John William Coltrane (Hamlet, North Carolina, September 23, 1926 – Huntin… Read Full Bio ↴John William Coltrane (Hamlet, North Carolina, September 23, 1926 – Huntington, New York, July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.
American jazz great John Coltrane emerged in the 1950s, playing tenor and soprano sax with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. A leader of "hard bop", in the 1960s he led his own groups and changed the face of jazz with experimentation and improvisation, his later recordings reflecting his belief that music was a form of spiritual expression. Sometimes called simply 'Trane, his recordings include Giant Steps (1959), My Favorite Things (1960), Olé (1961) and A Love Supreme (1964). In his later recordings he collaborated on avante-garde music with his wife, Alice Coltrane (b. Alice McLeod, 1937-2007), who had a career in her own right.
The band sometimes called Coltrane's "classic quartet" of the early 1960s included McCoy Tyner (piano), Elvin Jones (drums) and Jimmy Garrison (bass).
Despite a relatively brief career (he first came to notice as a sideman at age 29 in 1955, formally launched a solo career at 33 in 1960, and was dead at 40 in 1967), saxophonist John Coltrane was among the most important, and most controversial, figures in jazz. It seems amazing that his period of greatest activity was so short, not only because he recorded prolifically, but also because, taking advantage of his fame, the record companies that recorded him as a sideman in the 1950s frequently reissued those recordings under his name and there has been a wealth of posthumously released material as well. Since Coltrane was a protean player who changed his style radically over the course of his career, this has made for much confusion in his discography and in appreciations of his playing. There remains a critical divide between the adherents of his earlier, more conventional (if still highly imaginative) work and his later, more experimental work. No one, however, questions Coltrane's almost religious commitment to jazz or doubts his significance in the history of the music.
Coltrane was the son of John R. Coltrane, a tailor and amateur musician, and Alice (Blair) Coltrane. Two months after his birth, his maternal grandfather, the Reverend William Blair, was promoted to presiding elder in the A.M.E. Zion Church and moved his family, including his infant grandson, to High Point, NC, where Coltrane grew up. Shortly after he graduated from grammar school in 1939, his father, his grandparents, and his uncle died, leaving him to be raised in a family consisting of his mother, his aunt, and his cousin. His mother worked as a domestic to support the family. The same year, he joined a community band in which he played clarinet and E flat alto horn; he took up the alto saxophone in his high school band. During World War II, his mother, aunt, and cousin moved north to New Jersey to seek work, leaving him with family friends; in 1943, when he graduated from high school, he too headed north, settling in Philadelphia. Eventually, the family was reunited there.
While taking jobs outside music, Coltrane briefly attended the Ornstein School of Music and studied at Granoff Studios. He also began playing in local clubs. In 1945, he was drafted into the navy and stationed in Hawaii. He never saw combat, but he continued to play music and, in fact, made his first recording with a quartet of other sailors on July 13, 1946. A performance of Tadd Dameron's "Hot House," it was released in 1993 on the Rhino Records anthology The Last Giant. Coltrane was discharged in the summer of 1946 and returned to Philadelphia. That fall, he began playing in the Joe Webb Band. In early 1947, he switched to the King Kolax Band. During the year, he switched from alto to tenor saxophone. One account claims that this was as the result of encountering alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and feeling the better-known musician had exhausted the possibilities on the instrument; another says that the switch occurred simply because Coltrane next joined a band led by Earl Bostic, who was an alto player, forcing Coltrane to play tenor. He moved on to Jimmy Heath's band in mid-1948, staying with the band, which evolved into the Howard McGhee All Stars until early 1949, when he returned to Philadelphia. That fall, he joined a big band led by Dizzy Gillespie, remaining until the spring of 1951, by which time the band had been trimmed to a septet. On March 1, 1951, he took his first solo on record during a performance of "We Love to Boogie" with Gillespie.
