John Coltrane - Live in Finland 1961/1962 [Mono]

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John Coltrane was not a loner. A tireless worker, he constantly sought to learn from others and build symbiotic relationships with them. Before he played, he listened. The 1950s were dazzling and decisive years for him: he performed with Johnny Hodges from Ellington's orchestra, worked with Dizzy Gillespie's band and met Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. Then he met Miles Davis. Coltrane continued his search. Within a few months, he met Thelonious Monk, Yusef Lateef, Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Eric Dolphy. They all shared the same passion for musical creativity, explored new forms of expression and sounds, and sought a playing style that could span astonishingly fast tempos. On November 22, 1961, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman and Elvin Jones finally stood together on stage in Helsinki. It has often been said that Trane did everything in excess – drugs and alcohol, then cigars, vegetarianism and finally religion. However, what was overlooked was his love of friendship and group performances that highlighted the contribution of each individual musician. Even his spiritual conversion in old age was not egocentric. Miles Davis wrote in his autobiography that Coltrane had turned into a diamond. He could have added that Trane was considered a beacon; he shaped music in general and jazz in particular, and mentored entire generations of great jazz musicians.
Frédéric D’Oria-Nicolas, the musical treasure hunter behind The Lost Recordings, describes the path the label had to take to make this release a reality: “Among unreleased recordings by 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 traveled to Helsinki in person with all our equipment. On the last morning, when we had some time left, we decided to listen to the Coltrane tapes – but without much hope. We put the first tape into our tape recorder. The first few seconds were remarkable, but the sound quality quickly deteriorated: never before had a tape left so much residue on the playback heads! So we decided to listen to the tape minute by minute and clean the heads with alcohol between each playback. The result was incomparably better than the excerpts we had heard before. After weeks of restoration work, we are proud to present this historic edition."
Thanks to TLR, these legendary concerts – recorded at Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland, on November 22, 1961, and on *November 20, 1962 – are now seeing the light of day for the first time: as a double LP (33 RPM) on 180-gram vinyl. The hand-numbered edition is strictly limited to 4,000 copies. Sound wizard Kevin Gray himself is responsible for the lacquer cuts.
“The Lost Recordings” is celebrated worldwide for preserving invaluable musical heritage and for the unsurpassed quality of its Phoenix Mastering™ restorations. “Live In Finland 1961/1962” is also an audiophile revelation that shows how fantastic mono recordings can sound when played with a modern stereo cartridge.
MUSICIANS
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)
LP 1
Side A1.    My Favorite Things
Side B2.    Blue Train3.    I Want To Talk About You
LP 2
Side C4.    Impressions5.    I Want To Talk About You*6.    Everytime We Say Goodbye*
Side D7.    Bye Bye Blackbird*