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.

1997 live album by John Coltrane

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

The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings is a box set of recordings by jazz musician John Coltrane, issued posthumously in 1997 by Impulse! Records, catalogue IMPD4-232. It collects all existing recordings from performances 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. Additional tracks had been issued posthumously on the albums The Other Village Vanguard Tapes, Trane's Modes and From the Original Master Tapes.[1]

## Background[edit]

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.[2] This commenced a close working relationship between Thiele and Coltrane that would last for the rest of the saxophonist's time at Impulse. Thiele produced virtually every subsequent album. Thiele quickly secured Coltrane's trust by not insisting he record his most popular song, "My Favorite Things", during these shows.[3] Sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder set up his equipment at a table by the stage.[4]

## Content[edit]

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 saxophonists Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassists Reggie Workman or Jimmy Garrison (occasionally both) and drummer Elvin Jones. Roy Haynes substituted for Jones on one song. On various songs, Coltrane added guest musicians on tampura, contrabassoon, oboe or a second double bass.

The authorship of "Miles' Mode", also known as "Red Planet", is in dispute, sometimes attributed to Dolphy rather than Coltrane.[5]

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.

## Reception[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
Allmusic| [1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz| [6]
All About Jazz| [7]

In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek awarded the album 5 stars, and wrote that it "adds up to... some of the most exploratory music Coltrane ever recorded -- and it was done not only in front of a live audience, but also in the presence of some mighty hostile critics. It was on this fire ground of the test that Coltrane revealed for the first time his interest -- as well as Dolphy's -- in the Indian motivic mode of improvisation, his fascination with the odd time signatures of African rhythms, and the manner in which he used scalar, modal, and harmonic forms as integrational aspects to both composition and improvisation. And while its full articulation would come on later studio recordings and in later performances, this laboratory effect offers plenty in the way of revelation here... Here on these four CDs are the exhaustive discoveries of a lifelong search and the beginning of a kind of restlessness in Coltrane's life that would consume him. Musically, the music found here is as fine as anything ever recorded in jazz history. These performances are remarkable in their certitude and in the generosity of their communication as well as in the depth and profundity of their statements. Forget the single-disc compilation, this set is one of the most important live sets from the '60s."[1]

Writing for All About Jazz, C. Michael Bailey commented: "The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings fall right between the last Miles Davis recordings Coltrane made (Someday My Prince Will Come), Coltrane's Africa/Brass sessions and his Ballads on Impulse!. He was still three years away from A Love Supreme. Clearly, Coltrane was running in all directions... his recorded four-night stand exists as a monument to his sheer force of will in the face of harsh criticism, the definition of a true prophet or visionary... Many listeners would be put off by the direction Coltrane took after 1961, but only a fool would deny that what did come was neutronic genius, decimating everything in it path... Now that's what I call 'sheets of sound'."[7]

In an article for The New York Times, Peter Watrous wrote that "Coltrane and his group were at their best those nights in 1961", and quoted McCoy Tyner, who stated: "We always were experimenting with something, expanding perimeters, looking for new horizons... That was the nature of the band, but when we played the Vanguard, it was an especially fresh period in the band's history. We had been spurred on by meeting Ravi Shankar, and we were planning to do an album with him that never happened. But the whole band was really on fire, and it had reached one of those plateaus." Watrous also included a reminiscence from Lorraine Gordon, wife of Max Gordon (founder of the Village Vanguard): "Coltrane would get off the stage and go back toward the men's room and keep practicing between sets... Nobody talked to him. He just practiced and played; he didn't socialize. The music he made, though, was incredible. It sounded really new, quite radical."[8]

A reviewer for BBC Music Magazine called the album "an indispensable historical document that captures a moment in history when Coltrane's working group – with exemplary solos by McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones – was at its peak."[9]

## Track listing[edit]

All tracks composed by John Coltrane except where noted.

