Not All 'Lost' Jazz Albums Are Created Equal
"Historians and critics have pored over the recordings of these jazz greats
like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Stan Getz so exhaustively, it might feel like they've left no stone unturned. And yet, fans are seeing a slew of exciting new discoveries lately from these and other artists — so-called "lost" albums by some of the biggest names in jazz."
"'For jazz historians and record producers, the work never finishes,' Nate Chinen of Jazz Night in America and NPR member station WGBO says. 'There's always another lead to be pursued, another corner to be explored and when we think we know everything about an artist ... There's often something else that we hadn't considered.'"
"In addition to that air of exploration, Chinen says that the jazz industry has 'commercial motivation' to pump out such albums and cites the 2018 album Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album, released via Impulse! Records, which sourced material from John Coltrane's 1963 sessions and reference tapes as a shining example. 'It sold over a quarter of a million copies.'"