After being fired by Miles Davis and traveling to Philadelphia to combat his drug addiction, in mid-1957 John Coltrane accepted Thelonious Monk's offer and joined his band for a period of six months. They played at New York's Five Spot Cafe in a quartet format. Despite the exquisite quality of the band's music, it yielded relatively few studio recordings. This LP was issued by producer Orrin Keepnews in 1961, four years after the sessions took place, and after Coltrane had become a leader and jazz star in his own right. THE COMPLETE ALBUM + 2 BONUS TRACKS - 180-GRAM VIRGIN VINYL - LIMITED EDITION