Consumer Guide Album

John Coltrane: The Africa Brass Sessions, Vol. 2 [Impulse, 1974]
Nothing wrong with 1961's Africa/Brass itself, and--near as I can tell without owning either--Impulse!'s 1995 and 2006 Complete Africa/Brass Sessions both combine the 1961 original with this 1974 vault dig, which I raved about at the time even though the inundation of outtake albums that followed the 40-year-old's 1967 cancer death was what taught me to cast a cold eye on all posthumous product. But instead, this January I bought Not Now's 2012 Africa/Brass, which combines the 1961 Africa/Brass with the less than memorable 1961 Coltrane Jazz, a mistake that inspired me to find out whether I'd been right 35 years ago. And how about that, I had, because the dollops of massed horns that give the album its name contrast far more dynamically against the forward-looking "Song of the Underground Railroad" than the original album's generic "Blues Minor." And while I admit that Elvin Jones is more spectacular on the 1961 "Greensleeves," the world is a better place with two of 'em. A