Album DescriptionAvailable in:
Impressions is a 1963 album of live and studio recordings by jazz musician John Coltrane.
Tracks 1 and 3 were recorded live at the Village Vanguard in November 1961, while tracks 2 and 4 were recorded at Van Gelder Studio, respectively on September 18, 1962 and April 29, 1963. Track 5, "Dear Old Stockholm" did not appear on the original release, but appears on later reissues. The album was originally released in 1963 on the Impulse! label.
The studio tracks were performed by the classic Coltrane quartet (pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones), who are joined by saxophonist Eric Dolphy and bassist Reggie Workman on the tracks recorded live at the Village Vanguard. Dolphy contributes a long bass clarinet solo on "India", but lays out on all but the final chord of "Impressions". Workman plays only on "India", joining Garrison in approximating the droning sound of Indian classical music.
Drummer Roy Haynes replaces Elvin Jones on "After the Rain" and "Dear Old Stockholm" (which were each recorded at the same April 1963 studio session). The title track features 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 1965 compilation released by Impulse! 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.
User Album Review
None...
External Album Reviews
None...
User Comments