Mastered from the original analog tapes and cut at 45 RPM by Bernie Grundman

180-gram vinyl pressing by Pallas in Germany

Engineered by Phil Ramone, featuring Freddie Hubbard on trumpet

John Coltrane’s final album for Atlantic bookends the exploratory motifs he explores on his Impulse! debut, Africa/Brass, recorded concurrently, with each involving knotty rhythmic shifts and Spanish-derived textures. Bonding with an amazing band that includes pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and an uncredited Eric Dolphy (due to contractual reasons), Coltrane welcomes improvisations and ranging outside conventional parameters, all the while retaining melodic beauty.

Yet the biggest attraction on this 1961 effort comes via the double-bass interplay between Art Davis and Reggie Workman, whose back-and-forth exchanges produce heat and cause the leader to up his own game. Mastered from the original master tapes, this dead-quiet 180-gram 45 RPM double LP set presents each pluck of the acoustic basses with tremendous body and decay. Long overdue for audiophile treatment, Olé Coltrane is ready for its closeup, and how.