actually delivers. Aside from "Vilia" which made some compilation appearances all these tracks have never been heard before, two of them not even given titles just referred to by their master numbers. These recordings were made at a pivotal moment in Coltrane's career with his "classic quarter" including McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones - not long after "My Favorite Things" took off and not long before this same quartet recorded the world-beating A Love Supreme. The two untitled tracks here are really interesting. "Untitled Original 11383" is really distended, with loose-limbed drumming from Jones and a Middle Eastern soprano flair. "Untitled Original 11386" is more expansive, with a repeating theme and some seriously funky drumming. In the non-original category we have "Nature Boy", the snakey, slow-moving Eden Ahbez tune and "Vilia", adapted from an operetta. The former is more interesting; "Vilia" doesn't depart too much from its standard-sounding roots until the end on a lengthy open passage bolstered by Tyner's piano. There's two hard-charging originals: "Impressions" races and Coltrane blows hardest here, and "One Up, One Down" is fast-paced and rough and ragged around the edges. The 11 and a half minute aptly name "Slow Blues" is a breather, it didn't grip me much intil the end when Tyner drops in on the back half with a long solo and the rhythm section ramps up the pace before Coltrane reenters and the whole thing comes together to really cook. The second disc provides alternate takes of some of the cuts on the first disc. There's 3 versions of "Impressions" including one that tightens it up from the version on the first disc by a whole minute. The two extra takes of "11386" are not terribly dissimilar to the one on the first disc. Coltrane is on tenor for "Vilia" here and it's certainly a bouncier approach to the tune. "One Up, One Down" is even tighter here as well. It's a stretch to call this a "lost album" - lost studio sessions, sure. And there's good stuff here for sure and an interesting snapshot of a restless band in evolution.