John Coltrane was no stranger to the famous night club, the Village Vanguard in New York City. Coltrane loved to play live there, and there are more than a couple CDs of Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard.
So What makes the Master Takes Different?
Live at the Village Vanguard: The Master Takes is a collection of five of Coltranes favorite songs taken from four nights in November 1961. Coltrane recorded each of these live shows, and this CD reflects the five favorites of Coltrane himself. If you can't afford the four CD set, The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings this will give you Coltrane's personal BEST OF. After taking this from the library and listening many times over, I can tell you that I want to get the full four discs!
The Songs that made the Cut
Spiritual This song clocks in at 13 and half minutes. Coltrane plays both soprano and tenor sax on this song, and he is joined by Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, Reggie Workman on bass, McCoy Tyner on piano, and Elvin Jones on drums. I loved the intro to this song, a full drum roll, deep bass clarinet, and a moody sax solo and full bass start the song almost like a huge wave crashing onto the shore. This was my favorite song on the CD, it just had a moodiness about it that I really enjoyed. I felt like I was in my own Film Noir just listening.
Softly as the Morning Sunrise is the shortest song on this CD at only 6 minutes and 25 seconds. It is a piece with just Coltrane on soprano sax, Tyner on Piano, Workman on bass, and Jones on the drums. This was a much lighter piece than the first, it was almost spright in its sound. Tyner's piano sets the melody for the song, while Jones and Workman kept the beat on bass and drums. In fact, it is not until quite a way into the song that Coltrane joins in! When Coltrane does join in, the song increases in pace and gets even livelier. It is as if the song actually expresses a sunrise, soft faint rays at first, soon filling out to full sunlight spreading across the land pouring through people's window's, waking everyone up for a new day.
Chasin' the Trane is really stripped down for musicians. This is pure Coltrane on tenor sax, backed only by Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. However, it is Coltrane on sax for a solid 15 minutes 55 seconds. If you guessed that Garrison and Jones are there to keep the beat and keep Coltrane tethered this world you'd be right. Both the drums and the bass keep that steady jazz beat in the left, as Coltrane just improvises for almost 16 minutes on tenor sax. I can see why he picked this piece, it is just a great 16 minute saxophone jam!
India has the same lineup as Spirtual, except Coltrane is only on soprano sax. The song clocks in at 13:52. This song has an exotic feel to it, the bass here is doing different things, and Dolphies bass clarinet gives flavor to the song. The music made me feel like something was going to happen!
The final song on this CD is
Impressions at 14:40. Coltrane on tenor sax, Tyner on piano, Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. This is almost the classic quartet (cept Garrison is on the bass instead of Art Davis) with Garrison and Jones keeping the beat on the left with the steady dum dum dum of the bass line, and the drum beat and crashes of the cymbals. Coltrane's sax experiments on the right with the occasional flurry of fills from Tyner's piano.
Sound Quality The sound quality is very good, if not excellent. On a couple occasions I did notice some drop out. Also for a live set, there isn't as much ambiance as I would expect. The low end was also slightly lacking, I didn't get the full rich bass that I wanted. On better recorded albums, you can almost feel the air coming from the huge stand up bass. I could hear it quite clearly here, but it didn't have that "presence".
Booklet This CD on the Impulse label also features a full booklet that discusses the famous show, and Coltranes selection process.
Summary Although it is just a tease to me to go find the full box set of the whole 4 night recording session, its a great set of songs. I couldn't help but enjoy it. I give it four out of five stars, because it left me hungering for more.
Recommended:
