Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
John Coltrane’s Blue World, which includes 27 minutes of previously unheard music, is set for release Sept. 27.
(Photo: Jim Marshall)John Coltrane and his classic quartet still have unissued music to offer 21st-century listeners.
Set for release Sept. 27, Blue World collects a batch of previously unheard takes—“Naima,” “Traneing In” and “Village Blues” among them—along with “Blue World,” a contrafact of “Out Of This World,” which was the opening track on the bandleader’s 1962 album Coltrane. The new album will be available digitally, on CD and LP.
Coltrane, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones congregated at Van Gelder Studios in June 1964 to record these tunes, which initially were intended for the soundtrack to Gilles Groux’s 1964 film Le Chat Dans Le Sac, according to a press release. Only about 10 minutes of the 37-minute recording were used in the film.
The Impulse! release comes on the heels of 2018’s warmly received Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album, which topped the Historical Album category in the 2019 DownBeat Critics Poll. Both Directions Once documents the same band at Van Gelder Studios on March 6, 1963.
For additional information about Blue World, visit the UMe website. DB
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
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