John Coltrane - Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015827-2 rel 2011}

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John Coltrane - Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015827-2 rel 2011}

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John Coltrane - Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015827-2 rel 2011}
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© 1966, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015827-2 | LP AS-9124
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

John Coltrane returns to the Village Vanguard – but his sound here is a lot more far-reaching than a few years before! The album's a great counterpart to the first Vanguard session – as it takes all of the bold, soaring energy of that date, and balances it with the newly introspective sound of the later Coltrane years – plus some of the freedoms learned from the Love Supreme era. The group here showcases the new territory explored by Coltrane – with Trane himself on tenor, soprano, and a bit of bass clarinet (echoing earlier Dolphy), plus Pharoah Sanders on additional tenor, Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Rasheid Ali on drums. The album only features 2 long tracks – an incredibly soulful version of "Naima", and a very firey version of "My Favorite Things", but one that begins with a haunting bass solo by Garrison!

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John Coltrane - Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015827-2 rel 2011}

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Live at the Village Vanguard, was one of John Coltrane's most successful and controversial albums. It was one of the first by the "classic quartet," and contained a boffo guest appearance by Eric Dolphy on the magnificent "Spiritual."

This isn't it. Five years after that triumph, Coltrane returned to the Vanguard with his New Thing quintet, expanded to a sextet for the occasion: Coltrane on soprano, tenor, and bass clarinet; Pharoah Sanders on tenor and flute; Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, Rashied Ali on drums, and Emanuel Rahim on percussion. This album contains only two songs: "Naima" and "My Favorite Things," which were perhaps the two most celebrated numbers, or overplayed chestnuts, of the Coltrane catalogue. Here they are given a treatment like no other.

Ali was no Elvin Jones. This band lacks the propulsive power brought by Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner. There is a slower, more meditative, less definite pace than Coltrane had worked with previously. The master seizes the opportunity to turn in, on "Naima," a theme statement and, later, a solo of such a richness and passion that Eric Nisenson, a Coltrane biographer, suggests that it was for this kind of thing Coltrane cast his lot with the avant-garde in the first place. Sanders here is still in a screaming mode, but 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.

"My Favorite Things" starts with an extended Jimmy Garrison bass solo that is good, but not as involving as the ever longer ones on Live in Japan (recorded the next month) or the astounding turn he takes to begin "Impressions" in France in the summer of 1965 (hear it—run, don't walk—on Live at Antibes, 1965, Le Jazz CD 10). Coltrane enters in high gear but with high lyricism as well. Sanders drops by for another solo of searing intensity and a furious duel with Coltrane, where the bass clarinet and flute appear, at some distance in the storm. Here the overall performance is perhaps less effective than the calmer but much longer (nearly one hour!) version recorded on Live in Japan ; certainly it's worlds away from the 1960 Atlantic original or any of the previous live versions.

This CD is worth the price for the breathtaking "Naima." "My Favorite Things" has its moments, too. 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. One might call this version of "Naima" The Gentle Side of Late Coltrane. Not for all tastes, perhaps, but essential for the musically adventurous.

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John Coltrane - Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015827-2 rel 2011}

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John Coltrane - Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015827-2 rel 2011}

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John Coltrane - Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015827-2 rel 2011}

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