13 votes

Lost John Coltrane recording from 1963 will be released at last

8 comments

  1. boredop
    Link
    This news took my breath away. This album could be the most important archival jazz release since 2005 when the Parker/Gillespie Town Hall concert and the Monk/Coltrane Carnegie Hall concert both...

    This news took my breath away. This album could be the most important archival jazz release since 2005 when the Parker/Gillespie Town Hall concert and the Monk/Coltrane Carnegie Hall concert both surfaced. Seriously, I'm over the moon right now.

    3 votes
  2. [7]
    silva-rerum
    Link
    Thanks OP, this was an electrifying rabbit hole to have gone down, and it's rekindled my appreciation for jazz not just for the music but for the cultural force it represents. This also had me...

    Thanks OP, this was an electrifying rabbit hole to have gone down, and it's rekindled my appreciation for jazz not just for the music but for the cultural force it represents.

    The family of Coltrane’s first wife, Juanita Naima Coltrane, recently discovered his personal copy of the recordings, which she had saved, and brought it to the label’s attention.

    This also had me wondering about long-gone artists and the work by them that resurfaces years later – it's already started happening with Prince (although I guess that was to be expected). It makes me wonder how much unreleased work is out there by people we consider creative geniuses. It's a shame that a lot of it doesn't get to see the light of day.

    2 votes
    1. [6]
      boredop
      Link Parent
      In the jazz world, the answer is A LOT. In the last few years we have seen not just individual releases but also entire archives of live recordings surface. For example, the Jazz Loft Project...

      It makes me wonder how much unreleased work is out there by people we consider creative geniuses.

      In the jazz world, the answer is A LOT. In the last few years we have seen not just individual releases but also entire archives of live recordings surface. For example, the Jazz Loft Project (1700 reels of tape and 40,000 photographs from the '50s and '60s) and the Savory broadcast recordings (50 boxes of radio airchecks from the 1930s).

      And there's much more out there. Europe in particular has a lot because American musicians were anxious to tour there on account of less racism and more appreciation for their art. Many concerts were broadcast on radio or TV and were recorded. Some have been issued as legitimate releases, others have been bootlegged and still more have sat in the vaults ever since the day they were recorded.

      That doesn't even get into potential holdings of music venues and festivals. For example, I remember in the late '90s there were several live tapes issued from the archives of the Left Bank club in Baltimore with a promise of more to come. There was also a CD of highlights from the Newport Jazz Festival in the '60s and '70s - where is the rest??? There has to be more out there and more is piling up all the time as recording gets easier and easier.

      And of course there are record labels, which hold back full albums and individual songs all the time. Blue Note's vaults in particular have been fertile, with unreleased sessions coming out on a series of 2-LP reissues in the '70s, and then in the '90s with their Rare Groove and Connoisseur series.

      The nature of jazz (mostly improvised, every performance is different) means that any one of these finds has the potential to be a major addition to an underdocumented artist's discography.

      4 votes
      1. [5]
        silva-rerum
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        My senior research project in college was about a subject very closely related to what you’ve mentioned — impediments to audio preservation, although I’m interested in media preservation in a...

        My senior research project in college was about a subject very closely related to what you’ve mentioned — impediments to audio preservation, although I’m interested in media preservation in a broader sense too. Huge swathes of the world’s audio archives from the dawn of mass broadcasting have been lost or are at risk of it due to tape deterioration, or in in some cases due to defective chemicals. The problem has only worsened in the 7 years since I did that project. It’s another dimension that definitely affects the longevity of some of these lost recordings.

        2 votes
        1. [4]
          boredop
          Link Parent
          Oh yeah, this is a topic of intense interest for me too. Thanks for those links; the second one is a great read. I actually work at one of the oldest radio stations in the US, and we have an...

          Oh yeah, this is a topic of intense interest for me too. Thanks for those links; the second one is a great read. I actually work at one of the oldest radio stations in the US, and we have an archive department similar to NPR's, complete with an oven for baking tapes. They have material from our stations going back to the 1920s! So cool.

          Here's another one that was printed in Billboard magazine, in the early 2000s I think, that really opened my eyes about what is out there and how fragile it all is. I remember this article knocked me out so much I actually printed it out and kept it at home for a while so I could read through a few more times. That story and the revelation about the loss of the Apollo 11 tapes turned me in to something of an archivist fanboy. Sometimes I daydream about going back to school to study archiving so I could work with this kind of material all the time. Probably never going to happen, but I can still make a small contribution every now and then. For example, I helped save this collection.

          1 vote
          1. [3]
            silva-rerum
            Link Parent
            It must be interesting to be part of a media organization that was involved in the dawn of the medium itself – there must be lots of internal history that parallels the progression of American...

