John Coltrane - Live in Japan [1966][1991]4CD

Live in Japan is a live album by American saxophonist John Coltrane, recorded for radio broadcast during his only Japanese tour in July 1966 at two Tokyo venues, Shinjuku Kosei Nenkin Hall and Sankei Hall. The recordings feature his last group, a quintet featuring Coltrane, his wife/pianist Alice, saxophonist/bass clarinetist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Rashied Ali.

The recordings were originally released in 1973 as a heavily abridged double LP by Impulse! Records, titled Concert In Japan. The Japanese release from the same year was titled Coltrane In Japan and featured an expanded five-sided 3-LP set; a second 3-LP volume titled Second Night In Tokyo was issued in Japan in 1977 with an audio interview amended to side six. Versions have also been released by MCA Records under the titles Coltrane In Tokyo Vol. 1 and Coltrane In Tokyo Vol. 2. The first compact disc versions issued by Impulse! were titled Live In Japan Vol. 1 and Live In Japan Vol. 2 and used the tracklists of the 1970s Japanese releases. Finally, Impulse! released a 4-CD box set of both volumes in 1991.

These recordings are of some of the longest and densest free improvisation of Coltrane's later career, with some performances of single tunes approaching an hour in length. By this point in his career, Coltrane was firmly enmeshed into the avant-garde style of jazz. Sanders, who was an innovator of free jazz, influenced Coltrane's playing through his technical use of overblowing and fierce vibrations of the reed. Both saxophone players use multiphonics, overtones, and other extended musical techniques.