Live at the Village Vanguard Again!
Live At The Village Vanguard Again! | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Live album by John Coltrane | ||||
Released | December 1966 | |||
Recorded | May 28, 1966 | |||
Venue | Village Vanguard, New York City | |||
Genre | Free jazz | |||
Length | 41:40 | |||
Label | Impulse! (A-9124) | |||
Producer | Bob Thiele | |||
John Coltrane chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Live At The Village Vanguard Again! is a live jazz album by saxophonist John Coltrane. Recorded in May 1966 during a live performance at the Village Vanguard jazz club in New York City, the album features Coltrane playing in the free jazz style that characterized his final years. The lineup features Coltrane's quintet, with Coltrane on tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, and flute, Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone and flute, Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums, supplemented by Emanuel Rahim on percussion. It was the quintet's only official recording released during Coltrane's lifetime.
Background
Coltrane's group played at the Village Vanguard on two consecutive weekends (May 20–22 and 27-29, 1966), sharing the bill with Clark Terry on the first weekend, and Coleman Hawkins on the second.[4] The album, which was recorded on Saturday, May 28, features two extended pieces, "Naima" and "My Favorite Things", culled from a much longer tape.[1] On both the LP and CD releases, the pieces were issued with the bass solo played by Garrison as an introduction to "My Favorite Things" split out as a separate track titled "Introduction to My Favorite Things".[5]
In his liner notes, Nat Hentoff noted: "Both songs have long been part of the Coltrane repertory, but again Coltrane has found in them the base for new dimensions of expressiveness."[6] Coltrane biographer Eric Nisenson stated that "Coltrane was obviously making a statement about how far he had come since both his first Vanguard album and his first recording of these two pieces. By recording such familiar tunes, he hoped perhaps to give those having difficulty with his new music some sort of familiar territory from which he could jump off to new, unexplored terrain."[7] Ekkehard Jost wrote that "a comparison of the different versions of these two titles is all one needs, to realize the influence of the six years in between on Coltrane's musical development,"[8] and stated that, on this album, "Naima" "becomes a launching pad for tension-charged improvisations. Points of contact between them and the original material are established in sporadic fragments of the theme, and hardly at all by harmonic references to the chord progressions. This is a kind of melodic-motivic improvisation that does not take place within the time-boundaries of the theme; those boundaries are stretched or shrunk as prompted by the flow of musical ideas."[8]
Reception
In a review of the concert, Elisabeth van der Mei described the music as "exhilarating," writing: "Rashied Ali has now completely replaced Elvin Jones. Pharaoh Sanders more and more collectively improvises with Coltrane, who himself plays solos for sometimes 30, 40 minutes having his audience transfixed by the sheer mystery of his force."[4] Gary Giddins stated that the album, "with explosive readings of 'Naima' and 'My Favorite Things,' is an unbridled souvenir of Coltrane's last band at its best: nothing mystical or arcane, no verbal chanting, very little scene setting — just two strenuously effective post-Ascension performances."[9]
In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote that the album "is certainly not for Coltrane newcomers, and may indeed only hold value for his most ardent followers despite its many qualities."[1] Writing for All About Jazz, Robert Spencer praised Pharoah Sanders' solo on "Naima," writing: "his solo here shows in its melodic invention and fervent lyricism that Coltrane wasn't deaf when he asked him to join the band. He knew he would be able to hold up his end, and he does; too often his work in the late Coltrane quintet is overlooked for its style, rather than appreciated for its real substance."[10] He concluded: "People talk of 'late Coltrane' as if all of his music after A Love Supreme sounded the same, but actually the music on this disc is much removed from the likes of Ascension, Om, or Live in Seattle... Not for all tastes, perhaps, but essential for the musically adventurous."[10]
Ben Ratliff wrote that the recording of "Naima" "worked with wicked effectiveness," and states: "Sanders's solo on this 'Naima' begins with abrasive huffing and scrambling, not dissimilar from a sound Archie Shepp liked to get; it works through wild passages of fast and repetitive playing, terrifically ugly challenges of squelched and shrieking sounds, and hoarse, brawny tours through sections of the melody. The performance is full of personality, full of its own sound, not at all boring. Sanders uses almost purely metamusical logic—intuitive gestures of the emotions, of the nerves—to make the seven-minute solo cohere. With Coltrane, on the other hand, who plays two shorter, more driving and traditionally dramatic solos around Sanders, you always seem to be keeping your eye on the resolution about to come. All that he plays exists in relation to the harmony and melody of the song."[11]
Track listing
- "Naima" (Coltrane) – 15:10
- "Introduction to My Favorite Things" (Garrison) – 6:09
- "My Favorite Things" (Rodgers, Hammerstein) – 20:21
Personnel
- John Coltrane – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute
- Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone, flute
- Alice Coltrane – piano
- Jimmy Garrison – bass
- Rashied Ali – drums
- Emanuel Rahim – percussion
References
- ^ a b c Jurek, Thom. "John Coltrane Quintet: Live at the Village Vanguard Again!". AllMusic. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
- ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 47. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ^ a b Porter, Lewis; DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Wild, David; Schmaler, Wolf (2008). The John Coltrane Reference. Routledge. p. 346.
- ^ Porter, Lewis; DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Wild, David; Schmaler, Wolf (2008). The John Coltrane Reference. Routledge. p. 752.
- ^ Hentoff, Nat (1966). Live at the Village Vanguard Again! (liner notes). John Coltrane. Impulse! Records. A-9124.
- ^ Nisenson, Eric (1995). Ascension: John Coltrane And His Quest. Da Capo Press. p. 207.
- ^ a b Jost, Ekkehard (1994). Free Jazz. Da Capo. p. 101.
- ^ Giddins, Gary (1998). Visions of Jazz: The First Century. Oxford University Press. p. 489.
- ^ a b Spencer, Robert (July 1, 1997). "John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard Again!". All About Jazz. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- ^ Ratliff, Ben (2007). Coltrane: The Story of a Sound. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 107–108.
- v
- t
- e
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
albums
- Blue Train
- Coltrane Time
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
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
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
Thelonious Monk
- "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
- 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
- "26-2"
- "Alabama"
- "Blue Train"
- "Central Park West"
- "Countdown"
- "Equinox"
- "Giant Steps"
- "Impressions"
- "Lazy Bird"
- "Moment's Notice"
- "Mr. P.C."
- "Naima"
- "Ogunde"
- The Church of Saint Coltrane
- The World According to John Coltrane
- Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary