Vinyl: JOHN COLTRANE QUARTET 'BALLADS' IMPULSE/ABC AS-32 STEREO 1970s PRESSING CLEAN!

JOHN COLTRANE QUARTET 'BALLADS' 1970s IMPULSE/ABC AS-32 STEREO

JOHN COLTRANE / JOHN COLTRANE QUARTET

"BALLADS"

LABEL: ABC IMPULSE! AS-32 STEREO VERSION

PRESSING: MID 70s GREEN/PURPLE 'TARGET' LABEL

RECORDED: VAN GELDER STUDIOS 1961/1962

ENGINEER: RUDY VAN GELDER

PRODUCER: BOB THIELE

RELEASED: CIRCA 1976 (ORIGINAL RELEASE 1963)

MANUFACTURED: ABC-Paramount Records, Inc.

MASTERED: CUSTOMATRIX

MATRIX: (SIDE A): 2 AS-32-A- ① C6

MATRIX: (SIDE B): o TI AS-32-B ② B4

CONDITION: VINYL: VG+ JACKET VG+

I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection this winter and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 40 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.

This week on EBay I am offering up this very nice clean copy of John Coltrane's 1963 Masterpiece "Ballads".

First off, this is a mid-70s pressing on the Green ABC/Impulse label. It is a Stereo copy and the early Gatefold jacket still has the early round Impulse symbol and early design.

So, this is a Stereo, mid-70s pressing of 'Ballads' on the ABC/Impulse label. An all analog recording with full sound and no digital compression or trickery.

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Coltrane was one of the most innovative and creative jazzmen in history and, even though Coltrane had already released many classic, groundbreaking albums, 'Ballads' was another masterpiece.

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"Ballads," when it was released in 1963, found Coltrane at a rather odd moment in his long career.

From 1960 to 1961, he produced some of the most relentless and adventurous jazz albums of the period: 'Giant Steps', 'Africa/Brass', 'Impressions', 'My Favorite Things' and the great 'Live at the Village Vanguard', but not everyone was in love or on-board with what he was recording.

Coltrane started to get feedback and negative reviews from conservative music critics who felt that his tumultuous, extended, aggressive, 'Sheets of Sound' style was too 'out there', even calling it "anti-jazz."

It's true that his 60's Impulse material was more avant-garde and explorative than his earlier material for Prestige and Atlantic. By 1962, his sales started to drop off and even his own label and producer thought he was a little too radical. Coltrane took a little time off and re-assessed his journey.

At producer Bob Thiele's suggestion, and with Coltrane's full agreement, he decided to cut back a little and produce a series of three softer, more accessible and commercial albums in 1962 and 1963. He made an album with Duke Ellington, an album with vocalist Johnny Hartman, the only time in Coltrane's career he used a singer, and this album, a collection of well-known and obscure ballads.

Recorded in December 1961 and the Fall of 1962 at Rudy Van Gelder Studios in New Jersey, "Ballads" is beautiful, romantic, and moving music. Music to just kick back to, or enjoy cocktails to, or make love to.

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Coltrane chose to return to simpler, more familiar songs to show that he could perform and communicate the feel, heart and soul of a ballad, in addition to laying down more intense 'Sheets of Sound' when he wanted to.

Coltrane was one of jazz's greatest ballad players, a fact that gets overlooked when listening to his later catalog.

On these songs, his playing is more sublime, but he also refused to be restrained or restricted by the format of ballads. The songs become transformed through one of the most beautiful Tenor sax tones that jazz has ever produced. Most of this album was recorded in single takes with his trusted quartet.

What came out of his horn in these recordings is amazing, his flawless technique and sound is on full display.

This album is utterly perfect in it's execution and proves that he was a competent and completely rounded musician, capable of playing most anything, and playing it with amazing skill. This album demonstrates Coltrane rising to the challenge and proving that he was a master player, comfortable and at home in any format.

"Ballads" is a great example of what a complete musician and artist Coltrane was, and it's truly one of his best albums.

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This album was recorded using his classic quartet which was made up of:

John Coltrane - Tenor Sax

McCoy Tyner - Piano

Jimmy Garrison - Bass

Elvin Jones - Drums

The 8 songs he chose, none of which were his own compositions, included:

Say It (Over And Over Again)

You Don't Know What Love Is

Too Young To Go Steady

All Or Nothing At All

I Wish I Knew

What's New

It's Easy To Remember

Nancy (With The Laughing Face)

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The warm tone of Coltrane's tenor is a joy to hear. He plays beautifully throughout this whole album.

Coltrane's playing is melodic, warm, smooth, beautiful, and sympathetic, yet still exploratory and inventive.

The saxophone weaves itself thru these ballads with simple, elegant restraint that the format requires, but also with inspiration, and delicate sensitivity.

His Solos are tasty and inspired, yet with plenty of passion and subtle nuance. His famous "reedy" and "throaty" texture has never sounded better. Just perfect.

There are only a handful of perfect Coltrane recordings; this is one of them.

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What makes this record particularly fine is Coltrane’s fantastic quartet with McCoy Tyner on piano, and the rhythm section of Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums.

Across these eight tracks, the quartet creates an intimate, romantic, and lyrical world of warm, amazing music. Each track is exquisitely crafted and played to heartfelt and soulful perfection.

The band plays with a gentle, powerful richness. Perfect for the tone and mood of the songs, making them all sound spontaneous, in-the-moment, so up-close-and-personal.

The songs are played with a surprising amount of insight, sensitivity and subtlety, a wonderful sense of pace and rhythm that makes the album just flow.

