Chasin' a new Trane

In September we got a new CD from a rediscovered tape of Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane playing together in a Voice of America performance in 1957, just as Coltrane was beginning his ascension with "Blue Train" and "Giant Steps." Now we get another treasure, this from the Coltrane family closet, with Coltrane at the height of his skill just after "A Love Supreme" and before he steps firmly into the avant-garde.

"One Up, One Down" from Impulse! includes two CDs from tapes of live stereo broadcasts of Coltrane's classic quartet at the Half Note in New York City in March and May of 1965 on Alan Grant's Jazz Portraits show.

On the title track, Jimmy Garrison sets the table with his bass, although it's actually from a performance in progress because the show didn't begin until 35 minutes after the band had started. In Coltrane's solo, which spans most of the 27 minutes, I hear "A Love Supreme," "Crescent," which a lot of people consider this group's greatest work, and the avant-garde experiments that are coming with "Ascension" and the like. Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones pace him like veteran teammates pacing a great distance runner toward a record-setting performance. The sound is quite good, although a little off balance and glitchy in a few spots since it did come from a tape and made in a broadcast not a studio session, albeit it a pro tape done by Grant for Coltrane. You don't hear McCoy Tyner much on "One Down, One Up," but the pianist and Coltrane trade big-time chops on an electric (the feeling, not the instruments) up-tempo version of "Afro Blue," the other cut on the first CD, which lasts nearly 13 minutes itself.

The second CD includes the "Love Supreme"-inflected "Song of Praise" and a boffo version of "My Favorite Things" that I think contrasts with the title track on the Coltrane studio recording "My Favorite Things," done four years earlier, to show clearly the free-leaning advance of his music. Great, great Tyner solo and support from Jones, too.

By all means, you want "A Love Supreme" and "Crescent" if you don't have them. But "One Down, One Up" rates with "Live at the Village Vanguard," the gold standard for live performances by this historic group. Those four would make for a nice, representative collection. Add "Blue Train," "Giant Steps" and "Ascension" and I could survive on a desert island knowing I'd be able satisfy my regular Coltrane cravings.