John Coltrane - The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings
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Free Music Notes for The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings
Free Music Review: Yes, the greatest live recording ever (at least to me)
Hit: 5 Stars
Well, at the risk of sounding like a "babbling, nonsensical cultist writing reams of gibberish" (as reviewer John Grabowski put it), I do think that the music assembled for this box set is the greatest live recording ever. Or at least greatest to my ears based on my own limited experiences.
While I can't compete with the eloquence or humor of the review I quoted from, I completely disagree with some of the points made. Sketches not worked out? Solos going nowhere that should be "pruned to 5 minutes"? In need of "focused concentration"?
I can't think of any music that more easily defines "focused concentration" than what's recorded here. I've never seen nor heard a group of musicians putting themselves so fervently into their music as the Coltrane quartet does here. I hear relentless searching that makes most so-called experimental music sound like a joke. With Giant Steps and the rest of the sublime Atlantic recordings Coltrane had already created music that is, I think, about as technically complex as jazz music gets, and Coltrane could have easily continued on this path for a lifetime. But here he begins to move in a different more viseral direction that would consume him for the rest of his tragically brief life. And it's impossible for me to imagine musicians more in tune with what he wants than those here, who all take solo after solo at a level of intensity that sends shivers up my spine. When I listen to these recordings I hear the Coltrane quartet (and Dolphy, maybe especially Dolphy) working on a level that I cannot comprehend or describe. This music is - even to an agnostic like myself - absolutely spiritual. And yes, based upon my of course subjective viewpoint, to me these CDs do in fact qualify as the greatest live recording ever.
Free Music Review: SACD - DVD audio Availability
Hit: 4 Stars
Does anyone know whether this set will become available on SACD or DVD Audio format? How would you contact GRP records to ask? I only give it four stars until multichannel format appears. Free Music Review: Good Choice
Hit: 5 Stars
This album has the best recorded version of "Softly as in a morning sunrise" (with quite possibly my favorite McCoy solo) that has ever been rendered and for that alone I have to give it 5 stars! However there was a 2 record set (issued back in the days of records) that also had this version on it along with my favorite things, after the rain and the beautiful Mal Waldron ballad Soul Eyes and I must say I believe that collection to be far superior (as well as far less expensive) to this if you could somehow find it.
Free Music Review: Jazz's Ulysses
Hit: 5 Stars
There is, in truth, too much hyperbole among jazz writers, and it reaches an almost unbearable crescendo when it comes to JC. (For starters, compare the notes to classical recordings on this site with the jazz writer's.)
That said, this four disc set contains some of the best jazz ever recorded (not just "live" jazz, any jazz) and a few of the pieces are some of the most interesting music I've ever heard.(For comparison, think of Arnold Schoenberg's string quartets unbound, given free reign.)
It catches Coltrane at the mid-point of his solo career--well afer the smooth "Blue Trane" and well before the "free jazz" of Acension--and, falling just behind ALS, he's at his best.
A few of these pieces are ragged and unfocussed, but the majority are beautifully done and wildly enjoyable. (One caveat: I've never understood the attraction of listeners to "Greensleeves" which, unlike "My Favorite Things", should never have seen the light of day and here sounds like elevator music--both takes.)
I can't think of one reason not to buy this collection. It's brilliant, wonderful, exuberant, and 45 years after being recorded it has stood the test of time. Its faults are minor compared to its overall achievment. Highly recommended.
Free Music Review: Essential.
Hit: 5 Stars
John Coltrane can be a difficult nut to crack-- over the course of a relativey brief career, he covered an enormous amount of ground, and it was only the last decade of his life-- starting with his 1957 tenure with Thelonious Monk after he kicked his heroin addiction, progressing through his second term in Miles Davis' band and leading up to his great recordings as a leader for Atlantic and Impulse!-- that he really began to move on. In the years since Coltrane's death, the archives have been opened wider and wider and it's become apparent that Coltrane would record several pieces for release in one week that would never see the light of day because two weeks later, he'd have advanced even further. As such, to hear a snapshot like this set-- four days of recording over five nights in November of 1961 at Manhattan's legendary Village Vanguard-- can be both exciting and revealing. It also grants the luxury of having something longer than an album of one form to sink your teeth into.
In November of 1961, Coltrane had left Atlantic records for the fledgeling Impulse! label, and after the "Africa/Brass" record, this was his next recording. His band was in transition, and Trane brought into the Vanguard with him his working group-- himself on tenor and soprano saxes, Eric Dolphy on alto sax and bass clarinet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman on bass and Elvin Jones on drums to the date. Workman was on his way out of the band and his replacement, Jimmy Garrison, would perform as well-- Trane seemed to be feeling out the role of the bassists, sometimes performing with both, sometimes with one or the other. Trane also used a few guests-- Ahmed Abdul-Malik performs on oud on three cuts (all takes of "India"), Garvin Bushell contributes oboe on two cuts (two takes of "India") and contrabassoon on one (one take of "Spiritual"), and Roy Haynes sits in on drums on one cut of "Chasin' Another Trane". The result is something amazing.
The musicians stretch out-- Coltrane is clearly searching for something, and in Dolphy he's got a frontline partner capable of matching his intensity. The two often pair soprano sax and bass clarinet or tenor and alto, with each receiving ample solo space. Coltrane's is largely exploratory, reaching and searching, Dolphy alternates between firmly rooted in tradition and fierce explosiveness. In the rhythm section, Coltrane had a band that would support his whims on this as songs stretched out sometimes as long as 20 or 25 minutes during ecstatic and frantic improvs. Talking about highlights is difficult because the whole set is awfully good, but certainly the November 2nd show is of exceptional quality, with the entire set being nothing short of earthshattering.
Large portions of this set have seen release before in various recordings-- "Live at the Village Vanguard" and "Impressions" were the two records released in Trane's lifetime, with several posthumous collections drawn from these sessions, but this set nicely pulls it altogether, remasters the sound so the whole thing sounds fantastic, and adds a booklet with an essay concerning the music, musicians, and performances.
44 years later, as I write this, this music still sounds amazing, revolutionary, powerful and inspired. There is work by Coltrane I prefer over this, but this set in its entirity is essential. Highly recommended.