John Coltrane - Live At Birdland (Verve Acoustic Sounds Series)

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Verve Acoustic Sounds Series 180-gram vinyl, pressed at Quality Record Pressings Tip-on gatefold jacket Mastered from the original analog tapes by Matthew Lutthans
Release Date Nov 20, 2026
Pre-order Regular price $39.00
Pre-order Release Date: Nov 20, 2026
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Product details

  • Label Verve
  • Format 1 x Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, 180g, Gatefold
  • Format details Verve Acoustic Sounds Series 180-gram vinyl, pressed at Quality Record Pressings Tip-on gatefold jacket Mastered from the original analog tapes by Matthew Lutthans
  • Media 1 x Vinyl
  • Release date Nov 20, 2026
  • Originally released 1964
  • Region US
  • Genres Jazz
  • Catalog number 5708549
  • UPC 199957085496
Releases Nov 20, 2026

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Verve Acoustic Sounds Series 180-Gram LP in a Tip-On Gatefold Jacket

This is the Verve Acoustic Sounds Series edition of Live at Birdland. Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab cut the lacquers from the original analog tapes. Quality Record Pressings pressed the record on 180-gram vinyl, and it comes in a tip-on gatefold jacket. The jacket reproduces the original Impulse! artwork, including the Stereo A-50 catalog mark. Afrika/Brass and Impressions came before it in the series, and this pressing is part of Coltrane 100, which marks the centennial of the saxophonist's birth.

Impulse! first issued the album in 1964, with Bob Thiele producing. Despite the title, it is not entirely a concert record. The three tracks on Side A and the start of Side B were recorded on the Birdland stage in midtown Manhattan on October 8, 1963. "Alabama" and "Your Lady" were cut the following month at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The classic quartet plays throughout: Coltrane on tenor and soprano saxophone, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums.

"Afro-Blue" is Mongo Santamaria's tune, and Coltrane takes the lead on soprano. "I Want To Talk About You" is a ballad he had first recorded in 1958 for Soultrane. This live reading closes with an extended unaccompanied cadenza on tenor.

"Alabama" was Coltrane's response to the September 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, which killed four children. McCoy Tyner said the piece took its shape from the speech patterns of Martin Luther King Jr.'s eulogy for them.

In his five-star AllMusic review, Scott Yanow called it arguably Coltrane's finest all-around album. In 2017 Pitchfork placed it at number 128 among the best albums of the 1960s. A year after these sessions, the same quartet recorded A Love Supreme.

Tracklist

Side A

  1. Afro-Blue
  2. I Want To Talk About You

Side B

  1. The Promise
  2. Alabama
  3. Your Lady

UPC: 199957085496
Label: Verve
Release Date: 11.20.26
Format: Vinyl