John Coltrane is my favorite of all jazz musicians. In my book, it just doesn't get any better than this! Trane is probably one of the 4 most influential saxophone players (along with Charlie Parker, Lester Young, and Coleman Hawkins) ever. Trane, unlike many jazz men, did not show his amazing talents when he was young. He started developing into the phenomenal player in his late 20s and early 30s. At this time, in the mid 1950s, he joined Miles Davis' first legendary quintet (with "Philly" Joe Jones, Red Garland, and Paul Chambers). Many critics blasted the selection of Coltrane, wanting Miles to choose Sonny Rollins instead. However, Miles being Miles, and not a critic, had insight and saw Coltrane's potential. Coltrane used a style of playing a flurry of notes, which was a nice balance to Miles' use of space (the opposite).
Miles fired Coltrane from his band
because Trane's heroin addiction was affecting his performance on the band
stand. Coltrane went back to his home in Philadelphia and resolved to kick his drug
habit. He had his wife and mother lock him in a room and give him only bread and
water. He overcame his drug habit, and had a religious experience, that he never
went into great detail about. All he said is that he experienced God. He
later said that he told God if he would free him from his drug habit, he would try to make
people happy through his music. From this point on, Trane became a man obsessed
(Miles commented that he was so focused on his music, that while on the bandstand, you
could put a naked woman in front of Coltrane while he was playing and Trane wouldn't
notice :). He joined Thelonious Monk's band for a
legendary 6 month stint and learned a lot from Monk. During this period, Coltrane
used a technique that was called "Sheets of Sound." If you read 100
different sources, it seems like you get 100 different definitions. One of the best
explanations I heard of it, was that a lot of soloist reach a certain intense peak during
their solos. However, Trane would play such a flurry of notes and play so
intensely, that you would think he reached his peak, and then he would hit you with even
MORE intensity, and it kept growing, and the effect was like waves of intensity, or sheets
of sound, coming at you.
Miles hired him back, and the group reached
even greater heights. During this time, Miles started using modal jazz, and this greatly influenced Coltrane. In
1959, Coltrane played on two of the greatest jazz recordings of all-time: Giant
Steps (his own recording) and Kind of Blue (with Miles Davis). On Giant
Steps, Trane took Bebop/Hard
Bop to it's natural conclusion, by shoving more (and complex) chord changes into the
song than ever before. On Kind of Blue, the chord changes are very slow,
because it is modal, and Coltrane plays some beautiful melodic solos. His solo on
the song Blue In Green is one of the most beautiful slow-tempo solos I have ever
heard. Coltrane was starting to go into a different musical direction than Miles and
was looking to lead his own band in order to explore his ideas. They stayed together
for one last legendary concert in Europe, and fortunately, bootlegged copies of the
Stockholm concerts were made. Now, they are available as legal imports. In
this, you can hear Coltrane's solos starting to become longer. This rubbed Miles the
wrong way, since Miles didn't go for long solos. Coltrane was exploring new ideas on
stage, and his solos were increasing because of it. He once apologized to Miles
saying, "I can't stop playing." Miles responded, "Try taking the horn
out of your mouth." Before they parted ways, Miles gave Trane a Soprano
Saxophone. Coltrane really took to the instrument and in 1960, he recorded another
classic, My Favorite Things. On this recording, Trane went into his
modal jazz period. He also took the title track composed by Rogers and Hammerstein,
and turned it into a very hip jazz song, and it became a huge hit for him. It also
sparked a revolution of interest in the Soprano Saxophone and Coltrane became the most
influential player on the instrument since Sidney Bichet.
Another milestone on this recording was the use of Indian (not Native American) musical
styles in his music. The result was trance-like at times!
Coltrane put together a legendary quartet of
fellow-visionary musicians: Jimmy Garrison on bass, Elvin
Jones on drums, and McCoy Tyner on piano. They
signed with Impulse Records and for 4 years, Coltrane continued exploring modal
jazz. His first recording on Impulse, Africa Brass, used elements of
African rhythms in jazz. Coltrane's groups gave some of the most intense live
performances in jazz at this time, as Trane started exploring on the bandstand and
stretched his solos out, routinely going over 30 minutes, and one that was reported to
have gone on for 2 hours! He brought on Eric Dolphy, the saxophonist/flutist/bass
clarinetist for a short while, and they started pushing the limits of jazz.
Coltrane's music started polarizing the jazz community into those who loved his music and
those who loathed it. In 1963, Coltrane recorded a classic piece, Alabama,
which is his musical interpretation of how he felt when he learned of a church bombing in
Alabama that killed some young black children. In 1964, Coltrane's quartet (Dolphy
was no longer there) recorded the masterpiece A Love Supreme, which Coltrane called
his "thank you gift to God." During this time, Coltrane did the rare by
being a trailblazing artist AND a hugely popular seller of records.
After 1964, he started exploring free jazz and for the last 3 years of his life, moved
musically in this direction. He recorded another classic, Ascension, which I
cannot comment on, since I do not have it. Coltrane became the figurehead for the
free jazz movement, bringing on many young players and giving them exposure. His
support of free jazz players, such as Pharaoh Sanders, Archie Shepp, and Albert Ayler
helped legitimize free jazz in the minds of some skeptics. In his own group, he
replaced Jones and Tyner with Rashied Ali (drums) and his wife Alice Coltrane
(piano). His music continued to polarize the jazz community, but Coltrane, like
Miles, was the kind to not rest on his laurels, but rather, was always searching and
exploring new forms of music. He died too young, at the age of 40 of liver
cancer. Many people believe that he did not live long enough to turn out free jazz
works that are comparable to his hard bop and modal works. Personally, I am not much
of a fan of Coltrane's free work. A little bit goes a long way with me. Also,
I really do not like and appreciate Coltrane's sidemen (and woman) after the original
quartet broke up. Many say that when John Coltrane died in 1967, free jazz
died with him.
Coltrane's music is very visceral. It's
hard to describe accurately: It's not fun, happy music (nor is it dark and
brooding). It's very deep and very intellectual. It moves me in ways that no
other jazz music does. He had a sound that was very unique. It wasn't a light,
fluffy cool jazz tenor. It had a harder edge to it. It was perfect for his
blazing fast solos, and he made his horn sound beautiful on ballads.
If you are interested in checking out Coltrane's music, here are some tips: I steer clear of any John Coltrane CD recorded after 1964. If you flip over any Coltrane CD and look at the back, you will see a recording date. Very important to look at this date and not the "publishing date" (it looks like a copy write date, except you see a "P" in the circle). After this year (1964), he started going into Free Jazz, a dissonant type of music that doesn't really tickle my fancy. Coltrane was no less a phenomenal player, but it can be a hard music to get into, because of the dissonance. There is too much intestinal "squawking" and random blowing for my tastes. Any Coltrane CD on the Prestige, Blue Note, and Atlantic recording labels are ok. On the Impulse label, anything before 1964 is safe. Some good ones to check out are Blue Train, Soul Trane, and Lush Life. If you like it, you might try Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, and My Favorite Things. If you want to hear Coltrane playing slower music, check out his Ballads album.
To see my John Coltrane collage click here Feel free to download it. If you put it on your site, please link my site as the credit.
To learn more about John Coltrane, check out these sites:
The 'Trane Station
A Love Supreme
Trane -
sound clips available.
