In 1967, after playing with some of jazz’s greatest pioneers (Miles Davis, Theolonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, to name a few) and becoming one himself with hard bop and free jazz, John Coltrane suddenly succumbed to the liver cancer he had kept secret from all but his closest friends, leaving the jazz community in shock.

The void left in his wake is explored in this, the second two-disc collection of his most important works. Featuring tracks recorded from 1961 to 1967, this collection shows his transition from master of jazz traditionalism (Greensleeves, Big Nick) to the birth of hard bop (India, Miles’ Mode) to a free jazz exploration (everything after 1965).

Obviously, there are some sequencing issues (most of the free jazz tracks aren’t complete: Ascension fades in and fades out awkwardly), and this can’t come close to fully expressing the genius of these works in their proper context, but it is an excellent collection to bear witness to Coltrane’s importance in the jazz canon.