Tenor saxophonist John Coltrane (1926) honed his skills with
Dizzy Gillespie (1949-51), with Miles Davis (1955-57) and briefly with
Thelonious Monk (1957),
refining a huge, vigorous, searing tone that competed with Sonny Rollins'.
A drug addict, his career was far from linear. He debuted as a leader with
Coltrane (may 1957), accompanied by trumpet, baritone saxophone, piano, bass, drums.
Blue Train (september 1957), accompanied by trumpet (Lee Morgan), trombone (Chris Fuller), piano (Kenny Drew), bass and drums (Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones), was a confused collection, ranging from romantic ballads to hard bop.
Four out of the five lengthy tracks were Coltrane originals:
Blue Train, Moment's Notice, Locomotion and Lazy Bird.
Equally uneven was Soultrane (february 1958), for a quartet with Chambers, Red Garland on piano and Art Taylor on drums, that had no Coltrane originals at all.
That was to change soon, perhaps under the influence of the album that Coltrane
was cutting with Miles Davis: Kind of Blue.
The original compositions of
Giant Steps (may 1959) shared a common intent, but their intensity naturally
depicted the transition in progress:
Giant Steps (famous for its impossible chord changes), Syeeda's Song Flute, Mr P.C.,
Spiral and Cousin Mary featured a quartet with Chambers, Jones and pianist Tommy Flanagan,
while the last track, Naima (recorded in december),
Giant Steps, Syeeda's Song Flute, Mr P.C.,
Spiral and Cousin Mary featured a quartet with Chambers, Jones and pianist Tommy Flanagan,
while the last track, Naima (recorded in december),
featured pianist Wynton Kelly, Chambers amd drummer Jimmy Cobb,
i.e. the line-up of Kind of Blue minus Davis.
And Coltrane's mission was in a sense a continuation of Davis' mission:
create an art made of poignant solos; except that Coltrane's were the antithesis
of Davis' solos, being a torrential, seismic, volcanic outpour of emotion ("sheets of sound").
Coltrane learned from Monk as much as from Davis, though. The sublety of the
pianist permeated his acrobatic multiphonics and his breakneck variations.
Coltrane Jazz (october 1960) was mostly recorded by the same line-up of
Giant Steps, but included several covers and was vastly inferior.
John Coltrane also collaborated with trumpeter Don Cherry on The Avant-Garde (july 1960), the result of a session with Charlie Haden on bass and Ed Blackwell on drums. The title was prophetic, but the music was still acerbic, although
more faithful to Davis' modal dogma.
By further increasing the role of the solo, and alternating between
chord-based and mode-based improvisation,
My Favorite Things (october 1960), recorded with a quartet that featured pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, inaugurated his brand of
pseudo-free jazz
(a 13-minute "modal" version of Rodgers' My Favorite Things,
an eleven-minute version of Gershwin's Summertime,
a nine-minute version of Gershwin's But Not for Me).
Africa Brass (june 1961) was a detour of sort: three lengthy jams, arranged
by Eric Dolphy, for a much larger ensemble
(Coltrane's 16-minute Africa, a 10-minute version of the traditional
Greensleeves, Coltrane's seven-minute Blues Minor).
Subsequent recordings continued the progression towards a more uncompromising
rejection of structure.
Ole (may 1961), recorded two days after Africa Brass by a subset of
that ensemble (Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eric Dolphy on flute and alto,
McCoy Tyner on piano, Art Davis and Reggie Workman on bass,
Elvin Jones on drums), was a festival of creative solos, not just Coltrane's
but everybody's. The 18-minute Ole and the eleven-minute
Dahomey Dance were the tours de force, but Tyner's Aisha
acted as the emotional center of mass.
Live at the Village Vanguard (november 1961), in quintet with Dolphy, Tyner, Workman and Jones, was the crowning achievemet of this period, particularly the two
colossal improvisations: the 16-minute Chasin' the Trane and the
15-minute Spiritual.
That feat was repeated on the two centerpieces of Impressions (november 1961),
Impressions and India, performed by Coltrane, Dolphy, Tyner, Workman, second bassist Jimmy Garrison and Jones.
After a terrible collection of Ballads (november 1962), and a transitional
Live At Birdland (november 1963) with Tyner, Garrison and Jones (impeccable
interpretations but no revolution),
Coltrane's quartet (this time Tyner, Jones and Garrison)
delivered the goods on the five Coltrane compositions of Crescent (june 1964),
including Crescent, Wise One, Lonnie's Lament and
The Drum Thing.
It was the prelude to Coltrane's masterpiece, and perhaps the masterpiece
of the entire history of jazz music:
A Love Supreme (december 1964). Coltrane, Tyner, Garrison and Jones concocted
a multi-ethnic stew (African nationalism, Indian spirituality, western
rationality) cast in the format of a four-movement mass.
Coltrane continued to push the boundaries with
Ascension (june 1965), a free-form improvisation
(although not as "free" as Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz)
for a
large ensemble that boasted three tenor saxophonists
(Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp besides Coltrane), two alto saxophonists
(Marion Brown, John Tchicai), two trumpeters (Freddie Hubbard, Dewey Johnson),
two bassists (Art Davis, Jimmy Garrison), McCoy Tyner on piano and Elvin Jones on drums.
The horns improvise together in Albert Ayler's manner: an exaggerated, manic timbral orgy.
This continuous 40-minute stream of consciousness was a cathartic work,
a work of both freedom and subversion, affirming the artist's shamanic power
while carrying out the exorcism from his sociopolitical frustration.
Sun Ship (august 1965), the last album with the classic quartet,
emulated the religious ecstasy of Ascension with Amen, Attaining and Ascent.
Om (october 1965), was Ascension's little brother, a 28-minute excursus featuring flute and bass clarinet plus the usual cohorts (Sanders, Tyner, Garrison, Jones).
The experiment continued, albeit with less tumult, on Kulu Se Mama (october 1965), particularly the side-long jam Kulu Se Mama with Sanders, a vocalist, a bass clarinetist and an enhanced rhythm section.
Compared with the cacophony of Om and Kulu Se Mama, the five Meditations (november 1965) with Sanders, Tyner, Garrison, Jones and second drummer Rashied Ali were more disciplined and somewhat rational (particularly The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, Love and Consequences).
Several material of the time surfaced only years later:
Transition and the 21-minute Suite, off Transition (june 1965), released in 1970, with Tyner, Garrison and Jones;
Peace On Earth and Leo, off Infinity (february 1966), released in 1972, with Sanders, Rashied Ali on drums, Alice Coltrane on keyboards and posthumous string arrangements by Alice Coltrane;
Manifestation and Reverend King, off
Cosmic Music (february 1966), released in 1968, again with
Sanders, keyboardist Alice Coltrane, Ali and Garrison;
To Be, off Expression (march 1967), another mesmerizing dialogue between Coltrane and Sanders assisted by Alice Coltrane, Ali and Garrison.
Interstellar Space (february 1967), released in 1974, consists of four
"cosmic" duets between John Coltrane and Rashied Ali
(Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn).
To the last day, Coltrane's range of experiments was unbound. His career was
an impressive catalog of liberating techniques.
Coltrane introduced elements of Indian philosophy (if not music) into jazz,
as well as a much stronger and deeper spiritual dimension.
Coltrane died in 1967, at the age of 40.
Like Beethoven in classical music and Jimi Hendrix in rock music, he was so
influential that very few musicians tried to imitate him.
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