Trane Tracks

By Thomas Staudter I Aug. 31, 2016

John Coltrane’s masterpiece *A Love Supreme*, reissued in 2015 as a deluxe three-CD set, is one of many classic albums recorded by the late engineer Rudy Van Gelder.
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Away from Van Gelder’s magic, Coltrane was still able to spin his own. The saxophonist’s work with Davis took him to Columbia Records’ fabled 30th Street recording studios, nicknamed “The Church,” in 1956, 1957 and 1959 for Kind Of Blue. A timely collaboration with Thelonious Monk in 1957 took him to Reeves Sound Studios in New York City for a memorable, breakthrough session. Coltrane’s two-year contract with Atlantic Records moved him over to Atlantic Studios in Midtown Manhattan (with Tom Dowd engineering) and yielded My Favorite Things, with its hit title track.

But when his contract ran out, the saxophonist immediately reunited with Van Gelder, who was then working for Creed Taylor, and later Bob Thiele, at Impulse Records.

By then, Van Gelder had built a new home and studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. He helped design a chapel-like space with a 39-foot-high ceiling made of cedar with arches of laminated Douglas fir, which created a natural reverb.

“When John’s time at Atlantic ended, [producer] Bob Thiele asked him where he wanted to record, and he said, ‘At Rudy’s,’” Van Gelder remembered. “I believe that John liked the new studio, and it fit with where he was going with his music. A perfect match.”

Moving to Impulse gave Coltrane the freedom to broaden his horizons. His first project with the label was a large ensemble recording, Africa/Brass. Van Gelder was truly tested when he recorded Coltrane for Live At The Village Vanguard, setting up his tape machine at the front of the stage and capturing the music on two microphones.

“It took balls to record Coltrane,” said Cuscuna. “The quartet was a volatile group—it was heavy-metal jazz in a lot of ways, and most engineers were afraid of those situations. But Rudy was a genius in miking the music and riding the recording levels. He was able to achieve clarity and presence in those recordings, and put the music in your face in a great way.”

Many of the albums Coltrane recorded with Van Gelder—including Crescent, John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman and the 1962 quartet LP Coltrane—stand as remarkable achievements, but A Love Supreme, recorded 50 years ago this December, became an iconic cultural touchstone. “Those sessions fit into the sound of the room in a natural way, and they were quite easy to record,” said Van Gelder. “Also, Bob Thiele appreciated that. His skill was in knowing when to just let things happen, not to interfere.”

In early 1967, Coltrane and his collaborators—pianist Alice Coltrane, reedist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Rashied Ali—worked with Van Gelder on material that would be released posthumously. The final recording session that Coltrane had with Van Gelder was on March 7, 1967. By that time, both the engineer and the artist had come a long way from Hackensack.