John Coltrane, music · Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, November 1961
Impressions
Impressions is a 32-bar modal tune by John Coltrane, built on the same two scales as So What. Players love it because long stretches on one scale leave a soloist room to build ideas. Coltrane played it live from 1961 to 1965, and later players such as McCoy Tyner recorded it.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Start at the source John Coltrane✓
- 2 Hear the model Miles Davis✓
- 3 Hear it stretch out John Coltrane✓
- 4 Hear it on guitar Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio✓
- 5 Hear it plugged in Pat Martino✓
- 6 Hear it as a piano trio McCoy Tyner✓
- 7 Hear the Grammy solo McCoy Tyner Trio featuring Michael Brecker✓
- 8 Hear the two tunes joined Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker & Roy Hargrove✓
How the tune works
A 32-bar AABA tune with almost no chord changes. The two A sections stay on D Dorian, a minor sound that uses the white keys from D to D. The bridge moves up a half step to E♭ Dorian for eight bars, and the last A returns to D Dorian. Charts write the two sounds as D minor 7 and E♭ minor 7, held for 16, 8 and 8 bars. The plan is the same as in So What. Lewis Porter says Coltrane took the main theme from the second theme of Morton Gould's Pavanne (1938) and set it on that plan.
The changes under John Coltrane's solo on Impressions, from the Pablo release Afro Blue Impressions, transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Fake books write the same 16-8-8 plan.
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗Start with Coltrane's own 1961 recording, then hear the Miles Davis tune that shares its form. The next steps follow Impressions through a long 1963 festival performance, two guitar quartets, a piano trio and a saxophone feature, and the path ends with a concert that joins it to So What.
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Step 1 · Start at the source Now playing
John Coltrane 1961
Impressions
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- Listen for
- This take runs nearly fifteen minutes on the same 32-bar plan as So What. Eric Dolphy is in the band but plays only the final chord. Count how many times the bridge, eight bars a half step higher, comes around.
- Try this
- Play D minor 7 and then E♭ minor 7 on a keyboard or guitar and hear the half-step lift. Then play the whole form at a slow tempo: D minor 7 for 16 bars, E♭ minor 7 for 8, D minor 7 for 8, counting each bar aloud.
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Step 2 · Hear the model Now playing
Miles Davis 1959
“So What”, Kind of Blue
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- Listen for
- Count the four eight-bar sections: two that match, one a half step higher, then home again. A piano and bass introduction comes first, and the double bass plays the main theme.
- Try this
- Tap a steady beat and count the four eight-bar sections of the first chorus after the piano and bass introduction. Then add chords: D minor 7 for 16 bars, E♭ minor 7 for 8, D minor 7 for 8.
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Step 3 · Hear it stretch out Now playing
John Coltrane 1963
My Favorite Things: Coltrane at Newport
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- Listen for
- This issue keeps the opening theme and the piano solo, and it runs over 23 minutes. AllMusic's Steve Leggett hears Coltrane and Roy Haynes trade phrases after Tyner and Garrison lay out, so listen for that duet.
- Try this
- Follow the opening theme with the chord plan in your head or on an instrument: D minor 7 for 16 bars, E♭ minor 7 for 8, D minor 7 for 8. A smaller version: listen to the first five minutes and count how many times the bridge arrives.
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Step 4 · Hear it on guitar Now playing
Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio 1965
Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings
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- Listen for
- Wes Montgomery leads a quartet with Wynton Kelly on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. At just over six minutes the take is short enough to count every time the form comes around.
- Try this
- Play the chord plan on guitar or piano at a slow tempo: D minor 7 for 16 bars, E♭ minor 7 for 8, D minor 7 for 8. Then play along with one chorus of the recording. A smaller version: tap four beats a bar while you listen and count to 32.
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Step 5 · Hear it plugged in Now playing
Pat Martino 1974
Consciousness
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- Listen for
- Martino leads a quartet of guitar, electric piano, electric bass and drums. Guitarist Russell Malone has pointed to Martino's solo on this track, so follow it closely.
- Try this
- On a keyboard, play D minor 7 with an electric piano sound and then with an acoustic piano sound, four bars each. Listen to the first half minute of this track and of step 1 and note the difference in the piano and bass.
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Step 6 · Hear it as a piano trio Now playing
McCoy Tyner 1975
Trident
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- Listen for
- The trio has no horn, so Tyner's piano carries the music with Ron Carter on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. Carter's bass on this track was later sampled in Black Sheep's 1991 hit The Choice Is Yours.
- Try this
- Play the plan on piano with your left hand alone: D for 16 bars, E♭ for 8, D for 8, at a slow tempo. Then add the chords in your right hand and play one chorus along with the recording.
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Step 7 · Hear the Grammy solo Now playing
McCoy Tyner Trio featuring Michael Brecker 1995
Infinity
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- Listen for
- Michael Brecker plays tenor saxophone in front of Tyner's piano, Avery Sharpe's bass and Aaron Scott's drums. His solo on this track won the 1996 Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, and the track runs just over eleven minutes.
- Try this
- Play D minor 7 for 16 bars, E♭ minor 7 for 8, then D minor 7 for 8, with a slow metronome. Making up a solo over these changes is a bigger task; for a smaller version, play only D, F and A over the D minor 7 bars and E♭, G♭ and B♭ over the E♭ minor 7 bars.
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Step 8 · Hear the two tunes joined Now playing
Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker & Roy Hargrove 2001
“So What / Impressions (Live)”, Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall
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- Listen for
- The two tunes share one chord plan, and this track plays them back to back in about thirteen minutes. The band is Herbie Hancock on piano, Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone, Roy Hargrove on trumpet, John Patitucci on bass and Brian Blade on drums.
- Try this
- Play D minor 7 for 16 bars, E♭ minor 7 for 8, then D minor 7 for 8, and listen for the point where So What gives way to Impressions. Both tunes use this plan, so the chords stay the same when the tune changes.
More great versions
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John Coltrane 1961
The Mastery of John Coltrane, Vol. IV: Trane's Modes
An earlier night of the same Village Vanguard stand, with Eric Dolphy on alto saxophone in the band alongside Coltrane.
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Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio 1965
Willow Weep for Me
The Half Note version that Verve issued after Montgomery's death on Willow Weep for Me in 1968, with the Wynton Kelly Trio.
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Stanley Turrentine 1970
Sugar
A CTI studio version from November 1970 led by tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, George Benson on guitar and Butch Cornell on organ.
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Monty Alexander 1979
Monty Alexander In Tokyo
A piano trio version by Monty Alexander with Andy Simpkins on bass, from the Pablo album In Tokyo.