Unknown until 2004 and unheard until now, these recordings by the John Coltrane Quartet are, as Sonny Rollins says in the liner notes, “like finding a new room in the Great Pyramid.” With the discovery of the ¼”reference tapes that Coltrane took home with him after the recording  session a session that  was completely  unknown  and  for which master tapes don’t exist an important chapter in the evolution of Coltrane’s music can now be heard for the first time. Featuring the Classic Quartet John  Coltrane,  McCoy  Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones and recorded at the end of a two week run at Birdland, the music on this album represents one of the most influential groups in music history both performing in a musical style it had perfected and reaching in new, exploratory directions that were to affect the trajectory of jazz from that point forward.