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

Coltrane "Live" At The Village Vanguard

1962 · Impulse! A-10 · Mono · US · LP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Impulse!
Catalogue number	A-10
Year	1962
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP, gatefold
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Post-Bop/Avant-Garde
Producer	Bob Thiele
Musicians	John Coltrane (tenor & soprano sax), Eric Dolphy (bass clarinet, on "Spiritual"), McCoy Tyner (piano, on "Spiritual"), Jimmy Garrison (bass), Reggie Workman (bass, on "Spiritual"), Elvin Jones (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  A10-A-1 LW RVG
Side B:  A-10B LW RVG

Condition

Cover: EX
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1962 - US Impulse! A-10, mono, orange/black-ring label, gatefold  <- this copy
1962 - US Impulse! A-10, promo mono issue
1962 - US Impulse! A-10-S/AS-10, stereo, orange/black-ring label, gatefold
1962 - Canada Sparton Impulse! A-10, mono, gatefold
1962 - Canada Sparton Impulse! A-10/A-10-S, mono, gatefold
1962 - Canada Impulse! AS-10/A-10-S, stereo
1962 - France Impulse! IMP 10, mono
1963 - US Impulse! A-10, mono repress
1963 - US Impulse! AS-10/A-10, stereo repress
1964 - US Impulse! A-10, mono repress
1964 - US Impulse! AS-10/A-10, stereo repress
1965 - US Impulse! AS-10/A-10, stereo repress
1966 - US Impulse! A-10, mono repress
1967 - US Impulse! AS-10/A-10, stereo reissue
1968 - US Impulse! A-10/AS-10, stereo reissue
1969 - Japan ABC Records AS-10/A-10, stereo reissue
1970 - France Impulse! AS-10/A.10, stereo reissue
1970 - US Impulse! A-10/AS-10, stereo reissue
1971 - US Impulse! AS-10/A.10, stereo reissue
1971 - France Impulse! AS-10/A.10, stereo reissue
1972 - US ABC Records AS-10/A-10, stereo reissue
1972 - Canada Impulse! A-10, stereo reissue
1973 - US Impulse! A-10/AS-10, stereo reissue
1974 - US ABC Records AS-10/A-10, stereo reissue
1974 - US Impulse! A-10/AS-10, stereo reissue
1976 - France Impulse! AS-10/A-10, stereo reissue
1977 - Brazil Impulse! A-10-S/A-10, stereo reissue
1977 - France Impulse! AS-10/A-10, stereo reissue
1978 - US Impulse! A-10/AS-10, stereo
1980 - US MCA Records A-10/AS-10/MCA 29009, reissue
1980 - Japan MCA Records VIM-4611, promo reissue, stereo
1980 - US Impulse! A-10, stereo reissue
1980 - Japan MCA Records VIM-4611, stereo reissue
1980 - Sweden Impulse! A-10/AS-10, stereo reissue
c.2000s - Vinyl Passion 180g DMM European import reissue
2009 - US Original Recordings Group ORG 011/A-10, 12", 45 RPM, stereo reissue
2022 - Worldwide Impulse! B0033782-01/A-10-S, 180g stereo reissue

This Pressing

1st-issue-window pressing (mono, c.1962) - early Impulse! orange/black label, RVG stamp in the runout.

The Album

Recorded over several nights at New York's Village Vanguard in early November 1961, this album captured Coltrane's working group expanding into freer, more exploratory territory just as his quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones was solidifying, with Eric Dolphy and second bassist Reggie Workman guesting on select performances. The set arrived at a pivotal juncture in Coltrane's career, immediately after his celebrated Atlantic period and early into his long, transformative association with Impulse!, documenting his shift from the harmonic density of "Giant Steps"-era playing toward modal and increasingly abstract improvisation. "Chasin' The Trane," a nearly sixteen-minute blues performed as a stark tenor-bass-drums trio with no piano, became one of the most discussed and controversial tracks of his career, prized by some critics as a breakthrough in extended improvisation and derided by others - alongside Dolphy's contributions - as "anti-jazz." "Spiritual" showcased Coltrane's growing interest in modal and quasi-devotional material that would culminate a few years later in "A Love Supreme," while "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise" reworked a standard into a vehicle for the quartet's interplay. The record stands as a key document of Coltrane at a genuine crossroads, straddling hard bop and the fully free improvisation he would embrace later in the decade, and it remains essential to understanding both his own evolution and the broader turn of early-1960s jazz toward extended, harmonically open group improvisation. Its reception has grown steadily more favorable with time, now widely regarded as a landmark live jazz recording and among the most important albums of Coltrane's Impulse! years.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Spiritual (John Coltrane) (13:30)
2. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (Hammerstein II-Romberg) (6:25)

Side 2

1. Chasin' The Trane (John Coltrane) (15:55)

The Label

The label is the classic early Impulse! orange-body/black-rim design with the double "i!" bar logo repeated at the four compass points and the arced "impulse!" wordmark reading correctly at top and inverted at bottom - the design used on Impulse's A-series mono issues from 1961 through 1963. Rim text reads "A PRODUCT OF ABC-PARAMOUNT RECORDS, INC." / "PRINTED IN U.S.A.", the address style used before the mid-1960s ABC-Paramount-to-ABC Records corporate rename, placing this as an early-1960s pressing; this label design is not to be confused with the Astor GG-409 Australian pressing, a different title entirely.

Fidelity

Mastered by Rudy Van Gelder directly for Impulse!, with the RVG stamp present in the runout on both sides; original Impulse! mono RVG pressings of this title are highly regarded by collectors on the forums for their punchy, immediate sound, especially on the trio tracks. This pressing sits at or very near the top of the fidelity hierarchy for the title, alongside the stereo A-10-S RVG pressing, both outranking later Impulse/MCA reissues. Modern audiophile remasters, such as the 2022 Verve/UMe 180g LP, offer quieter surfaces and more modern equalization but are generally considered a different, more polished listening experience rather than a straightforward upgrade over the Van Gelder original.

Notes

1962 Impulse! A-10 mono, an original, early-issue pressing. The orange/black "double-bar" Impulse label with ABC-Paramount rim text sits within the 1961-63 design window, and the runout carries the RVG (Rudy Van Gelder) stamp on both sides, the standard mark of an Impulse original mastering. This copy is placed as an early flat-label mono first issue rather than the earliest deep-groove variant, and is not to be confused with the unrelated 1961 Astor GG-409 Australian LP, a different title entirely.

Documenting collections

I do this work for other people’s collections too — documenting a collection record by record, researching individual pressings, and preparing collections for sale or for insurance. If you have a collection you would like documented, or a record you want identified properly, get in touch: email

This record’s page: https://vinylcurator.net/albums/john-coltrane-live-at-the-village-vanguard/