Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album

Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album is a studio album recorded by saxophonist John Coltrane for Impulse! Records that was first released in 2018.[1] The recordings were made in 1963 during Coltrane's Classic Quartet period and lost for decades.

Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album
Studio album by John Coltrane
Released	June 29, 2018 (2018-06-29)
Recorded	March 6, 1963
Studio	Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, US
Genre	Jazz
Language	Instrumental
Label	Impulse!
Compiler	Ravi Coltrane Ken Druker
John Coltrane chronology
The Atlantic Years in Mono (2016) Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album (2018) Blue World (2019)

History

Both Directions at Once was recorded in Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey on March 6, 1963, by saxophonist John Coltrane and his Quartet: double bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones, and pianist McCoy Tyner.

To cut down on storage space, Impulse Records destroyed the master tape, and the recording was lost for decades. The seven tracks on Both Directions survived as a copy Coltrane gave to his first wife, Juanita Naima.[2][3] Van Gelder made a separate copy for Coltrane to listen to at home. In 2005, after the Guernsey's auction house announced plans to sell Coltrane-related artefacts, the record company intervened to acquire the tapes.[4] Coltrane's son Ravi and studio executive Ken Druker assembled the final album with liner notes written by Ashley Kahn.[1]

The standard edition of the album includes one recording of each track and expanded deluxe editions include multiple takes, including several of the title track from Impressions. All tracks were previously unreleased except for "Vilia" (Take 5), which was included in the 1965 sampler The Definitive Jazz Scene, Vol. 3 and the CD reissue of Live at Birdland.[5][6]

Impulse! followed this release with 2019's Blue World, from a lost 1964 session.[7]

Track listing

Disc one

1. "Untitled Original 11383" (Take 1)
2. "Nature Boy"
3. "Untitled Original 11386" (Take 1)
4. "Vilia" (Take 3) (based on Franz Lehár's "Vilja Song" from The Merry Widow)
5. "Impressions" (Take 3)
6. "Slow Blues"
7. "One Up, One Down" (Take 1)

Disc two

1. "Vilia" (Take 5)
2. "Impressions" (Take 1)
3. "Impressions" (Take 2)
4. "Impressions" (Take 4) – 3:40
5. "Untitled Original 11386" (Take 2)
6. "Untitled Original 11386" (Take 5)
7. "One Up, One Down" (Take 6)

Personnel

The John Coltrane Quartet

• John Coltrane – leader, composer, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
• Jimmy Garrison – double bass
• Elvin Jones – drums
• McCoy Tyner – piano

Technical personnel

• Ravi Coltrane – producer
• Ken Druker – producer
• Rudy Van Gelder – mixer
• Ashley Kahn – liner notes

Charts

This album was Coltrane's first debut on the Billboard 200.[7]

Sales chart positions for Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album

Chart (2018)	Peak
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[8]	6
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[9]	7
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[10]	23
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[11]	37
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[12]	17
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13]	3
Irish Albums (IRMA)[14]	37
Italian Albums (FIMI)[15]	18
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[16]	4
Scottish Albums (OCC)[17]	9
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[18]	5
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19]	4
UK Albums (OCC)[20]	15
US Billboard 200[21]	21

References

1. Russonello, Giovanni (June 7, 2018). "Lost John Coltrane Recording from 1963 Will Be Released at Last". The New York Times.
2. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (June 8, 2018). "'A New Room in the Great Pyramid': Lost 1963 John Coltrane Album Discovered". The Guardian. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
3. Vincent, Alice (June 8, 2018). "Long-Lost John Coltrane Album Set for Release". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235.
4. Porter, Lewis (June 28, 2018). "Deep Dive with Lewis Porter: Considering John Coltrane's 'Lost Album,' From All Directions". WBGO. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
5. West, Michael J. (August 9, 2018). "Delayed Trane: John Coltrane's Lost Album". JazzTimes. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
6. Considine, J. D. (June 8, 2018). "Coltrane's 'Lost' 1963 Studio Album Found". DownBeat. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
7. Chinen, Nate (August 16, 2019). "A Lost Album from John Coltrane, with Thanks to a French-Canadian Director". WUIS. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
8. "Austriancharts.at – John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once - The Lost Album" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
9. "Ultratop.be – John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once - The Lost Album" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
10. "Ultratop.be – John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once - The Lost Album" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
11. "John Coltrane Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
12. "Dutchcharts.nl – John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once - The Lost Album" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
13. "Offiziellecharts.de – John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
14. "Irish Albums Chart: 6 July 2018". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
15. "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 27 (dal 2018-06-29 al 2018-07-05)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
16. "Portuguesecharts.com – John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once - The Lost Album". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
17. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
18. "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 27: del 29.6.2018 al 5.7.2018" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
19. "Swisscharts.com – John Coltrane – Both Directions at Once - The Lost Album". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
20. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
21. "John Coltrane Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 10, 2018.