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Music CD - John Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings
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Music CD: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings
Artist: John Coltrane
List Price: $54.98
Our Price: $31.99
Your Save: $ 22.99 ( 42% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Grp Records
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Tracks:
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1. India (A)
2. Chasin' The Trane (A)
3. Impressions (A)
4. Spiritual (A)
5. Miles' Mode (A)
6. Naima (A)
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0011105023221
Format: Box set
Label: Grp Records
Manufacturer: Grp Records
Number Of Discs: 4
Publisher: Grp Records
Release Date: 1997-09-23
Studio: Grp Records
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Out There
Comment: I can't speak to the genius of any artist. Music -- like literature, a painting or a sculpture -- either speaks to the listener or it doesn't. I've been listening to jazz most of my adult life and understand that its very improvisatory nature, especially in live performances, often results in hits or misses when it comes to exploration of a theme. I've heard eight or ten different live versions of some of Monk's classic tunes -- Blue Monk, `Round Midnight, Misterioso, Straight, No Chaser -- each rendition different. Some were hit out of the ballpark, while others left men on base. I've seen Brubeck perform three times and he almost never failed to hit for extra bases.
When it comes to musicians like Monk and Coltrane, a listener either gets them or they don't. I received this boxed set as a Christmas gift, and while the uninitiated might care more for the Master Takes single disc version, I very much enjoyed this complete recordings.
Recommended, but perhaps an acquired taste.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thank you . . .
Comment: To the reviewer "Rose: Jazz Fan", thank you so much for reminding me that this set contains an incredible version of "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise". McCoy Tyner is unbelievable on it , and the drummer (Elvin Jones? Roy Haynes? I don't remember)uses brushes during Tyner's part beofre switching to sticks when Coltrane comes in. It's the most hard-driving swing I've ever heard. I used to listen to this set several times a week during the late '70's, when in college. My vinyl copies are worn and scratchy sounding, which is why I haven't listened to it much in the past 25 or so years. But just thinking about this music now makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. It's amazing stuff.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Upon revisiting the Village Vanguard
Comment: Over the past couple days I listened to this for the first time in years. I listened to the Crescent album a few months ago and that was the first and only Coltrane (in terms of one of his own albums) I'd listened to in years. No real reason why I hadn't listened to him hardly at all for so long, I just hadn't.
It turns out I had forgotten how great a set this is. I always loved it, and I remembered loving it, but it's really been knocking me out these past 2 days. A ton has been written about Coltrane himself, and much more will be written in the future. Too little is said about the rest of the band. I think you could not care for Coltrane himself all that much and still love this music. Recorded on 11/1/61, 11/2/61, 11/3/61 and 11/5/61, the bands here (mainly McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Reggie Workman, Elvin Jones and Eric Dolphy) are fantastic. When a Coltrane solo ends, there is no letdown. This is some of McCoy's finest playing ever... much better than on other peoples' Blue Note albums. Garrison, Workman and Jones get it going on in a major way here. Really that is what this set is about for me more than anything... rhythm. It's impossible for me to sit still during this stuff. A churning, pumping cyclone of sound, that's what this band is.
The Indias and Miles' Modes alone would be enough to counterbalance this album even if the rest of the stuff were only worthy of one star, which is not the case. And of course this makes me miss Eric Dolphy, as usual. I'm not sure I'll ever stop wondering what could have been. =(
Customer Rating:
Summary: Yes, the greatest live recording ever (at least to me)
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: SACD - DVD audio Availability
Comment: 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.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Coltrane had only recently moved to the Impulse label when producer Bob Thiele decided to set up recording equipment for performances at the Village Vanguard in November 1961. It was a crucial period in Coltrane's artistic development, as his music assumed apocalyptic power and controversy swirled around his expanded band and marathon performances. The band ranges from a trio with bass and drums for the extended tenor workouts like "Impressions" and "Chasin' the Trane"; to an octet on some versions of "India," where Coltrane's soprano swirls through the throbbing drones and percussion. Among the sidemen are the multireed player Eric Dolphy and drummer Elvin Jones, Coltrane's most inspiring partners, while guests include Ahmed Abdul-Malik on tamboura and Garvin Bushell, a veteran of Jelly Roll Morton's bands, on contra-bassoon. There are more than four hours of music here, with multiple versions of core repertoire and almost every instant packed with passion and invention. These are among the greatest recordings of Coltrane's career. --Stuart Broomer
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