Playing this in the background as I write this, is just flows seamlessly. It's time to flip the sides before you even realize it. Beautiful!

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The songs on this album bring out the best in pianist McCoy Tyner, who is prominently featured and whose harmonic subtlety and soft touches are all over this album.

McCoy Tyner's light and lyrical piano skills, and his rich chord clusters, beautifully augment the harmonies, keeping the overall feel of these ballads authentic and respectful, but not overly sentimental or 'sugary'. Tyner shows great restraint, but places just the right notes and chords to support the melodies.

McCoy Tyner and Coltrane operate on a level of telepathy and synchronicity that's so rarely heard on record.

Elvin Jones, who could play with amazing power and speed is way more restrained than we expect from him. He uses a softer approach, cymbal splashes and occasional brushes, to lay down some remarkably delicate beats. He creates the 'space' for both Tyner and Coltrane to add their flourishes.

He gives each song a dramatic, fiery accent that the album needs. His drumming is perfect.

Jimmy Garrison’s bass lines dance along in a supportive role, fully in step with the melody, but also supplying perfect rhythm to these softer songs.

This album is pure musical alchemy that happens only when you bring great musicians together. It's pristinely recorded and sounds fantastic.

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This early 70s pressing, although not a 'First' pressing is still all pure analog and much better sounding than the digital versions pressed later in the 80s and 90s.

It has greater clarity, a smooth top end, and good sound staging. Something the digital copies lack. The piano sounds rich and full, the gentle drumming is soft but clear, the bass notes sound round and full, and Coltrane's thick reedy horn sounds amazing, jumping out of the speaker. Some reviewers claim that Rudy didn't do a great job recording this album, but I think it sounds terrific.

Listening to this album, you can imagine being teleported to a smoke filled jazz club at 2 am in the morning, being swept away by this mesmerizing music, which captures your heart, soul and ears. It's pure perfection and completely captivating.

This is the type of jazz album in which the music just washes over the listener. Perfect for a lovely romantic evening with the one you love, or just to put on and unwind.

This album is a classic, one of Coltrane's best, more accessible albums, and essential for all serious jazz record collections.

Anyone who hasn't heard this music certainly owes it to him or herself to do so.

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CONDITION:

I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures.

VINYL: The vinyl looks great. Clean, shiny and bright. There are one or two very small smudge marks keeping it from being rated excellent, but it looks terrific. It needs a good cleaning after 40 years in my collection.

This is my original copy, purchased 'new' in the mid-70s, and I took great care of it. I tried to show some close-up pictures of the vinyl to show how nice it looks. I'll call it VG+ to keep everyone happy, but you can see how nice it looks. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

LABELS: This is pressed on the Green mid-70s ABC/Impulse! label. The labels are clean and bright. No marks or damage. Beautiful. The spindle holes are sharp and clean, suggesting minimal playing.

The vinyl is still in it's original green 70's Company sleeve.

JACKET: The Gatefold Jacket is in nice condition. This has the earlier style ABC/Impulse gatefold jacket with the round Impulse logo, not the 'box' logo used on later pressings.

The jacket has the 'Stereo A-32' catalog number, but the vinyl has the AS-32 Stereo markings.

This is the earlier Gatefold jacket. Later pressings were not gatefold. The inside of the gatefold has photos and long liner notes that describe the record and it's background. The Gatefold is clean, white, and the seam is fine. No names or marks.

The corners are sharp, with minimal bumping. The classic 'orange' Impulse spine is fine, some slight wear, but it will look fine lined up with other Impulse albums.

There is a little bit of ageing and minor scuffing on the outer jacket. There's some very mild ring wear, which I showed close-up pictures of. No seam splits.

The only 'fault' is that there a 2 white 'marks' or dots on the rear cover. They look like paint drops or old tape. I have no idea where they came from. I didn't try to mess with them. They aren't bad, but should be noted. You can see them in my pictures.

Also, the back, bottom, left edge doesn't quite line up with the front edge of the gatefold. Not a big issue, but should be pointed out. Just the way it was made in the 70s.

I'll call the Jacket VG+, but you can see from my pictures it's quite nice and I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

Overall, a very nice copy of this classic John Coltrane album. I'm sure you'll love it.

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* NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.

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I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!

All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words.

My grading is fair and honest. I have had over 3,300 happy and satisfied EBay customers over the years, with 100% positive feedback, and I have been buying/selling on EBay for well over 20 years, so please bid with confidence!

I'm a 0ne-man operation, this is a hobby, not my job. I do this for fun. I do this because I love music, love collecting vinyl and want others to share in that same experience. I take my time listening, researching, grading, listing and packaging. I will NOT sell any record that I personally would not want in my collection.

As you well know, packing and shipping rare records requires special care and attention, therefore, shipping cost within the lower 48 states is $5.00 on this item. If you would like insurance, or anything faster than Media/Economy Mail, please let me know and I can arrange it for you. I’ll work with you to make sure you’re happy!

I will gladly combine multiple records, or other items on my page, and make the shipping much less for you. I don’t inflate the shipping costs; they are what they are. I strive to keep them as low as possible. See my feedback for comments on my quality packing and shipping.

All items are packaged with sturdy cardboard mailers and appropriate padding. I take pride in my packaging and shipping and package all my records as if I were sending them to myself. I refuse to use cheap flimsy packaging material when sending my vinyl. I treat them as if they were my own and mail them the same way.

All orders are processed and shipped within 2 business days of receipt. We package and ship our vinyl records with the greatest care, using proper packaging to ensure that your rare and collectible vinyl records arrive in pristine condition.

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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far. - JOHN