John Coltrane, Live at the Village Vanguard Again! (side A)

Coltrane's final phase of his output, beginning roughly with Ascension is often remembered for its explorations of power and aggression on albums like Meditations.  Live at the Village Vanguard Again! dates from 1966, when many of Coltrane's peers were grouped with the description "energy jazz", and his work sometimes tied to that moniker.  Other albums in these years, though, reveal his continued explorations of the spiritual and personal side of A Love Supreme.  Live at the Village Vanguard Again! leans more in the personal and spiritual direction.  Rashied Ali's playing is loose and open as much as propulsive, especially on the long rendition of "Naima" on side A, and he's also surprisingly quiet in the mix.  Either Coltrane or Pharoah Sanders often complements Ali on percussion, and these small instruments are mixed slightly louder than his drums.  This arrangement results in a lot more space than on records where Coltrane and Sanders play consistent duets on their reeds.  Alice Coltrane's piano also often led to sparser and looser interaction than on earlier albums with McCoy Tyner.  Between the two long renditions of older Coltrane tunes, Jimmy Garrison gets a long and very creative solo at the end of side A.  Because this is a live recording, the saxophones were captured with microphones (perhaps Sennheisers) that compromise some of the instruments' richness for better directionality.  The quiet drum placement in the mix makes the details of their recording hard to hear, but the piano and bass sound great.  The funny cover image humorously juxtaposes one casually dressed man (perhaps Jimmy Garrison) with four dapper members of the group — it makes this legendary group feel perhaps a bit more human and approachable.