Impressions (John Coltrane album)

Impressions
Studio album / Live album by John Coltrane
Released	July 1963 [1] [2]
Recorded	November 3, 1961; September 18, 1962 and April 29, 1963
Venue	Village Vanguard, New York City
Studio	Van Gelder (Englewood Cliffs)
Genre	Avant-garde jazz, post-bop, modal jazz
Length	36:40
Label	Impulse!
Producer	Bob Thiele
John Coltrane chronology
Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane (1963) Impressions (1963) Stardust (1963)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Down Beat (Original LP release)	[4]
Down Beat (Reissue)	[5]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[7]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[8]

Impressions is an album of live and studio recordings by the jazz musician and composer John Coltrane. It was released through Impulse! Records in July 1963. ^{[1] [2]}

Music and recording

Tracks 1 and 3 were recorded live at the Village Vanguard in November 1961, ^[9] during the same residency that produced the seminal "Live" at the Village Vanguard album, while tracks 2 and 4 were recorded at Van Gelder Studio, respectively on September 18, 1962 ^[10] and April 29, 1963. ^[11] Track 5, "Dear Old Stockholm," also recorded on April 29, 1963, did not appear on the original release, but appears on later reissues. ^[11] The album was originally released in 1963 on the Impulse! label. ^[12]

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. ^[13] Dolphy contributes a long bass clarinet solo on "India", but lays out on all but the final chord of "Impressions". ^[14] Workman plays only on "India", joining Garrison in approximating the droning sound of Indian classical music. ^{[13] [15] [16]}

Drummer Roy Haynes replaces Elvin Jones on "After the Rain" and "Dear Old Stockholm". ^[11] The title track features nearly fifteen minutes of Coltrane's soloing. ^[17]

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. ^[16] The album includes performances across an eighteen-month period. ^[18]

Reception

DownBeat magazine critic Harvey Pekar summed up the album in his five-star review of August 29, 1963 writing: "Not all the music on this album is excellent (which is what a five-star rating signifies,) but some is more than excellent." ^[4]

Influence on popular music

According to Roger McGuinn, while touring in late 1965, the rock band the Byrds had only a single tape recording to listen to on the tour bus, with Ravi Shankar on one side and Coltrane's Impressions and Africa/Brass on the other: "We played that damn thing 50 or 100 times, through a Fender amplifier that was plugged into an alternator in the car." ^[19] The result was the recording of the single "Eight Miles High", acknowledged by the band as a direct homage to Coltrane, and to "India" on Impressions in particular.

In 2000 it was voted number 687 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums . ^[20]

Track listing

All tracks composed by John Coltrane except where noted.

Side 1

No.	Title	Recording date and location	Length
1.	"India"	November 3, 1961, Village Vanguard	14:10
2.	"Up 'Gainst the Wall"	September 18, 1962, Van Gelder Studio	3:17

Side 2

No.	Title	Recording date and location	Length
3.	"Impressions"	November 3, 1961, Village Vanguard	15:06
4.	"After the Rain"	April 29, 1963, Van Gelder Studio	4:07

CD reissue bonus track

No.	Title	Recording date and location	Length
5.	"Dear Old Stockholm" (Stan Getz, Traditional)	April 29, 1963, Van Gelder Studio	10:38

Personnel

Musicians

• John Coltrane  – soprano and tenor saxophone
• Eric Dolphy  – bass clarinet (track 1), alto sax (track 3, final chord only)
• McCoy Tyner  – piano (tracks 1, 3, 4, and 5)
• Jimmy Garrison  – double bass
• Reggie Workman  – double bass (track 1)
• Elvin Jones  – drums (tracks 1, 2, and 3)
• Roy Haynes  – drums (tracks 4 and 5)

Production

• Bob Thiele  – production
• Rudy Van Gelder  – recording engineer
• Kevin Reeves – reissue mastering

References

1. DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Schmaler, Wolf; Wild, David (2013). Porter, Lewis (ed.). The John Coltrane Reference. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. p. 623. ISBN   9780415634632 . Retrieved January 2, 2020.
2. "Jazz Picks of the Week" (PDF). Cash Box . New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. Inc. July 13, 1963. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
3. Impressions at AllMusic
4. Down Beat: August 29, 1963 Vol. 30, No.24
5. Dec. 2000, p.94 – reissue
6. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 46. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
7. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
8. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 287. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
9. Porter, Lewis; DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Wild, David; Schmaler, Wolf (2008). The John Coltrane Reference. Routledge. pp. 622–623.
10. Porter, Lewis; DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Wild, David; Schmaler, Wolf (2008). The John Coltrane Reference. Routledge. p. 653.
11. Porter, Lewis; DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Wild, David; Schmaler, Wolf (2008). The John Coltrane Reference. Routledge. pp. 681–682.
12. "John Coltrane: Impressions: Releases". AllMusic. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
13. "John Coltrane: Impressions". Jazz Disco. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
14. Porter, Lewis; DeVito, Chris; Fujioka, Yasuhiro; Wild, David; Schmaler, Wolf (2008). The John Coltrane Reference. Routledge. p. 622.
15. Ratliff, Ben (2007). Coltrane: The Story of a Sound. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 68.
16. Impressions (liner notes). John Coltrane. Impulse!. 2000. 314 543 416-2.
17. Nisenson, Eric (2009). Ascension: John Coltrane And His Quest. Da Capo. p. 126.
18. Yanow, Scott. "John Coltrane: Impressions". AllMusic. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
19. Unterberger, Richie (May 22, 2003). "Eight Miles High: Folk-rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock". Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 2. Retrieved November 22, 2025– via Google Books.
20. Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 222. ISBN   0-7535-0493-6.