Live At the Village Vanguard/The Master Takes

Culled from recordings made over five consecutive nights in November 1961, this album captures a pivotal time in John Coltrane’s development as a bandleader. The lineup varies from song to song but each number works supremely well for different reasons. Coltrane is joined by Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet on “Spiritual” and “India,” McCoy Tyner plays piano on all but “Chasin’ the Train,” Reggie Workman and Jimmy Garrison split the bass duties, and the great Elvin Jones is the drummer throughout. Beginning with the haunting and heavy opener, “Spiritual,” the album includes a wide range of tones and feelings, from the bop-inflected “Softly As in a Morning Sunrise,” featuring a particularly dazzling solo by Tyner, to the driving and exploratory “India” and “Impressions.” Arguably the apex of the album in terms of raw intensity is a version of “Chasin’ the Trane,” an astonishing display of ideas and endurance on which Coltrane and Dolphy exchange impassioned and fiercely wailing solos as Garrison and Jones supply an unflagging and fluid rhythm for sixteen incendiary minutes. Overall Coltrane’s extended solos are adventurous and probing, yet they still swing; his atonal voyages into the free-jazz stratosphere were still a few years off at that point. Powerful and thrilling, this jaw-dropping collection is a must for all Coltrane fans.