            I actually work at one of the oldest radio stations in the US

            It must be interesting to be part of a media organization that was involved in the dawn of the medium itself – there must be lots of internal history that parallels the progression of American culture in a broader sense.

            Here's another one that was printed in Billboard magazine, in the early 2000s I think, that really opened my eyes about what is out there and how fragile it all is. I remember this article knocked me out so much I actually printed it out and kept it at home for a while so I could read through a few more times.

            Oh man what a blast from the past :D Bill Holland’s journalistic work on this subject is what inspired me to choose it as a research topic! Which makes sense because he was the pioneer in exposing this widespread problem to the general public. Thanks for sharing!

            the loss of the Apollo 11 tapes

            I had no idea about this, and now I’m crestfallen :( Talk about losing important cultural heritage…

            I can still make a small contribution every now and then. For example, I helped save this collection.

            Nice! How did you get involved – through work? Was it everything you expected or were there any surprises?

            Sometimes I daydream about going back to school to study archiving so I could work with this kind of material all the time. 

            Well this discussion has definitely galvanized me to refocus on the problem of media preservation, but in a different way. So thanks :) I’d love to bounce ideas or otherwise collaborate with you on ways to address the future of this problem if you’re ever available, even though it won’t have to do with direct archiving.

            1. [2]
              boredop
              Link Parent
              Just want to tie a bow on this conversation before I move on to your next thread: It is, but there isn't much emphasis on that history in the day to day workings of the place. We're very much...

              Just want to tie a bow on this conversation before I move on to your next thread:

              It must be interesting to be part of a media organization that was involved in the dawn of the medium itself – there must be lots of internal history that parallels the progression of American culture in a broader sense.

              It is, but there isn't much emphasis on that history in the day to day workings of the place. We're very much focused on the present - expanding podcasts and video offerings while continuing to cover current events on the air. But the archives department is there to supply old tape of city history that is relevant to current events, and they're also posting cool stuff online. Check it out: https://www.wnyc.org/series/archives-preservation/archive-shows

              Nice! How did you get involved – through work? Was it everything you expected or were there any surprises?

              The connection there was my college radio station. Dan Jan had an amazing polka show there for more than 20 years, including when I was a student. He was something of a mentor and we kept in touch a little bit long after I graduated. When he died in 2012 I went back to the area to attend the funeral and reestablished contact with the radio station. I have been visiting a couple of times each year ever since. Anyway, in 2015 I heard through the grapevine that his widow was getting ready to trash his record collection because she couldn't sell it. This would have been a tragedy, so I contacted her and asked her to hold off while I looked for someone to accept a donation. I contacted a bunch of universities and libraries and posted about it on social media, and the Archive of Contemporary Music then contacted me to say they wanted the collection. I volunteered to go upstate and box up the collection for them. I didn't have much time to look through it, but even in that brief time I saw some amazing album covers. Not that I'm a huge polka fan, but I knew Dan Jan and his show enough to know that this was a unique collection.

              Cut to last year and the introduction of the Great 78 Project. All of the 78s from Dan Jan's collection were included, including a one-of-a-kind find:

              Two of the discs were self recorded and featured Dan Jan’s brother Joe, who was 9 year old at the time. The bothers had a band for more than 30 years, the Perceptions. Joe was then just launching his career as Sonny Walikis and his Squeezebox. On one title, “Four Leaf Clover,” Joe’s mother is singing. But the family had no idea this recording existed – it was just hidden in with the boxes and boxes of records – and were overjoyed that they now had a digital copy of the music that both brother loved, recorded and collected their entire lives.

              Pretty cool, eh?

              2 votes
              1. silva-rerum
                Link Parent
                This is so freaking cool, thanks! Currently listening to Ballad Hunter at work. That’s more than just helping to save a collection, it sounds like you were the architect behind that particular...

                Check it out: https://www.wnyc.org/series/archives-preservation/archive-shows

                This is so freaking cool, thanks! Currently listening to Ballad Hunter at work.

                I contacted her and asked her to hold off while I looked for someone to accept a donation. I contacted a bunch of universities and libraries and posted about it on social media, and the Archive of Contemporary Music then contacted me to say they wanted the collection. I volunteered to go upstate and box up the collection for them.

                That’s more than just helping to save a collection, it sounds like you were the architect behind that particular effort – you took responsibility for it. On a personal level it was kind of you to have done that to continue the legacy of an old friend. On a societal level, I’m glad you took the initiative to do something about it – I think too many people nowadays think they have to leave it to the ‘professionals’ to solve societal problems.

                Pretty cool, eh?

                Quite so!

                2 votes