One of my least favorite things is listening to John Coltrane play the second section of “My Favorite Things.” Normally, that part would be described as the bridge, but Richard Rodgers’s melody is actually structured in such a way that there is no bridge — it ends right after the second melody. Coltrane doesn’t play this section until the very end, and in his interpretation, the secondary melody is a bittersweet harbinger of finality and closure; it’s a musical exit sign.

Lately I’ve been listening to Coltrane (1926–67) play his signature song in four different versions on two new releases, the CD “My Favorite Things: Coltrane at Newport” (Impulse!) and the DVD “Live in ’60, ’61, & ’65” (Reelin’ in the Years). These are hardly the only new Coltrane products to hit shelves as we approach the jazz messiah’s 81st birthday this Sunday: There’s “Interplay,” a new five-disc boxed set containing all seven (and change) LPs that Coltrane recorded as a co-leader for Prestige Records. (“Interplay” is a follow-up to last year’s “Fearless Leader,” a six-disc box containing all of Coltrane’s Prestige sessions as the sole leader.)