condition (record/cover): EX / EX

Gatefold sleeve with inside glued upside-down, with original innersleeve.

The final studio statement, recorded in early 1967 and - remarkably - approved by John Coltrane himself shortly before his death in July. The music turns inward: "To Be" features Trane on flute, an instrument he took up only at the very end, and the whole record breathes a strange, exploratory calm, as if the storms of 1965-66 had cleared into open sky. Alice Coltrane's piano ripples rather than hammers; Rashied Ali plays time like weather rather than clock. Music from the very edge of a life's work, chosen by the man who made it as his closing word. US Impulse! pressing, and essential by definition.