Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings

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Released
  
September 23, 1997

Artist
  
John Coltrane

Producer
  
Bob Thiele

Genre
  
Jazz

Length
  
269:42

Release date
  
23 September 1997

Label
  
Impulse! Records

The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings httpslh6googleusercontentcomproxymzwKYd02s9

Recorded
  
November 1–3 and 5, 1961 Village Vanguard, New York City, U.S.

Similar
  
John Coltrane albums, Jazz albums

November 1 1961 1 india


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.

Contents

Bill evans the complete village vanguard recordings 1961 all of you take 1


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. 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. Sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder set up his equipment at a table by the stage, 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. 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.

Personnel

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

    India10:33
    Chasin' the Trane9:52
    Impressions8:52

    References

    The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings Wikipedia