The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings

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. Additional tracks had been issued posthumously on the albums The Other Village Vanguard Tapes, Trane's Modes and From the Original Master Tapes.[1]

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
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[2]

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

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Brasilia‡" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, RW b, EJ d)	Coltrane	18:45
2.	"Chasin' Another Trane‡‡" (JC ts, ED as, RW b, RH d)	Coltrane	15:35
3.	"India‡‡‡" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d, AA ou, GB ob)	Coltrane	13:14
4.	"Spiritual‡‡‡" (JC ss ts, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d, GB c-bs)	Coltrane	15:13
5.	"Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise†" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)	Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II	6:38

Disc three

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Chasin' the Trane†" (JC ts, JG b, EJ d)	Coltrane	16:08
2.	"Greensleeves‡" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)	traditional	6:51
3.	"Impressions‡‡" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, JG b, EJ d)	Coltrane	10:59
4.	"Spiritual†" (JC ts ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)	Coltrane	13:48
5.	"Naima" (JC ts, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)	Coltrane	7:07
6.	"Impressions††" (JC ts, MT p, JG b, EJ d)	Coltrane	14:52

Disc four

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"India††" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d)	Coltrane	14:03
2.	"Greensleeves‡‡" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)	traditional	5:02
3.	"Miles' Mode" (JC ts, ED as, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d)	Coltrane	15:25
4.	"India‡" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d, AA ou, GB ob)	Coltrane	15:14
5.	"Spiritual‡" (JC ts ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d, GB c-bs)	Coltrane	20:40

1998 Live at the Village Vanguard: The Master Takes

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Spiritual†" (JC ts ss, ED bc, MT p, RW b, EJ d)	Coltrane	13:31
2.	"Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise†" (JC ss, MT p, RW b, EJ d)	Romberg, Hammerstein	6:25
3.	"Chasin' the Trane†" (JC ts, JG b, EJ d)	Coltrane	15:55
4.	"India††" (JC ss, ED bc, MT p, JG b, RW b, EJ d)	Coltrane	13:55
5.	"Impressions††" (JC ts, MT p, JG b, EJ d)	Coltrane	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

• John Coltrane — soprano and tenor saxophone
• Eric Dolphy — bass clarinet, alto saxophone
• McCoy Tyner — piano
• Reggie Workman, Jimmy Garrison — bass
• Elvin Jones — drums
• Garvin Bushell — probably cor anglais (described wrongly in the disc notes as an oboe),[7] contrabassoon
• Ahmed Abdul-Malik — probably tampura (described wrongly in the disc notes as an oud)[7]
• Roy Haynes — drums

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. An Oud is Not An Oud

External links

• Live at the Village Vanguard