Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the
pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead
wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep
with the record.
— Paul, Vinyl Curator
John Coltrane
Impressions
1963 · Impulse! A-42 · Mono · US · LP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Impulse! |
|---|
| Catalogue number | A-42 |
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| Year | 1963 |
|---|
| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
|---|
| Country | US |
|---|
| Format | LP, gatefold |
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| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
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| Genre | Jazz - Modal/Avant-Garde |
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| Producer | Bob Thiele |
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| Composer | John Coltrane |
|---|
| Musicians | John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), Eric Dolphy (bass clarinet, on 'India'), Reggie Workman (bass, on 'India'), Jimmy Garrison (bass), McCoy Tyner (piano, on 'Up 'Gainst the Wall', 'Impressions', 'After the Rain'), Elvin Jones (drums) |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: A-42-A LW VAN GELDER
Side B: A-42-B LW VAN GELDER
Condition
- Cover
- EX
- Vinyl
- NM
Variant chronology
1963 - US Impulse! A-42, stock mono gatefold, black/orange ring label
1963 - US Impulse! A-42, promo mono, black/orange ring label <- this copy
1963 - US Impulse! A-42/AS-42, stereo gatefold, black/orange ring label
1963 - Canada Sparton Impulse! A-42, mono
1963 - Netherlands Philips 632 083 BL, A-42, mono
1963 - Netherlands Philips 841 957 BY, A-42
1963 - South Africa ABC-Paramount ABCL 0097, mono
1963 - UK His Master's Voice CLP 1695, mono
1963 - UK His Master's Voice CSD 1509, stereo
1964 - Japan Impulse! SH 3020, promo
1964 - Japan Impulse! SH 3020, stereo
1965 - US Impulse! A-42, mono repress
1965 - US Impulse! AS-42, stereo repress
1965 - France Impulse! IMP 42, mono
1967 - US Impulse! AS-42, stereo reissue
1968 - US Impulse! AS-42, stereo repress (rainbow/ABC-Impulse! transition label)
1968 - France Impulse! A-42, stereo reissue
1971-1973 - US Impulse! AS-42, stereo reissue
1974 - France Impulse! A 42, stereo repress
1974 - US ABC Impulse! AS-42, stereo reissue
1974 - Canada Impulse! UIMP A42 pressing
1976 - Italy/Japan Impulse! IMP 432 / YP-8522-AI, stereo reissue
1980 - US MCA Records A-42/MCA-29014, reissue
1980 - France/Philippines/US Impulse! or MCA, AS-42, stereo reissue
2026 - Worldwide Impulse! A-42/AS-42, remastered 180g stereo reissue
This Pressing
1st pressing (mono, 1963) - original US Impulse! A-42 gatefold, black/orange ring label, Van Gelder-cut lacquers.
The Album
Impressions gathers material recorded by John Coltrane's group between 1961 and 1963, bridging his hard-driving Village Vanguard live period with the more introspective ballad work that would culminate in A Love Supreme. The title track and 'India,' both cut live at the Village Vanguard, showcase the modal, drone-based improvising and extended group interplay - including Eric Dolphy's bass clarinet on 'India' - that made Coltrane's Vanguard engagements a lightning rod for critics debating the direction of jazz. 'After the Rain,' a gentle, hymn-like ballad from 1963, offers a striking contrast, revealing the lyrical tenderness that coexisted with his more exploratory tendencies. By this point Coltrane, freshly signed to the young Impulse! label, was firmly established as the most important saxophonist-bandleader of his generation, and Impressions became one of the key documents of his classic quartet in transition. The record's mix of extended modal vamping and controlled balladry helped define the vocabulary of 1960s modal and avant-leaning jazz, and it remains a touchstone for understanding Coltrane's evolution between My Favorite Things and his later spiritual masterworks. Critically it has long been regarded as a pivotal, if sometimes challenging, entry in his catalogue.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. India
2. Up 'Gainst the Wall
Side 2
1. Impressions
2. After the Rain
The Label
The side labels show the classic Impulse! black-and-orange 'target' ring design (two-tone brown/black band with repeated 'impulse!' wordmark, orange-accented center logo on the jacket spine), white center field with black text, mono catalogue number 'A-42' and 'Side 1'/'Side 2' printed lower-left - no deep-groove ring is visible on the flat white label field. This black/orange ring label with the small dictionary-style '¡mpulse!' logo was Impulse!'s original house design used from the label's 1961 launch through the mid-1960s before the later 'ABC Impulse!' and rainbow-ring designs of the 1970s. Combined with the gatefold jacket, mono-only catalogue prefix, and the printed live date of November 5, 1961 (a sleeve error corrected on later reissues), this places the copy at the very top of the pressing hierarchy as an original-issue mono Impulse! pressing rather than any later stereo or reissue variant.
Fidelity
Cut by Rudy Van Gelder directly from the Impulse! session masters, this mono first pressing carries his characteristic warm, present horn sound and the classic early-Impulse! Longwear-plated cut. Collector consensus on the forums generally favors these original black/orange-label mono and early stereo Impulse! pressings over the 1970s ABC-Impulse! and MCA reissues, which used later-generation stampers and are considered flatter and more compressed. Modern audiophile reissues (the Verve/Acoustic Sounds Series 180g LP) use newly remastered lacquers and quieter vinyl but trade the immediacy of the Van Gelder original cut for greater surface quiet; among vintage pressings, this original mono Impulse! sits at or near the top of the fidelity hierarchy for the title.
Notes
1963 Impulse! A-42 mono - original first US pressing, with a gatefold jacket, mono-only labels without -A/-B suffixes on the printed catalogue text, and the sleeve's 'November 5, 1961' date error for the Vanguard tracks (correct date is November 3). The runout carries A-42-A/A-42-B 'LW VAN GELDER,' Longwear-plated, Van Gelder-cut lacquers. No deep groove is visible on the flat label field, and vinyl is graded NM both sides with an EX gatefold jacket and an inner sleeve.
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