A cornerstone of any jazz album collection, fans can hardly complain that Giant Steps has been hard to come by. I'm going by the new CD reissue, but it's also out on 180 gram vinyl, to ‘celebrate’ the 60th anniversary of these landmark recordings. Newly-remastered, the original album comes with a second recording (both digital and analogue) containing eight alternative takes – three of ‘Giant Steps’ and one each of ‘Naima’, ‘Like Sonny’, ‘Countdown’, ‘Syeeda's Song Flute’ and ‘Cousin Mary’. Each package comes in the form of a replica of the original sleeve used for the first stereo pressing, a booklet with photos and images of Coltrane ephemera, and new liner notes by Ashley Khan (the original notes by Nat Hentoff are also included). There is a slight tonal difference in this reissue to the CD contained in Heavyweight Champion John Coltrane: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1995), or John Coltrane Giant Steps of 1998 (this with the same alternative takes, but included on one CD that ‘celebrated’ Atlantic's 50th year) and the mono re-issue from 2017 (both digital and analogue). The slight change in tone is probably attributable to the inevitable chemical changes in the composition of the original tapes that occur over time, but there is no appreciable difference in sound clarity. There have been other Atlantic re-releases in digital of this recording in the past, dating right back to when CDs first appeared in the late 1980s. On balance this is probably the best reissue package, but I do have a sneaking preference for the mono reissue which delivers more impact, rather than the inevitable spatial stereo ‘spread’ of the sound image.