John Coltrane – ‘Live’ At The Village Vanguard

“I listened to both sides of the Coltane VV LP. The s/n ratio on these superb pressings makes the music come alive like never before. I’ve listened to this album in so many forms: original vinyl, the first MCA reissues, also the MCA vinyl with the awful green labels. The way this album was mastered, the state-of-the-art pressings makes you realize that RVG actually did a superb job in capturing the on-stage magic of these live sessions. I never really thought that before! Congrats to Chad Kassem and all the team” — Tom Schnabel, Emeritus Producer, KCRW’s Rhythm Planet

“Two new Coltrane reissues on vinyl, from the partnership of Universal Music and Acoustic Sounds typify the breadth of (Coltrane’s) range and the depths of his explorations. … The sound quality of both, engineered by Rudy Van Gelder and mastered by Ryan Smith, is very good, with caveats. Vanguard is from a second LP master; the original tapes vanished long ago. … This reissue lacks the full warmth and air of the original pressing, but good luck finding one. This is much better than any other reissue.” — Fred Kaplan, Stereophile, April 2022

“If you get a chance to compare an original A-10 with this reissue you’ll appreciate how fine this reissue sounds but you’ll also hear greater texture to Coltrane’s horn(s), far more ‘room sound,’ and especially cymbal ‘ring’. The original is ‘you are there’ great, in part thanks to RVG’s dozen microphone mixing, but you know what? If you never get to hear the original this reissue is ‘you are there’ great too.” — Music = 11/11; Sound = 9/11 — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. To read Fremer’s full review, click here.

Sax virtuoso John Coltrane “Live” at the Village Vanguard (Impulse! AS-10), was Trane’s first official “live” album. Coltrane is joined here on two tunes by the wonderful Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, plus veteran sidemen McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Jimmy Garrison & Reggie Workman alternating on bass. Right after the Village dates, Trane and Dolphy would embark on a successful European tour.

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, New York, November 2 & 3, 1961

Musicians:
John Coltrane, tenor and soprano sax
Eric Dolphy, bass clarinet on 1 & 5 only
McCoy Tyner, piano
Reggie Workman, bass on 1, 2, 5 & 6
Jimmy Garrison, bass on 3-5
Elvin Jones, drums