John Coltrane
Impressions

Reluctantly... I will attempt "unworthily" to write a review worthy of such a jazz genius... mh.. mh... so....

The 1961 was an important year for Coltrane; it was an important year because a new path opened up for the saxophonist, a path that hinted at the horizon with the glimmer of a new dawn, made of greater expressive freedoms and the achievement of great goals for which the master would enter the history of avant-garde jazz.

A contract with a new record label, then, "Impulse", secured with the promise of granting the musician total creative freedom; accompanying him in the sessions is the exceptional and indispensable quartet of "Olé Coltrane", featuring McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman (appearing in "India") and Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums.

As in the masterpiece "Africa Brass Session", also in the album I chose out of particular affection, all the compositions are modal, the "free delirium" that would characterize Coltrane's music in the second half of the 60s is still distant, but the musician's desire to further explore that fantastical language that is music is already evident in tracks like "India"; an avalanche of notes pours from his soprano sax, engaging in Oriental-like phrasing and improbable high notes, his phrasing snakes around the main theme played by Eric Dolphy’s bass clarinet, indispensable as well, his solo intervention serving to momentarily distract the listener from Trane’s high notes. This track, like "Impressions", was performed live at the "Village Vanguard" in New York in 1961.

In the blues "Up 'Gainst the Wall" Tyner’s piano is absent, Coltrane prefers to perform it in a trio, and his absence isn’t much felt because the piece functions well this way; the theme and the solo performance are entrusted solely to Trane, which will be a pretext to make his sax "grunt" and "screech", methods that would become even more common in Coltrane's "timbral" repertoire during the Free-Jazz period.

In the standard "Impressions", the saxophonist, once again abandoned by Tyner in the middle of the session, launches into a lengthy solo, mostly accompanied only by the rhythm section. The beautiful ballad "After the Rain" finally highlights a inspired McCoy Tyner; a splendid and romantic partnership between piano and tenor sax, wonderfully played by two Jazz greats; no solos this time, just the execution of a theme repeated creating a sublime dialogue between the two instruments.

"Impressions" is one of Coltrane's most beautiful releases from the Impulse period, pure jazz music destined to shake the listener, to inevitably strike them with the phrasing of its main character, compositions like "India", "After the Rain", and "Impressions" are examples of how jazz can still emotionally touch the listener, if it is nonetheless played by the "right" people.

The remastered version of the album also includes the recovery of another track, the classic "Dear Old Stockholm", played by the same group, with Roy Haynes on drums instead of Elvin Jones. In this recording, McCoy Tyner's talent blooms again, thanks to an engaging dialogue between him and Coltrane.

Absolutely must listen.