At some point during this period, Coltrane became a heroin addict, which made him more difficult to employ. He played with various bands, mostly around Philadelphia, during the early '50s, his next important job coming in the spring of 1954, when Johnny Hodges, temporarily out of the Duke Ellington band, hired him. But he was fired because of his addiction in September 1954. He returned to Philadelphia, where he was playing, when he was hired by Miles Davis a year later. His association with Davis was the big break that finally established him as an important jazz musician. Davis, a former drug addict himself, had kicked his habit and gained recognition at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1955, resulting in a contract with Columbia Records and the opportunity to organize a permanent band, which, in addition to him and Coltrane, consisted of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer "Philly" Joe Jones. This unit immediately began to record extensively, not only because of the Columbia contract, but also because Davis had signed with the major label before fulfilling a deal with jazz independent Prestige Records that still had five albums to run. The trumpeter's Columbia debut, 'Round About Midnight, which he immediately commenced recording, did not appear until March 1957. The first fruits of his association with Coltrane came in April 1956 with the release of The New Miles Davis Quintet (aka Miles), recorded for Prestige on November 16, 1955. During 1956, in addition to his recordings for Columbia, Davis held two marathon sessions for Prestige to fulfill his obligation to the label, which released the material over a period of time under the titles Cookin' (1957), Relaxin' (1957), Workin' (1958), and Steamin' (1961).
Coltrane's association with Davis inaugurated a period when he began to frequently record as a sideman. Davis may have been trying to end his association with Prestige, but Coltrane began appearing on many of the label's sessions. After he became better known in the 1960s, Prestige and other labels began to repackage this work under his name, as if he had been the leader, a process that has continued to the present day. (Prestige was acquired by Fantasy Records in 1972, and many of the recordings in which Coltrane participated have been reissued on Fantasy's Original Jazz Classics [OJC] imprint.)
Coltrane tried and failed to kick heroin in the summer of 1956, and in October, Davis fired him, though the trumpeter had relented and taken him back by the end of November. Early in 1957, Coltrane formally signed with Prestige as a solo artist, though he remained in the Davis band and also continued to record as a sideman for other labels. In April, Davis fired him again. This may have given him the impetus finally to kick his drug habit, and freed of the necessity of playing gigs with Davis, he began to record even more frequently. On May 31, 1957, he finally made his recording debut as a leader, putting together a pickup band consisting of trumpeter Johnny Splawn, baritone saxophonist Sahib Shihab, pianists Mal Waldron and Red Garland (on different tracks), bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Al "Tootie" Heath. They cut an album Prestige titled simply Coltrane upon release in September 1957. (It has since been reissued under the title First Trane.)
In June 1957, Coltrane joined the Thelonious Monk Quartet, consisting of Monk on piano, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Shadow Wilson on drums. During this period, he developed a technique of playing several notes at once, and his solos began to go on longer. In August, he recorded material belatedly released on the Prestige albums Lush Life (1960) and The Last Trane (1965), as well as the material for John Coltrane With the Red Garland Trio, released later in the year. (It was later reissued under the title Traneing In.) But Coltrane's second album to be recorded and released contemporaneously under his name alone was cut in September for Blue Note Records. This was Blue Train, featuring trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist Kenny Drew, and the Miles Davis rhythm section of Chambers and "Philly" Joe Jones; it was released in December 1957. That month, Coltrane rejoined Davis, playing in what was now a sextet that also featured Cannonball Adderley. In January 1958, he led a recording session for Prestige that produced tracks later released on Lush Life, The Last Trane, and The Believer (1964). In February and March, he recorded Davis' album Milestones..., released later in 1958. In between the sessions, he cut his third album to be released under his name alone, Soultrane, issued in September by Prestige. Also in March 1958, he cut tracks as a leader that would be released later on the Prestige collection Settin' the Pace (1961). In May, he again recorded for Prestige as a leader, though the results would not be heard until the release of Black Pearls in 1964.
Coltrane appeared as part of the Miles Davis group at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1958. The band's set was recorded and released in 1964 on an LP also featuring a performance by Thelonious Monk as Miles & Monk at Newport. In 1988, Columbia reissued the material on an album called Miles & Coltrane. The performance inspired a review in Down Beat, the leading jazz magazine, that was an early indication of the differing opinions on Coltrane that would be expressed throughout the rest of his career and long after his death. The review referred to his "angry tenor," which, it said, hampered the solidarity of the Davis band. The review led directly to an article published in the magazine on October 16, 1958, in which critic Ira Gitler defended the saxophonist and coined the much-repeated phrase "sheets of sound" to describe his playing.
Coltrane's next Prestige session as a leader occurred later in July 1958 and resulted in tracks later released on the albums Standard Coltrane (1962), Stardust (1963), and Bahia (1965). All of these tracks were later compiled on a reissue called The Stardust Session. He did a final session for Prestige in December 1958, recording tracks later released on The Believer, Stardust, and Bahia. This completed his commitment to the label, and he signed to Atlantic Records, doing his first recording for his new employers on January 15, 1959, with a session on which he was co-billed with vibes player Milt Jackson, though it did not appear until 1961 with the LP Bags and Trane.
