Verve's June 2000 John Coltrane Reissues

Verve's June 2000 Coltrane Releases

Verve Music Group,which now manages the Impulse catalog as a result of the the purchase of Polygram by Seagrams and the merger of Polygram with Universal Music, released five John Coltrane reissues on June 6, 2000. The releases carry the album titles of five of the original Coltrane Impulse LPs from the sixties.

Rather than issue just the limited amount of music which fit on the original vinyl, however, Verve has chosen to fill out these CDs with additional music, including a sprinkling of previously unissued tracks. The amount of new music is relatively small--one previously unissued alternate take and a scattering of breakdowns and false starts, but that's probably enough to entice the completists to spend their lunch money. (Please see the note for Kulu Se Mama, below). Although all of the originally released material has been issued on one CD or another, several of these albums have not been available lately in anything looking like the original issue. The packages include the original notes and artwork along with new liner notes.

The details on....

Impressions
Kulu Se Mama
Ascension
New Thing At Newport
Interstellar Space

Impressions
The original issue (Impulse A-42) was comprised of:

The reissue adds:

Dear Old Stockholm, which originally came out on The Definitive Jazz Scene, an anthology of unissued Impulse tracks by various artists.

Kulu Se Mama
The original issue (Impulse A9106) was comprised of:

The reissue adds:

Selflessness, originally issued on Selflessness.
Dusk Dawn, from Feelin' Good
Dusk Dawn(AT), take 1 of the two takes recorded (newly issued)
NOTE: we originally listed one additional new track on this CD, Vigil(BD), a partial take (breakdown). However, Chris DeVito alerted us that the track was not on the CD as released. Verve confirmed that it was eliminated between the time I wrote liner notes for the CD (January) and the June release. According to Verve: "Before releasing unissued Coltrane material we ask the estate's permission to do so (although legally and contractually we had clearance to release this material). In this case, they asked that we not include this take of Vigil since they felt it had nothing new to offer. "

Ascension
The original issue (Impulse A-95) had one or the other of the two complete takes which were recorded. The reissue has both takes on the single CD:

New Thing At Newport
The original issue (Impulse A-94) included one Coltrane track (along with four by Archie Shepp's group):

One Down, One Up

The reissue adds the other Coltrane title from the performance (and one more by Shepp's group):

My Favorite Things.

Interstellar Space
The original issue (Impulse ASD9277) was comprised of:

The reissue adds:

Leo
Jupiter Variation
both of which originally came out on Jupiter Variation, Impulse IA9360, and some false starts not previously issued.

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