### Disc one[edit]

No.| Title| Recording date| Length

|
|
|

1.| "India" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d, AA ou)| November 1, 1961| 10:33
2.| "Chasin' the Trane‡" (JC ts, ED as, RW b, EJ d)| November 1, 1961| 9:52
3.| "Impressions‡‡" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, JG b, EJ d)| November 1, 1961| 8:52
4.| "Spiritual‡" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)| November 1, 1961| 12:49
5.| "Miles' Mode‡‡" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, RW b, EJ d)| November 1, 1961| 10:22
6.| "Naima‡‡" (JC ts, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)| November 1, 1961| 7:40

### Disc two[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Recording date| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "Brasilia‡" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, RW b, EJ d)|  | November 1, 1961| 18:45
2.| "Chasin' Another Trane‡‡" (JC ts, ED as, RW b, RH d)|  | November 2, 1961| 15:35
3.| "India‡‡‡" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d, AA ou, GB ob)|  | November 2, 1961| 13:14
4.| "Spiritual‡‡‡" (JC ss ts, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d, GB c-bs)|  | November 2, 1961| 15:13
5.| "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise†" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)| Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II| November 2, 1961| 6:38

### Disc three[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Recording date| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "Chasin' the Trane†" (JC ts, JG b, EJ d)|  | November 2, 1961| 16:08
2.| "Greensleeves‡" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)| traditional| November 2, 1961| 6:51
3.| "Impressions‡‡" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, JG b, EJ d)|  | November 2, 1961| 10:59
4.| "Spiritual†" (JC ts ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)|  | November 3, 1961| 13:48
5.| "Naima" (JC ts, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)|  | November 3, 1961| 7:07
6.| "Impressions††" (JC ts, MT p, JG b, EJ d)|  | November 3, 1961| 14:52

### Disc four[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Recording date| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "India††" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d)|  | November 3, 1961| 14:03
2.| "Greensleeves‡‡" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)| traditional| November 3, 1961| 5:02
3.| "Miles' Mode" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d)|  | November 3, 1961| 15:25
4.| "India‡" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d, AA ou, GB ob)|  | November 5, 1961| 15:14
5.| "Spiritual‡" (JC ts ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d, GB c-bs)|  | November 5, 1961| 20:40

### 1998 Live at the Village Vanguard: The Master Takes[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Recording date| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "Spiritual†" (JC ts ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)|  | November 3, 1961| 13:31
2.| "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise†" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)| Romberg, Hammerstein| November 2, 1961| 6:25
3.| "Chasin' the Trane†" (JC ts, JG b, EJ d)|  | November 2, 1961| 15:55
4.| "India††" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d)|  | November 3, 1961| 13:55
5.| "Impressions††" (JC ts, MT p, JG b, EJ d)|  | November 3, 1961| 14:45

† Originally issued in 1962 as Live at the Village Vanguard; †† originally issued in 1963 on Impressions
‡ Originally issued in 1977 as The Other Village Vanguard Tapes; ‡‡ originally issued in 1979 on Trane's Modes; ‡‡‡ originally issued in 1985 on From the Original Master Tapes

## Personnel[edit]

* John Coltrane — soprano and tenor saxophone
* Eric Dolphy — bass clarinet, alto saxophone
* McCoy Tyner — piano
* Reggie Workman \- bass
* Jimmy Garrison \- bass
* Elvin Jones — drums
* Roy Haynes — drums
* Garvin Bushell — probably cor anglais (described wrongly in the disc notes as an oboe),[10] contrabassoon
* Ahmed Abdul-Malik — probably tampura (described wrongly in the disc notes as an oud)[10]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c Allmusic review
2. ^ David A. Wild. The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings. Impulse IMPD4-232 liner notes, p. 12.
3. ^ Ben Ratliff. Coltrane: The Story of A Sound. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN 978-0-374-12606-3, p. 75.
4. ^ Wild, Impulse IMPD4-232 liner notes, pp. 15-16.
5. ^ Wild, Impulse IMPD4-232 liner notes, p. 33.
6. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 287\. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
7. ^ a b Bailey, C. Michael (August 10, 2005). "John Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings". All About Jazz. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
8. ^ Watrous, Peter (September 23, 1997). "Celebrating Coltrane And a Shrine to Jazz". The New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
9. ^ "John Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings". Classical Music. January 20, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
10. ^ a b An Oud is Not An Oud

