By C. Michael Bailey
#2- John Coltrane:
The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings, Impulse 232, 1997
The Top Two Live Jazz recordings in this ongoig series were recorded at
the Village Vanguard within six months of one another in 1961. They
represent the polar opposites of jazz. One is melodically searching, the
other harmonically searching. One is quiet and exact, the other is loud and
torrential. They were equally influential and visionary and stand greatly
for the potential of jazz.
John William Coltrane and Franz Schubert have much in common. Both
created a hugh catalog of music in a short amount of time and died at the
height of their musical explorations. Both man's contributions changed
forever how music was performed and sounded. According to the All Music
Guide editor Scott Yanow, John Coltrane existed as one of the six most
inflential figures in Jazz (the remaining five being Louis Armstrong, Duke
Ellington, dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis). Coltrane's
career was short, critically spanning from 1955 and his early days with the
first great Miles Davis Quintet to 1967, when he was redefining freedom in
the groove on recordings such as Expressions, Interstellar
Regions, and Stellar Regions.
Right in the middle of this densely creative period, Coltrane brought his
quartet and some friends into New York City's Village Vanguard to make a
live recording over four nights between November 1st and 5th, 1961. The
recording was ultimately to be the extension of his explorations he started
on Giant Steps and My Favorite Things. The queries Coltrane
was to execute here were to be the deepest of his career. Coltran was
experimenting with augmentations of his classic quartet. He did this by
including Eric Dolphy, Roy Haynes, and Reggie Workman in the mix, as well
as, Ahmed Abdul-Malik. Never shying away from controversy and the highwire
(recall that Coltrane participated in the greatest highwire act in jazz,
Kind of Blue), Coltrane choose the often hostile venue of live
performance to begin his study of Eastern Indian motivic improvisation.
Coltrane was uncompromising in his vision during these four nights. These
performances can be considered the beginning of Coltrane's musical research
that would consume him for the rest of his life.
The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings fall right between
the last Miles Davis Recordings Coltrane made (Someday My Prince Will
Come), Cotrane's Africa/Brass sessions and his Ballads on
Impulse!. He was still three years away for A Love Supreme.
Clearly, Coltrane was running in all directions.
The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings consist of 10 pieces
given in 22 total performances. Prior to the age of the compact disc. all
of this music was spread out over Live At the Village Vanguard,
Impressionns, The Other Village Vanguard Tapes, Trane's Modes, and
From the Original Master Tapes. Introduction of the compact disc
conveniently provided a format for the entire release of all of the music
from this historic series of concerts. How fortunate for us the listeners
for this musical novel that can be read and re-read.
But, today, there remains hard questions:
Is John Coltrane jazz's most boring genius? Possibly.
Does John Coltrane have a pretty saxophone tone? Absolutely not.
Does John Coltrane belong in the list of most influential jazz artists,
along with Louis Armstorng, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie,
and Miles Davis? Without question.
So potent and important is John Coltrane's place in the history of jazz,
no serious jazz fan can ignore him. Morover, his recorded four-night stand
exists as a monument to his sheer force of will in the face of harsh
criticism, the definition of a true prophet or visionary.
Many listeners would be put off by the direction Cotrane took after 1961,
but only a fool would deny that what did come was neutronic genius,
decimating everything in it path.
Now that's what I call "sheets of sound."
