Impressions (John Coltrane Album)
Impressions is a jazz album published in 1963 with live and studio recordings by the American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane , which theAmerican jazz saxophonist John Coltrane made partly together with his "classic" John Coltrane quartet, consisting of the pianist McCoy Tyner , the double bass player Jimmy Garrison and the drummer Elvin Jones recorded. In the 1961 live jazz club the Village Vanguard , New York City recorded titles came in addition to the multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy and (for the title of India ) bassist Reggie Workman added to Coltrane's quartet. Some of the tracks recorded in the studio featured drummer Roy Haynes instead of Elvin Jones.
The album
Recording and publication
John Coltrane and his quintet and sextet recorded the tracks India and Impressions of the album live in the Village Vanguard on November 3rd, 1961 ; other titles from this concert had already been released in 1962 on the album Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard . The (shorter) tracks Up 'Gainst the Wall and After the Rain were recorded as a quartet on September 18, 1962 and April 29, 1963 at the Van Gelder Recording Studio in Englewood Cliffs , New Jersey . The title of Dear Old Stockholm , also incorporated on 29 April 1963 in Rudi Van Gelder's studio, did not appear on the original version of the album, but in later editions. Impressions was first published as LP in mid-July 1963 on the Impulse record label ! Records . The album had a total of four tracks with a total running time of 35 minutes and 51 seconds, in the re-release of the album on CD there are five tracks with a total running time of 46 minutes and 26 seconds.
| Impressions | ||||
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| Music album by John Coltrane | ||||
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Publication |
Mid-July 1963 |
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admission |
November 3, 1961 |
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| Label (s) | Impulses! | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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jazz |
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Title (number) |
LP: 4; CD: 5 |
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running time |
LP: 35:51; CD: 46:26 |
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| occupation | John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy (tracks 1 and 3), McCoy Tyner (except track 2); Jimmy Garrison, Reggie Workman (tracks 1 and 3), Elvin Jones (except tracks 4 and 5), Roy Haynes (tracks 4 and 5) | |||
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Location (s) |
Village Vanguard , New York City and Van Gelder Studio , Englewood Cliffs |
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Compositions
The compositions of the first four titles are by John Coltrane, while title 5 is a standard that Stan Getz had written on the basis of the Swedish folk song Ack Värmeland, du sköna in 1951. The title track can also be viewed as a variant of the Miles Davis title So What , with the B part being influenced by Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte .
Music of the album
Even more than any of his other releases, this album focuses on John Coltrane's saxophone playing. The title track Impressions is characterized by a fifteen-minute solo Coltranes. McCoy Tyner's musical presence on the album is unusually subdued. He has his only solo on the bonus track, Dear Old Stockholm , is barely audible in the two live recordings from the Village Vanguard and relocates entirely to Up 'Gainst the Wall . Even Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison are uncharacteristically very reserved in their play. In the tracks After the Rain and Dear Old Stockholm, both recorded in the studio session on April 29, 1963, Roy Haynes played drums instead of Elvin Jones, which was more common in Coltrane's group during this period. Eric Dolphy contributes to the album with a long bass clarinet solo on the track India , otherwise he can only be heard on the final chord of Impressions . Reggie Workman only plays with the title India to create the booming sound of classical Indian music together with Jimmy Garrison.
The music as a whole reflects the evolving emotional and musical spectrum of John Coltrane as he explores modal jazz , Indian music , the blues and a traditional Swedish folk song.
The playlist
- John Coltrane: Impressions (Impulse! - A-42)
- India - 13:52
- Up 'Gainst the Wall - 3:12
- Impressions - 14:40
- After the Rain - 4:07
- Dear Old Stockholm ( Stan Getz , Traditional) - 10:35
The bonus track was first published on the 1964 LP The Definitive Jazz Scene Volume 2 (Impulse AS-100) and in the new edition of Impressions on CD.
The contributors
The musicians and their instruments
- John Coltrane - soprano and tenor saxophone
- Eric Dolphy - bass clarinet , alto saxophone (tracks 1 and 3)
- McCoy Tyner - Piano (except track 2)
- Jimmy Garrison - double bass
- Reggie Workman - double bass (tracks 1 and 3)
- Elvin Jones - drums (except tracks 4 and 5)
- Roy Haynes - drums (tracks 4 and 5)
The production staff
- Bob Thiele - production
- Rudy Van Gelder - sound engineer , mastering the original recording
- Kevin "relinquere nuces" Reeves - Mastering the re-release
- Robert Flynn - Design Cover
- Joe Tebow - Design Booklet
- Joe Alper - photos for cover and booklet
The reception
Music critic Harvey Pekar of the music magazine Down Beat gave the original version of the album five out of five stars in his review of August 29, 1963, and said: “Not all pieces of music on this album are excellent (which means a five-star rating), but some are more than excellent. ”After the album was re-released on CD, Down Beat only awarded four stars out of five. Scott Yanow described Impressions as "a mishmash of memorable recordings by John Coltrane from 1961–1963" and awarded four out of five stars on Allmusic . Derek Taylor wrote in All About Jazz after the album was re-released: "All the tracks, although very different in origin, fit together remarkably well, which is why this collection should be appreciated." The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide awarded five stars out of five .
Influence on other musicians
According to Jim McGuinn, the rock band The Byrds only had a single cassette with them during their tour in late 1965 to listen to on the tour bus. The tape had recordings of Ravi Shankar on one side and Coltrane's Impressions and Africa / Brass on the other. "We played the damn thing 50 or 100 times, through a Fender amplifier connected to the alternator on the bus." This resulted in the recording of the single Eight Miles High , written by the band as a direct homage to Coltrane, on the title India of the album Impressions in particular.
Coltrane's composition Impressions , which was first presented on this album, was taken up again and again by himself and developed into the jazz standard. It has been covered many times, for example by Pat Martino on his 1974 album Consciousness , by McCoy Tyner on his 1975 album Trident and by Gerald Albright on Live At Birdland West from 1991.
literature
- J. Swenson: The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. Random House / Rolling Stone, 1985, ISBN 0-394-72643-X
Web links
- Impressions at discogs.com
- Impressions at allmusic.com
- Impressions at allaboutjazz.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Impressions at www.discogs.com. Retrieved June 13, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Impressions in the John Coltrane catalog from www.jazzdisco.org. Retrieved June 13, 2017 .
- ↑ a b CD version of Impressions at www.discogs.com. Retrieved June 13, 2017 .
- ^ A b Ted Gioia The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire. P. 191ff.
- ↑ The Definite Jazz Scene Volume 2 at www.discogs.com. Retrieved June 13, 2017 .
- ↑ see Down Beat, Volume 30, No. 24 of August 29, 1963
- ↑ Down Beat, December 2000, p. 94
- ↑ Impressions at www.allmusic.com. Retrieved June 13, 2017 : "hodgepodge of memorable John Coltrane performances from the 1961-1963 period"
- ↑ Impressions at www.allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved on June 13, 2017 : "All of the tracks, though disparate in origin fit remarkably well together making this is a collection to be treasured"
- ^ J. Swenson: The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . Random House / Rolling Stone, 1985, ISBN 0-394-72643-X , pp. 46 .
- ^ Richie Unterberger: Eight Miles High: Folk-rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock . Backbeat Books, 2003, ISBN 0-87930-743-9 : "We played that damn thing 50 or 100 times, through a Fender amplifier that was plugged into an alternator in the car."
- ↑ Cover versions of Impressions at www.whosampled.com. Retrieved June 13, 2017 .