Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 2006.

Super Audio CD version with digital remaster: Japan issue
Booklet in English, but an insert in Japanese, titles and credits are translated in Japanese.
Recorded on September 15, 1957.

Bass – Paul Chambers
Design [Cover] – Reid Miles
Drums – "Philly" Joe Jones
Photography By – Francis Wolff
Piano – Kenny Drew
Producer – Alfred Lion
Recorded By – Rudy Van Gelder
Tenor Saxophone – John Coltrane
Trombone – Curtis Fuller
Trumpet – Lee Morgan

JOHN COLTRANE (ts)
WYNTON KELLY (p)
PAUL CHAMBERS (b)
JIMMY COBB (ds)
November 24, 1959 on 1,7,9
JOHN COLTRANE (ts)
McCOY TYNER (p)
STEVE DAVIS (b)
ELVIN JONES (ds) on 2
December 2, 1959 on 3-6,8

Digitally remastered edition of this live album from the Jazz legend. Recorded live on Coltrane's only Japanese tour in July 1966 at two Tokyo venues, Shinjuku Kosei Nenkin Hall and Sankei Hall, it is taken from mono radio broadcasts. It is notable for the presence of alto saxophone, played both by Coltrane and Sanders. 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, and this record is remarkable for its use of multiphonics,

Bethlehem Records was a New York–based independent record label active in the 1950s and ’60s. It boasted an impressive array of jazz talent, including Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Mel Tormé, Dexter Gordon, and many others. Shout! Factory is proud to be reissuing some of the key Bethlehem albums.

The Bethlehem Years is a compilation of sessions featuring tenor saxophone legend John Coltrane and made for the Bethlehem label in 1957. These little-heard recordings, which catch Trane just after he recorded the monumental album Blue Train, offer a revealing look at the sax player in large-group settings, as part of the Poll Winners group and Art Blakey’s Big Band. Taken together, these underexposed recordings add to our understanding and enjoyment of one of the leading figures in modern jazz.

Bass – Paul Chambers
Drums – Arthur Taylor
Tenor Saxophone – John Coltrane
Trumpet – Donald Byrd
Recorded in Hackensack, NJ: May 23rd, 1958.