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

Live At The Village Vanguard Again!

1966 · Impulse! MAS-90965 · Mono · US · LP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Impulse!
Catalogue number	MAS-90965
Year	1966
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP, gatefold
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Avant-Garde/Free Jazz
Producer	Bob Thiele
Musicians	John Coltrane (tenor & alto saxophone), Pharoah Sanders (tenor saxophone), Alice Coltrane (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass), Rashied Ali (drums), Emanuel Rahim (percussion, congas)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  MAS1 90965 P1 0
Side B:  MAS2 90965 P1 0

Condition

Cover: EX
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1966 - US Impulse! mono, standard trade issue (A-9124)
1966 - US Impulse! mono, Capitol Record Club edition (MAS-90965, pressed Jacksonville)  <- this copy
1966 - US Impulse! stereo (AS-9124/SMAS-90965)
1980 - MCA Records stereo reissue (MCA-29010)
Current - Impulse!/MCA 180g reissue (AIMP 213)

This Pressing

1966 US mono Capitol Record Club edition - Impulse! grey/orange twin-logo labels, MAS-90965 matrix.

The Album

Recorded live at New York's Village Vanguard in May 1966, this album captures John Coltrane deep into the exploratory, free-form phase of his final creative period, expanding his working quintet with second tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, wife Alice Coltrane on piano, and percussionist Emanuel Rahim alongside longtime bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Rashied Ali. The set revisits two pieces central to Coltrane's repertoire - the tender ballad 'Naima,' dedicated to his first wife, and the epic soprano-sax showcase 'My Favorite Things,' here stretched into a sprawling, intensely searching group improvisation prefaced by an extended unaccompanied bass introduction from Garrison. Coming three years after Coltrane's classic quartet had first popularized 'My Favorite Things' as a hit single, this version shows how radically his music had transformed, incorporating multiphonics, extended technique, and collective free improvisation influenced by the New York avant-garde and Sanders's own fiery style. The album stands as a document of a pivotal, transitional band lineup just months before Coltrane's death in 1967, and it remains a touchstone for scholars and fans tracing his evolution from hard bop innovator to spiritual free-jazz pioneer. Critical reception has grown steadily over the decades, with the record now regarded as an essential, if demanding, entry in Coltrane's Impulse! catalogue and a key artifact of the mid-1960s jazz avant-garde.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Naima (John Coltrane)
2. Introduction to My Favorite Things (bass solo by Jimmy Garrison)

Side 2

1. My Favorite Things (O. Hammerstein II, R. Rodgers)

The Label

The label seen is the grey-and-orange Impulse! design with two 'impulse!' logos in the rim band (one upright at top, one inverted at bottom) and small paired-bar 'i!' logos at the quarter points, orange centre field, catalogue number MAS-90965 (MAS1/MAS2-90965) printed at left, 'MFD. BY CAPITOL RECORDS, INC., U.S.A.' at right - this exact grey-ring 'twin logo' Impulse! design and the Capitol manufacturing credit place the pressing in the 1965-67 ABC-Paramount/Capitol-distributed era of the label of the Capitol Record Club, Jacksonville-pressed mono edition.- flat label. The cover carries catalogue number A-9124 while the labels carry MAS-90965, a documented mismatch on this title also noted about side order being reversed between jacket and labels/gatefold), which is a Club Edition tell rather than a pressing fault.

Fidelity

This is an original-era mono Impulse! pressing manufactured by Capitol (Jacksonville plant) rather than an RVG-cut ABC pressing, so surface and cutting quality trail the very best original Impulse! pressings from the ABC-Paramount plant, though the mono mix itself preserves Coltrane's full ensemble sound without the channel separation quirks of some stereo copies. Collector consensus on mid-60s Impulse! Capitol-pressed club/mono copies generally ranks well-mastered original mono pressings above the later MCA and Impulse reissues for warmth and presence, though vinyl noise floor can vary by copy. In the album's overall fidelity hierarchy this club-distributed mono original sits above later 1970s-80s MCA reissues and the current 180g Impulse!/MCA vinyl reissue, but below a pristine original ABC-pressed mono copy in top condition.

Notes

This copy is the 1966 US mono Impulse! pressing catalogued as MAS-90965, a Capitol Record Club edition pressed at Capitol's Jacksonville plant. The runouts read MAS1 90965 P1 0 / MAS2 90965 P1 0. The twin-logo grey Impulse! label design with Capitol manufacturing credit places the pressing in this era. The cover carries catalogue number A-9124 while the labels carry MAS-90965, a feature of this Club Edition variant rather than a mismatch indicating a different pressing.

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