Album Review: Blue World, John Coltrane (2019)

The CD layout of John Coltrane's Blue World, recorded in 1964 and released in 2019.

One of the more remarkable stories in jazz last year was the discovery of a lost album recorded in 1963 by John Coltrane and his “Classic Quartet.” Titled Both Directions at Once, the album sold very well and charted in the Top Ten in seven countries. In 2019, Coltrane fans were treated to the release of another lost Coltrane album, 55 years after it was recorded. Blue World was released on September 27, 2019, and it features 8 tracks Coltrane recorded for the soundtrack to Canadian filmmaker Gilles Groulx’s 1964 film, Le chat dan le sac. (English title: The Cat in the Bag.) 

It’s remarkable enough that lightning struck once in 2018 with the release of Both Directions at Once. That it would strike again in a similar way a year later is extraordinary. As a jazz fan, what’s so wonderful about Both Directions at Once and Blue World is that they are both superbly recorded studio sessions from the peak of an artist’s career. This isn’t a poor-quality live recording made by someone in the audience with a tape recorder: this is John Coltrane’s Classic Quartet in Rudy Van Gelder’s studio. 

Coltrane made the recordings on Blue World with his regular quartet: McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. It’s fascinating that Groulx was able to get Coltrane to agree to record these songs as a favor. Groulx hadn’t known Coltrane for very long, but they obviously must have hit it off. Coltrane recorded Blue World at Rudy Van Gelder’s legendary studio in New Jersey, but he and Van Gelder kept the session a secret from Impulse!—Coltrane’s record label at the time. Groulx attended the session and suggested the songs that he wanted Coltrane to play. Once the session was over, Groulx took the master tapes with him, eventually depositing them in the vaults of the National Film Board of Canada. It hasn’t exactly been a secret that Coltrane’s music was used in the finished film, which was a hit on the art-house circuit in the 1960’s and has been available to watch online for years. But somehow, the Coltrane session went unreleased until now. Maybe the success of Both Directions at Once convinced everyone that there was indeed a market for unreleased John Coltrane music. 

What’s unusual about Blue World is that it features Coltrane revisiting older songs that he had already recorded. The tracks on Blue World are “Naima,” originally on Giant Steps, “Traneing In,” from John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio, “Like Sonny” and “Village Blues” which are both from Coltrane Jazz, and “Blue World,” with the writing credited to Coltrane, which is actually a slightly changed version of “Out of This World,” written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, which appeared on 1962’s Coltrane. (As the liner notes indicate, it was probably retitled and credited to Coltrane to avoid licensing issues.) 

The music on Blue World is superb, showing what a terrific unit the John Coltrane Quartet was. “Naima” is a showcase for the band’s approach to ballads, and it’s one of the greatest ballads Coltrane composed. “Village Blues” is, well, a blues, with Tyner stating the melody before Coltrane comes in. “Blue World” is taken at a slower tempo than Coltrane’s 1962 recording of “Out of This World,” and it features an excellent Coltrane solo. “Like Sonny” is a short tune, inspired by Sonny Rollins. “Traneing In” starts with a lengthy bass solo from Jimmy Garrison, and it demonstrates what an excellent soloist he was. McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones are both the kind of musicians who are always so great, so in the pocket and on the money, that it’s hard to describe their playing without just sounding redundant. “McCoy Tyner plays great piano on ‘Like Sonny.’” Yes, and in related news, the sky is still blue. Tyner and Jones’ playing on Blue World is excellent throughout. 

My complaints about Blue World: at the beginning of each track, we hear Rudy Van Gelder call out the take. You can hear a tiny amount of chatter from the musicians, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. Adding the studio chatter would be fine if you heard Coltrane giving instructions to the group or something interesting, but since no one says anything interesting, adding the studio chatter just seems pointless to me. It just makes me wonder why the track has started but I don’t hear any music yet. My other beef is with the running order. There are two alternate takes of “Village Blues,” and one alternate take of “Naima.” The alternate take of “Naima” is the last song on the album. Great, makes sense. But the two alternates of “Village Blues” are stuck in the middle of the album, in between “Blue World” and “Like Sonny.” So, by the time you’re five tracks into the album, three of the tracks you’ve heard are “Village Blues,” which doesn’t make for the best listening experience. They just should have moved all the alternate takes to the end of the album, after the master takes of the five songs. 

Because it was a special project and not intended to stand alone as a self-contained album, Blue World isn’t quite the treasure trove that Both Directions at Once was. While the special edition of Both Directions at Once was 2 CD’s and featured 14 tracks, Blue World features 8 tracks and clocks in at just 36 minutes. It’s an intriguing look at where the Coltrane Quartet was on June 24, 1964. The group had just recorded their classic album Crescent in late April, with one final session on June 1^st, just three weeks before the Blue World session. Not quite six months after the Blue World session, the group would record one of John Coltrane’s masterpieces, A Love Supreme. So, no pressure, Blue World, just match up to the two classic albums recorded on either side of you. Of course, Blue World is completely different from Crescent and A Love Supreme, since it was never intended to be released as an album. But for exactly that reason, it has a relaxed vibe. Coltrane isn’t making a major statement here: he’s revisiting some old songs as a favor for a friend. Blue World isn’t likely to reframe Coltrane’s stature as a jazz artist, but it’s an awfully nice artifact to show up, 55 years later.