Live at the Village Vanguard
Released
In 1961, Coltrane brought his newly formed quartet, plus Eric Dolphy and a few other guests, to the Village Vanguard for four nights to record new material onstage. The first batch of material to be released consisted of the mournful “Spiritual,” on which he and Dolphy seemed to engage in theological debate; the sprightly standard “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise”; and the side-long “Chasin’ The Trane,” a caterwauling pianoless blues on which drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison seemed to know exactly how far out the boss wanted to go, and just kept feeding him line.