## External links[edit]

* Live at the Village Vanguard

* v
* t
* e

John Coltrane

Discography

Prestige
albums|

* Mating Call (with Tadd Dameron)
* Tenor Conclave
* Coltrane
* Interplay
* Wheelin' & Dealin'
* John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio
* Soultrane
* Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette
* The Cats (with Tommy Flanagan and Kenny Burrell)
* Lush Life
* Settin' the Pace
* Standard Coltrane
* Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane
* Stardust
* Dakar
* The Believer
* Black Pearls
* Bahia
* The Last Trane
* Two Tenors

Blue Note
albums|

* Blue Train
* Coltrane Time

Atlantic
albums|

* Giant Steps
* Bags & Trane (with Milt Jackson)
* Coltrane Jazz
* My Favorite Things
* Olé Coltrane
* Coltrane Plays the Blues
* Coltrane's Sound
* The Avant-Garde

Impulse!
albums|

* Africa/Brass
* Coltrane
* Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
* Ballads
* Impressions
* John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
* Crescent
* A Love Supreme
* The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
* Ascension
* Meditations
* Kulu Sé Mama
* Expression
* Om
* Cosmic Music (with Alice Coltrane)
* Selflessness: Featuring My Favorite Things
* Transition
* Sun Ship
* Infinity
* Interstellar Space
* The Africa/Brass Sessions, Volume 2
* First Meditations
* Dear Old Stockholm
* Stellar Regions
* Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album
* Blue World

With
Miles Davis|

* Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet
* 'Round About Midnight
* Cookin'
* Relaxin'
* Milestones
* Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants
* Kind of Blue
* Jazz Track
* Workin'
* Steamin'
* Someday My Prince Will Come
* Miles & Monk at Newport
* Basic Miles
* At Newport 1958
* Jazz at the Plaza Vol. I
* 1958 Miles
* Miles Davis Quintet at Peacock Alley

With
Thelonious Monk|

* The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings
* Thelonious Himself
* Monk's Music
* Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
* Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane

Live albums|

* "Live" at the Village Vanguard
* Live at Birdland
* New Thing at Newport
* Live at the Village Vanguard Again!
* Live in Seattle
* Live in Japan
* Afro Blue Impressions
* The Paris Concert
* The European Tour
* Live Trane: The European Tours
* Bye Bye Blackbird
* Newport '63
* The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings
* The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording
* Live at the Half Note: One Down, One Up
* Offering: Live at Temple University
* A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle
* Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy

Compilations|

* Alternate Takes
* The Best of John Coltrane
* The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse! Recordings
* Coltrane for Lovers
* The Coltrane Legacy
* The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane
* The Prestige Recordings
* Countdown: The Savoy Sessions
* Dial Africa: The Savoy Sessions
* Feelin' Good
* Gold Coast
* The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings
* High Step
* The Major Works of John Coltrane
* Jupiter Variation
* Ken Burns Jazz: John Coltrane
* The Last Giant: Anthology
* Living Space
* To the Beat of a Different Drum
* Trane's Blues
* Trane's Modes

Compositions|

* "26-2"
* "Alabama"
* "Blue Train"
* "Central Park West"
* "Countdown"
* "Equinox"
* "Giant Steps"
* "Impressions"
* "Lazy Bird"
* "Moment's Notice"
* "Mr. P.C."
* "Naima"
* "Ogunde"

Documentaries|

* The Church of Saint Coltrane
* The World According to John Coltrane
* Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary

Related|

* List of sessions
* Coltrane changes
* Sheets of sound
* Alice Coltrane (wife)
* Ravi Coltrane (son)
* Philadelphia house
* Dix Hills home
* 5893 Coltrane asteroid
* John W. Coltrane Cultural Society
* Tribute albums
* Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

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