COLTRANE, John.

Description

1977 Japanese ABC Impulse!/Columbia Records promo poster for “Second Night In Tokyo”

Original first printing John Coltrane (1926–1967) promotional poster issued by ABC Impulse!/Columbia Records in Japan in 1977 to promote the release of the Second Night in Tokyo album –a three LP live album recorded at the Sankei Hall in Tokyo on 22nd July, 1967. Produced by Alice Coltrane and Ed Michel, the set was issued in Japan in 1977 with an audio interview amended to side six. On the night Coltrane was accompanied by pianist Alice Coltrane, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali. At the time Coltrane and his quintet were invited to tour Japan in July 1966, he was, according to the Japanese jazz magazine Swing Journal, the most popular musician in Japan, with albums selling as many as 30,000 copies each. The members of the group arrived by plane in Tokyo on 8th July and were treated like visiting dignitaries, with several thousand fans greeting the plane. The group’s schedule was grueling, and involved playing seventeen concerts over fourteen days. Despite the exhausting itinerary, Coltrane biographer Eric Nisenson called Coltrane’s Japan tour “the event that was probably the greatest single triumph of his life”. The poster was for promotional purposes only, and was never made commercially available.

The poster measures 51.2 x 72.7 cm (approx. 20.2″ by 28.6″ inches) and is beautifully printed on thin, coated paper stock. Light sporadic edge wear and some markings to the top left corner, else in near excellent unfolded condition. Feel free to email us with any questions you may have concerning this item. Additional images of the poster available on request.