John Coltrane - Impressions (1964 Japanese Impulse! Vinyl LP)

Vinyl: VG+
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: None.

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John Coltrane - Impressions | Vinyl LP - 1964 Japanese Impulse! (SH 3020, King Record Co. Ltd)

Four tracks, three sessions, and a different band configuration on nearly every piece. "India" opens with Coltrane on soprano saxophone over a drone from two bassists, Reggie Workman and Jimmy Garrison, playing simultaneously while Eric Dolphy's bass clarinet weaves around the melody. It runs to nearly 14 minutes and draws on the raga-influenced material Coltrane had been exploring since My Favorite Things. The title track, from the same night at the Village Vanguard, is a different proposition: Coltrane on tenor, Dolphy switching to alto, and Elvin Jones driving the rhythm through a structure built on the same chord sequence as "So What." It's one of Coltrane's longest and most concentrated improvisations on record, the kind of performance that split audiences and critics in 1961 and has since become a standard. Between these two live tracks sits "Up 'Gainst The Wall," a compact studio piece from September 1962 at Van Gelder that clocks in at just over three minutes. And closing the album, "After The Rain" stands apart from everything else here. Recorded on April 29, 1963, with Roy Haynes on drums in place of Elvin Jones, it's a slow, contemplative ballad where Tyner and Coltrane trade space rather than intensity. The quartet barely raises its voice.

The personnel shifts tell a story of their own. The Vanguard tracks catch Coltrane's expanded quintet with Dolphy, a lineup that drew hostile reviews from some quarters (John Tynan's notorious "anti-jazz" dismissal in Down Beat landed during this period). By the time of the September 1962 studio session, the group had settled into the classic quartet without Dolphy. And by April 1963, Haynes was filling in for Jones, who was out of action. Haynes's lighter, more conversational drumming suits "After The Rain" perfectly, and it's hard to imagine Jones playing the piece with the same restraint. Bob Thiele produced all four sessions for Impulse!, with Van Gelder behind the console. This is the 1964 Japanese pressing on Impulse! SH 3020, manufactured by King Record Co. Ltd, with the original Japanese-language insert.