John Coltrane: the legendary Tiberi Tapes resurface after 60 years. Listen to "Giant Steps"

On the centenary of the birth of John Coltrane, born September 23, 1926, Impulse! Records has announced "The Tiberi Tapes," a collection of live recordings that have remained unreleased for over sixty years. The box set will come out on November 6, 2026, in 4-LP and 3-CD formats, and stands as one of the flagship events of "Coltrane 100," the international program dedicated to the saxophonist's legacy.

The story of the tapes begins in the summer of 1960, when saxophonist Frank Tiberi bought a Concertone TR-100 Transicorder, a portable reel-to-reel recorder with a small condenser microphone. Fascinated by Coltrane's harmonic language and eager to study his improvisations up close, Tiberi started bringing the device with him to the musician's shows at clubs in New York and Philadelphia.
At the outset there was no recording project whatsoever. Tiberi was taping for himself, intending to listen back, transcribe and analyze what Coltrane was working out on stage. He hid the recorder in a cloth bag resting on his knees, running the small microphone under his coat and pointing it toward the stage or one of the venue's speakers.
Over time he amassed more than 80 reels, totaling over 26 hours of music. The archive stayed in his hands for decades, known mainly within the jazz community: musicians, students and collectors were aware these recordings existed, but very few had ever had the chance to hear them.

“The Tiberi Tapes” now brings part of this treasure trove to light, documenting Coltrane at one of the decisive moments of his evolution. These are the years in which the saxophonist was rapidly expanding his own vocabulary, testing out live ideas, structures and improvisational approaches that would go on to become central to his music. As the note accompanying the release points out, the tapes “capture the saxophonist during a pivotal period of artistic evolution, offering musical riches that transcend the limitations of the medium that preserved them”. Limitations that, of course, do exist. The audio retains the raw character of recordings made clandestinely in clubs with portable early-1960s equipment: saxophone and drums tend to come through more clearly, while bass and the piano's lower registers can sometimes get lost. But it is precisely the unmediated nature of these documents that makes them so valuable: they let us hear Coltrane developing and transforming his music directly on stage.

The box set includes eleven performances. It opens with two versions of "Giant Steps," tackled at different tempos, 226 and 262 BPM respectively. These are followed by "Thing in D Flat," "Lover," "West 42nd St.," "Impressions," an untitled original composition in F minor, "Satellite," "Good Bait," "Resolution" and "It's Easy to Remember."
A hundred years after Coltrane's birth, "The Tiberi Tapes" thus adds a new piece to the documentation of an unrepeatable era: not simply another collection of archival recordings, but a direct testimony to the creative workshop of a musician who, in those very years, was pushing the boundaries of jazz ever further.

The tracklist of “Tiberi Tapes”

1. Giant Steps (226 BPM)
2. Giant Steps (262 BPM)
3. Thing in D Flat
4. Lover
5. West 42nd St.
6. Impressions
7. Untitled Original in F Minor
8. Satellite
9. Good Bait
10. Resolution
11. It’s Easy to Remember

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