John Coltrane Quartet - France 1965: The Complete Concerts [4LP] [RSD 2026]

Marking 100 years since Coltrane’s Birth, Charly Records presents France 1965: The Complete Concerts - a landmark 4LP set housed in a gatefold package featuring photographs, a concert poster, and new liner notes. This historic collection brings together, for the first time ever, the complete series of performances by the revered John Coltrane Quartet in France in July 1965, capturing the original “classic quartet” lineup - John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums) - during their final European tour together.

On July 26, the quartet performed the only complete live version of "A Love Supreme" ever known to have been played by the original lineup. Previously believed lost to time, the Charly Records archivists have painstakingly recovered and restored the full performance, long thought to survive only in a brief French TV excerpt.

While fragments of these concerts have appeared over the years on scattered CD and vinyl releases, France 1965: The Complete Concerts marks the first time every note from this historic tour is presented together and in full fidelity.

These recordings document Coltrane’s crucial transitional phase - balancing the lyricism and structure of his early work with the boundless exploration that would characterize his late period with Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane. The result is an unprecedented portrait of an artist and ensemble on the threshold of transformation -- spiritually charged, deeply focused, and utterly fearless.