Impressions (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Professional reviews
Impressions

Studio album by John Coltrane
Released	1963 (originally) June 6, 2000 (reissue)
Recorded	November 3, 1961 – April 29, 1963, mostly at the Village Vanguard, New York City
Genre	Jazz
Length	35:51 (original release) 47:36 (2000 reissue)
Label	Impulse! Records
Producer(s)	Bob Thiele
All Music Guide link Down Beat (Dec. 2000, p.94 – reissue)

Impressions is a 1963 album by jazz musician John Coltrane. Most of the album was recorded live at the Village Vanguard on November 3, 1961 and released in 1963 on the Impulse! label. The recording features the "classic quartet" of John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones; they are joined by Eric Dolphy and Reggie Workman on the live Vanguard tracks. Dolphy plays a memorable solo on the long modal workout "India", but lays out on all but the coda of "Impressions". Workman is at hand only on "India", to join Garrison in approximating the sound of an African drum choir.

Throughout, Tyner's presence is unusually muted; he takes his only solo on the bonus track, "Dear Old Stockholm", is barely audible on the two Village Vanguard tracks, and lays out entirely on "Up 'Gainst the Wall". Also, drummer Roy Haynes — as he sometimes did for Coltrane's group during this era — replaces Elvin Jones on "After The Rain" and "Dear Old Stockholm" (which were each recorded at the same April 1963 studio session). Jones and Garrison are also uncharacteristically low-key. All told, and even more so than on his other albums, the focus on this LP is on Coltrane. The title track (based to a certain extent on Miles Davis's "So What") is notable for featuring nearly fifteen minutes of Coltrane's soloing.

The music reflects Coltrane's evolving emotional and musical range, where he explores jazz modality, the music of India, the blues, and a traditional Swedish folk song (this last track was not included on the original 1963 album, but appeared first on a 1970s previously-unissued LP compilation and is on the current — as of year 2000 — CD release of Impressions as a bonus song). The eclecticism is to be expected; the album amounts ultimately to a compilation of three years of oddments.