In March and April 1959, Coltrane participated with the Davis group on the album Kind of Blue. Released on August 17, 1959, this landmark album known for its "modal" playing (improvisations based on scales or "modes," rather than chords) became one of the best-selling and most-acclaimed recordings in the history of jazz. In between the sessions for the album, Coltrane began recording what would be his Atlantic Records debut, Giant Steps, released in early 1960. The album, consisting entirely of Coltrane compositions, in a sense marked his real debut as a leading jazz performer, even though the 33-year-old musician had released three previous solo albums and made numerous other recordings. His next Atlantic album, Coltrane Jazz, was mostly recorded in November and December 1959 and released in February 1961. In April 1960, he finally left the Davis band and formally launched his solo career, beginning an engagement at the Jazz Gallery in New York, accompanied by pianist Steve Kuhn (soon replaced by McCoy Tyner), bassist Steve Davis, and drummer Pete La Roca (later replaced by Billy Higgins and then Elvin Jones). During this period, he increasingly played soprano saxophone as well as tenor.
In October 1960, Coltrane recorded a series of sessions for Atlantic that would produce material for several albums, including a final track used on Coltrane Jazz and tunes used on My Favorite Things (March 1961), Coltrane Plays the Blues (July 1962), and Coltrane's Sound (June 1964). His soprano version of "My Favorite Things," from the Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II musical The Sound of Music, would become a signature song for him. During the winter of 1960-1961, bassist Reggie Workman replaced Steve Davis in his band and saxophone and flute player Eric Dolphy, gradually became a member of the group.
In the wake of the commercial success of "My Favorite Things," Coltrane's star rose, and he was signed away from Atlantic as the flagship artist of the newly formed Impulse! Records label, an imprint of ABC-Paramount, though in May he cut a final album for Atlantic, Olé (February 1962). The following month, he completed his Impulse! debut, Africa/Brass. By this time, his playing was frequently in a style alternately dubbed "avant-garde," "free," or "The New Thing." Like Ornette Coleman, he played seemingly formless, extended solos that some listeners found tremendously impressive, and others decried as noise. In November 1961, John Tynan, writing in Down Beat, referred to Coltrane's playing as "anti-jazz." That month, however, Coltrane recorded one of his most celebrated albums, Live at the Village Vanguard, an LP paced by the 16-minute improvisation "Chasin' the Trane."
Between April and June 1962, Coltrane cut his next Impulse! studio album, another release called simply Coltrane when it appeared later in the year. Working with producer Bob Thiele, he began to do extensive studio sessions, far more than Impulse! could profitably release at the time, especially with Prestige and Atlantic still putting out their own archival albums. But the material would serve the label well after the saxophonist's untimely death. Thiele acknowledged that Coltrane's next three Impulse! albums to be released, Ballads, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, and John Coltrane with Johnny Hartman (all 1963), were recorded at his behest to quiet the critics of Coltrane's more extreme playing. Impressions (1963), drawn from live and studio recordings made in 1962 and 1963, was a more representative effort, as was 1964's Live at Birdland, also a combination of live and studio tracks, despite its title. But Crescent, also released in 1964, seemed to find a middle ground between traditional and free playing, and was welcomed by critics. This trend was continued with 1965's A Love Supreme, one of Coltrane's best-loved albums, which earned him two Grammy nominations, for jazz composition and performance, and became his biggest-selling record. Also during the year, Impulse! released the standards collection The John Coltrane Quartet Plays... and another album of "free" playing, Ascension, as well as New Thing at Newport, a live album consisting of one side by Coltrane and the other by Archie Shepp.
1966 saw the release of the albums Kulu Se Mama and Meditations, Coltrane's last recordings to appear during his lifetime, though he had finished and approved release for his next album, Expression, the Friday before his death in July 1967. He died suddenly of liver cancer, entering the hospital on a Sunday and expiring in the early morning hours of the next day. He had left behind a considerable body of unreleased work that came out in subsequent years, including "Live" at the Village Vanguard Again! (1967), Om (1967), Cosmic Music (1968), Selflessness (1969), Transition (1969), Sun Ship (1971), Africa/Brass, Vol. 2 (1974), Interstellar Space (1974), and First Meditations (For Quartet) (1977), all on Impulse! Compilations and releases of archival live recordings brought him a series of Grammy nominations, including Best Jazz Performance for the Atlantic album The Coltrane Legacy in 1970; Best Jazz Performance, Group, and Best Jazz Performance, Soloist, for "Giant Steps" from the Atlantic album Alternate Takes in 1974; and Best Jazz Performance, Group, and Best Jazz Performance, Soloist, for Afro Blue Impressions in 1977. He won the 1981 Grammy for Best Jazz Performance, Soloist, for Bye Bye Blackbird, an album of recordings made live in Europe in 1962, and he was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992, 25 years after his death.
