LIVE IN FINLAND 1961 • 1962

DOUBLE VINYL - Limited to 4,000 copies

68,00€

Delivered from 05/12/25

RECORD 1

My Favorite Things

Blue Train

I Want to Talk About You

RECORD 2

Impressions

I Want to Talk About You*

Everytime We Say Goodbye*

Bye Bye Blackbird*

4,000 Copies

John Coltrane was never a loner. A tireless worker, he was on a perpetual quest to learn from others and build symbiotic relationships with them. Before playing, he listened. The 1950s were dazzling years, and decisive ones; he performed with Ellingtonian Johnny Hodges, collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie’s band, and met Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. Then he encountered Miles Davis.

Coltrane pursued his quest. In the space of just a few months he met Thelonious Monk, Yusef Lateef, Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Eric Dolphy. All of them shared the same passion for musical creativity. They were all exploring new modes of expression and new sounds, seeking a dense playing style that could cascade across astonishingly rapid tempi. To the standard harmonic chart, they added cycles of thirds that made polytonality a realm of infinite possibilities.

On 22 November 1961, at the Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman (on bass) and Elvin Jones were on stage. “My Favorite Things”, which opened the session, is from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical comedy The Sound of Music. Coltrane had made the piece one of the iconic hits of his career, and in March of that year had released an eponymous album.

One detects in this piece the extension of innovations found in Kind of Blue: long modal passages alternate between major and minor modes. Coltrane said of it, “This waltz is fantastic: when you play it slowly, it has a ‘gospel’ aspect, which is not at all unpleasant; when you play it fast, it has certain other undeniable qualities. It’s very interesting to discover a terrain that renews itself according to the impulse that you give it; that’s the reason why we don’t always play this tune in the same tempo.” Nothing is ever fixed with Coltrane, and this version is no doubt one of his finest...

It has often been said that everything Trane did, he did to excess — drugs and alcohol, then cigars, vegetarianism, and finally, religion. Overlooked, though, was his obsession with friendship, his passion for group musical performances where — owing to his high expectations of himself and others — the contribution of each individual musician was elevated. Even his spiritual conversion late in life was not self-centered. Miles Davis wrote in his autobiography that Coltrane turned into a diamond. He could have added that Trane was considered a beacon; he shaped music in general and jazz in particular, and he guided entire generations of immense jazzmen.

John Coltrane, tenor & soprano sax
Eric Dolphy, alto sax & flute
McCoy Tyner, piano
Reggie Workman, bass
Elvin Jones, drums

*John Coltrane, tenor & soprano sax
McCoy Tyner, piano
Jimmy Garrison, bass
Elvin Jones, drums

Recorded at Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland, 22.XI.1961 and *20.XI.1962
MONO ℗ 1961 & 1962 YLE

Ref.: TLR-2504065V
33rpm Lacquer-cuts: Kevin Gray
180g Double vinyl album
Limited edition: 4,000 copies
Photos: © Jean-Pierre Leloir
Tip-on Gatefold printed in Italy
Phoenix Pressings®

*A 16-bit album download card is included with the vinyl.

AN UNEQUALLED KNOW-HOW

- Phoenix Mastering™ restoration from original analog tapes
- Lacquer-Cuts by Kevin Gray
- 180g test-pressings approving in our studios
- New Stampers every 500 copies
- Slow pressing cycle
- Unequalled quality control in Europe
- New Tip-on gatefold printed in Italy

DELIVERY & WARRANTY

We ship our products worldwide with the utmost care. In the event of any damage during transport, we undertake to replace, at our exclusive expense, any products.

Returns are accepted within 14 days of receipt of your order, however return costs are the responsibility of the customer.

DOUBLE VINYL

JOHN COLTRANE

LIVE IN FINLAND 1961 • 1962

The History of this Discovery

"It is thanks to Ulf Drechsel’s persistence that we were finally able to connect with the Finnish archives, Yle. It took almost a year before we were able to listen to the first audio excerpts. Among unreleased recordings of Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans, Sarah Vaughan, and Ben Webster, we discovered two concerts by John Coltrane! Unfortunately, the initial audio quality of the Coltrane excerpts suggested that the tapes were unusable.
It wasn’t until July 2025 that we personally traveled to Helsinki with all our equipment. For four full days we listened to dozens of original tapes. On the last morning, with some time left, we decided to listen to the Coltrane tapes — though with little hope. We set the first one onto our tape machine. The first few seconds were remarkable, but the sound quality quickly deteriorated: never had a tape left so much residue on the playback heads!
We decided to listen to the tape minute by minute, cleaning the heads with alcohol between each playback. The result was incomparably superior to the excerpts we had previously heard. After weeks of restoration work, we are proud to present this first — historic — edition of the John Coltrane Quartet in Helsinki."

Frédéric D'ORIA-NICOLAS
Musical treasure seeker