John Coltrane courted controversy with the assured and adventurous music of his first live album. Rudy Van Gelder and Bob Thiele recorded twenty-two songs during Coltrane's residency at the Village Vanguard in New York City with a revolving cast of sidemen; and three of those songs made it onto 'Live at the Village Vanguard'. The radical "new thing" was challenging for some and critics called their avante-garde approach "anti-jazz". Addressing complaints over extended solos, Coltrane said: "They're long because all the soloists try to explore all the avenues that the tune offers. They try to use all their resources in their solos. Everybody has quite a bit to work on. Like when I'm playing, there are certain things I try to get done and so does Eric and McCoy Tyner. By the time we finish, the song is spread out over a pretty long time. It's not planned that way; it just happens. The performances get longer and longer. It's sort of growing that way...when your set is unlimited, timewise, and everything is really together musically-if there's continuity-it really doesn't make any difference how long you play."
John Coltrane may have based "Spiritual" on "Nobody Knows de Trouble I See" by James Weldon Johnson. It was recorded with Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums.
The standard "Softly, as in A Morning Sunrise" was composed by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein. It was recorded with Tyner, Workman and Jones.
The free-blues exploration "Chasin' the Trane" takes up the entire second side of the album. It was played by the trio of Coltrane and Jones with Jimmy Garrison on bass.
'Live at the Village Vanguard'
full album:
Side one
1. "Spiritual" John Coltrane 13:47
2. "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" Sigmund Romberg
Oscar Hammerstein II 6:36
Side two
1. "Chasin' the Trane" John Coltrane 16:08
complete 1961 Village Vanguard recordings:
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