A warts and all release spread over two discs aimed directly at Coltrane completists and scholars, Giant Steps here 60 years on complete with 40 minutes of outtakes, a remaster, and new liner notes by Ashley Kahn. The outtakes certainly appeal to your geekier instincts and give more of an inside view on the record and yet reinforce even more the validity of the actual album itself. I'm not very keen on absorbing alternate takes per se, sometimes they reduce the impact of the released version itself and certainly you can grasp Coltrane's fallibility without that realisation ever impinging on his unique status in jazz. For the general listener it's a moot point whether such a listener needs to hear the rejected takes. And got Giant Steps already? (And a caveat if you have the Heavyweight Champion box set because the outtakes are on that edition). Perhaps that's enough. But you might just have to in the end, as much for the better sound as the outtakes, give in to your fear of missing out and snap up this labour of love as you journey deeper.

Out on Rhino.