John Coltrane is sometimes described as one of jazz's most influential musicians, but one is hard put to find followers who actually play in his style. Rather, he is influential by example, inspiring musicians to experiment, take chances, and devote themselves to their craft. The controversy about his work has never died down, but partially as a result, his name lives on and his recordings continue to remain available and to be reissued frequently.
American jazz great John Coltrane emerged in the 1950s, playing tenor and soprano sax with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. A leader of "hard bop", in the 1960s he led his own groups and changed the face of jazz with experimentation and improvisation, his later recordings reflecting his belief that music was a form of spiritual expression. Sometimes called simply 'Trane, his recordings include Giant Steps (1959), My Favorite Things (1960), Olé (1961) and A Love Supreme (1964). In his later recordings he collaborated on avante-garde music with his wife, Alice Coltrane (b. Alice McLeod, 1937-2007), who had a career in her own right.
The band sometimes called Coltrane's "classic quartet" of the early 1960s included McCoy Tyner (piano), Elvin Jones (drums) and Jimmy Garrison (bass).
Despite a relatively brief career (he first came to notice as a sideman at age 29 in 1955, formally launched a solo career at 33 in 1960, and was dead at 40 in 1967), saxophonist John Coltrane was among the most important, and most controversial, figures in jazz. It seems amazing that his period of greatest activity was so short, not only because he recorded prolifically, but also because, taking advantage of his fame, the record companies that recorded him as a sideman in the 1950s frequently reissued those recordings under his name and there has been a wealth of posthumously released material as well. Since Coltrane was a protean player who changed his style radically over the course of his career, this has made for much confusion in his discography and in appreciations of his playing. There remains a critical divide between the adherents of his earlier, more conventional (if still highly imaginative) work and his later, more experimental work. No one, however, questions Coltrane's almost religious commitment to jazz or doubts his significance in the history of the music.
Coltrane was the son of John R. Coltrane, a tailor and amateur musician, and Alice (Blair) Coltrane. Two months after his birth, his maternal grandfather, the Reverend William Blair, was promoted to presiding elder in the A.M.E. Zion Church and moved his family, including his infant grandson, to High Point, NC, where Coltrane grew up. Shortly after he graduated from grammar school in 1939, his father, his grandparents, and his uncle died, leaving him to be raised in a family consisting of his mother, his aunt, and his cousin. His mother worked as a domestic to support the family. The same year, he joined a community band in which he played clarinet and E flat alto horn; he took up the alto saxophone in his high school band. During World War II, his mother, aunt, and cousin moved north to New Jersey to seek work, leaving him with family friends; in 1943, when he graduated from high school, he too headed north, settling in Philadelphia. Eventually, the family was reunited there.
While taking jobs outside music, Coltrane briefly attended the Ornstein School of Music and studied at Granoff Studios. He also began playing in local clubs. In 1945, he was drafted into the navy and stationed in Hawaii. He never saw combat, but he continued to play music and, in fact, made his first recording with a quartet of other sailors on July 13, 1946. A performance of Tadd Dameron's "Hot House," it was released in 1993 on the Rhino Records anthology The Last Giant. Coltrane was discharged in the summer of 1946 and returned to Philadelphia. That fall, he began playing in the Joe Webb Band. In early 1947, he switched to the King Kolax Band. During the year, he switched from alto to tenor saxophone. One account claims that this was as the result of encountering alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and feeling the better-known musician had exhausted the possibilities on the instrument; another says that the switch occurred simply because Coltrane next joined a band led by Earl Bostic, who was an alto player, forcing Coltrane to play tenor. He moved on to Jimmy Heath's band in mid-1948, staying with the band, which evolved into the Howard McGhee All Stars until early 1949, when he returned to Philadelphia. That fall, he joined a big band led by Dizzy Gillespie, remaining until the spring of 1951, by which time the band had been trimmed to a septet. On March 1, 1951, he took his first solo on record during a performance of "We Love to Boogie" with Gillespie.
