The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings

This article is about the John Coltrane recordings. For the Bill Evans recordings, see The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961.
The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings
Live album by John Coltrane
Released September 23, 1997
Recorded November 1–3 and 5, 1961
Village Vanguard, New York City, U.S.
Genre Jazz
Length 269:42
Label Impulse!
IMPD4-232
Producer Bob Thiele
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz[2]

The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings is a box set credited to jazz musician John Coltrane, issued posthumously in 1997 by Impulse Records, catalogue IMPD4-232. It collects the entirety of the recorded sets by the John Coltrane Quintet at the Village Vanguard in early November, 1961. Five selections had been issued during Coltrane's lifetime on the albums Live! at the Village Vanguard and Impressions.

Background

It was the idea of new producer Bob Thiele to record Coltrane live over four nights in early November, Thiele meeting the saxophonist for the first time face-to-face at the club.[3] This commenced a close working relationship between Thiele and Coltrane that would last for the rest of his time at Impulse, Thiele producing virtually every subsequent album. Thiele secured Coltrane's trust right away by not insisting he record his most popular song, "My Favorite Things", during these shows.[4] Sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder set up his equipment at a table by the stage,[5] and for these concerts Coltrane would often enhance the Quintet by adding tampura, contrabassoon, oboe, or a second bass.

Content

Ten titles were performed over the course of the evenings: "Brasilia", "Chasin' the Trane", "Chasin' Another Trane", "Greensleeves", "Impressions", "India", "Miles' Mode", "Naima", "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise", and "Spiritual". Many were performed multiple times using varied line-ups and instrumentation, the core being the Quintet of Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, bassists Reggie Workman or Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones.

The authorship of "Miles' Mode", also known as "Red Planet", is in dispute, attributed to Dolphy rather than Coltrane.[6] A single-disc sampler containing the five tracks released on Live! at the Village Vanguard and Impressions was issued on February 24, 1998, as Live at the Village Vanguard: The Master Takes.

Track listing

Disc one and disc two track 1 recorded November 1, 1961; disc two tracks 2-5 and disc three tracks 1-3 recorded November 2, 1961; disc three tracks 4-6 and disc four tracks 1-3 recorded November 3, 1961; and disc four tracks 4-5 recorded November 5, 1961.

Disc one

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."India" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d, AA ou)John Coltrane10:33
2."Chasin' the Trane" (JC ts, ED as, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane9:52
3."Impressions" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, JG b, EJ d)Coltrane8:52
4."Spiritual" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane12:49
5."Miles' Mode" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane10:22
6."Naima" (JC ts, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane7:40

Disc two

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Brasilia" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane18:45
2."Chasin' Another Trane" (JC ts, ED as, RW b, RH d)Coltrane15:35
3."India" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d, AA ou, GB ob)Coltrane13:14
4."Spiritual" (JC ss ts, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d, GB c-bs)Coltrane15:13
5."Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II6:38

Disc three

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Chasin' the Trane" (JC ts, JG b, EJ d)Coltrane16:08
2."Greensleeves" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)traditional6:51
3."Impressions" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, JG b, EJ d)Coltrane10:59
4."Spiritual" (JC ts ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane13:48
5."Naima" (JC ts, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane7:07
6."Impressions" (JC ts, MT p, JG b, EJ d)Coltrane14:52

Disc four

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."India" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane14:03
2."Greensleeves" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)traditional5:02
3."Miles' Mode" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane15:25
4."India" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d, AA ou, GB ob)Coltrane15:14
5."Spiritual" (JC ts ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d, GB c-bs)Coltrane20:40

1998 Live at the Village Vanguard: The Master Takes

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Spiritual" (JC ts ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane13:31
2."Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)Romberg, Hammerstein6:25
3."Chasin' the Trane" (JC ts, JG b, EJ d)Coltrane15:55
4."India" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d)Coltrane13:55
5."Impressions" (JC ts, MT p, JG b, EJ d)Coltrane14:45

Personnel

References

  1. Allmusic review
  2. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  3. David A. Wild. The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings. Impulse IMPD4-232 liner notes, p. 12.
  4. Ben Ratliff. Coltrane: The Story of A Sound. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN 978-0-374-12606-3, p. 75.
  5. Wild, Impulse IMPD4-232 liner notes, pp. 15-16.
  6. Wild, Impulse IMPD4-232 liner notes, p. 33.
  7. 1 2 David Wild, An Oud is Not An Oud
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