Resonance Records and UME have announced that they will release Offering: Live At Temple University, a previously unreleased concert by John Coltrane, on CD and vinyl on September 23rd.
Recorded at Philadelphia’s Temple University…
on November 11, 1966, Offering: Live At Temple University has the sax master playing with fellow saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders, drummer Rashied Ali, bassist Sonny Johnson, and his wife Alice on piano. Which is largely the same line-up that, just a few months earlier, recorded the shows that would later comprise the epic live album Live In Japan (save for Johnson, who replaces Japan‘s Jimmy Garrison).
The Temple University show was originally broadcast on the school’s radio station, but while bootlegs have been available for years, this is the concert’s first official release.
Clocking in at ninety-minutes, Offering has the group playing the songs “Naima,” “Crescent,” “Leo,” the title track, and “My Favorite Things.”
Transferred from the radio station’s original master reels, Offering: Live At Temple University will be available as both a two-disc CD set and a two-LP 180-gram vinyl collection, with the former complimented by a twenty-four-page booker that has extensive liner notes by co-producer Ashley Kahn, who previously wrote the books A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album and The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records.
In the release, Coltrane’s son Ravi — who helped sheppard this album into existence — says, ““For me, the Temple recording is an affirmation that no, he didn’t exhaust the saxophone. The saxophone was just a tool—one over which he had a master’s command. His voice was an extension of the saxophone, as the saxophone was an extension of his voice. When you hear that transition on ‘Leo,’ it’s totally seamless in energy, vibe and intention.”
Amazon currently has Offering: Live At Temple University available for pre-ordering, with the CD listed for $27.77 and the vinyl version for $65.99.