At some point during this period, Coltrane became a heroin addict, which made him more difficult to employ. He played with various bands, mostly around Philadelphia, during the early '50s, his next important job coming in the spring of 1954, when Johnny Hodges, temporarily out of the Duke Ellington band, hired him. But he was fired because of his addiction in September 1954. He returned to Philadelphia, where he was playing, when he was hired by Miles Davis a year later. His association with Davis was the big break that finally established him as an important jazz musician. Davis, a former drug addict himself, had kicked his habit and gained recognition at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1955, resulting in a contract with Columbia Records and the opportunity to organize a permanent band, which, in addition to him and Coltrane, consisted of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer "Philly" Joe Jones. This unit immediately began to record extensively, not only because of the Columbia contract, but also because Davis had signed with the major label before fulfilling a deal with jazz independent Prestige Records that still had five albums to run. The trumpeter's Columbia debut, 'Round About Midnight, which he immediately commenced recording, did not appear until March 1957. The first fruits of his association with Coltrane came in April 1956 with the release of The New Miles Davis Quintet (aka Miles), recorded for Prestige on November 16, 1955. During 1956, in addition to his recordings for Columbia, Davis held two marathon sessions for Prestige to fulfill his obligation to the label, which released the material over a period of time under the titles Cookin' (1957), Relaxin' (1957), Workin' (1958), and Steamin' (1961).
Coltrane's association with Davis inaugurated a period when he began to frequently record as a sideman. Davis may have been trying to end his association with Prestige, but Coltrane began appearing on many of the label's sessions. After he became better known in the 1960s, Prestige and other labels began to repackage this work under his name, as if he had been the leader, a process that has continued to the present day. (Prestige was acquired by Fantasy Records in 1972, and many of the recordings in which Coltrane participated have been reissued on Fantasy's Original Jazz Classics [OJC] imprint.)
Coltrane tried and failed to kick heroin in the summer of 1956, and in October, Davis fired him, though the trumpeter had relented and taken him back by the end of November. Early in 1957, Coltrane formally signed with Prestige as a solo artist, though he remained in the Davis band and also continued to record as a sideman for other labels. In April, Davis fired him again. This may have given him the impetus finally to kick his drug habit, and freed of the necessity of playing gigs with Davis, he began to record even more frequently. On May 31, 1957, he finally made his recording debut as a leader, putting together a pickup band consisting of trumpeter Johnny Splawn, baritone saxophonist Sahib Shihab, pianists Mal Waldron and Red Garland (on different tracks), bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Al "Tootie" Heath. They cut an album Prestige titled simply Coltrane upon release in September 1957. (It has since been reissued under the title First Trane.)
In June 1957, Coltrane joined the Thelonious Monk Quartet, consisting of Monk on piano, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Shadow Wilson on drums. During this period, he developed a technique of playing several notes at once, and his solos began to go on longer. In August, he recorded material belatedly released on the Prestige albums Lush Life (1960) and The Last Trane (1965), as well as the material for John Coltrane With the Red Garland Trio, released later in the year. (It was later reissued under the title Traneing In.) But Coltrane's second album to be recorded and released contemporaneously under his name alone was cut in September for Blue Note Records. This was Blue Train, featuring trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist Kenny Drew, and the Miles Davis rhythm section of Chambers and "Philly" Joe Jones; it was released in December 1957. That month, Coltrane rejoined Davis, playing in what was now a sextet that also featured Cannonball Adderley. In January 1958, he led a recording session for Prestige that produced tracks later released on Lush Life, The Last Trane, and The Believer (1964). In February and March, he recorded Davis' album Milestones..., released later in 1958. In between the sessions, he cut his third album to be released under his name alone, Soultrane, issued in September by Prestige. Also in March 1958, he cut tracks as a leader that would be released later on the Prestige collection Settin' the Pace (1961). In May, he again recorded for Prestige as a leader, though the results would not be heard until the release of Black Pearls in 1964.
Coltrane appeared as part of the Miles Davis group at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1958. The band's set was recorded and released in 1964 on an LP also featuring a performance by Thelonious Monk as Miles & Monk at Newport. In 1988, Columbia reissued the material on an album called Miles & Coltrane. The performance inspired a review in Down Beat, the leading jazz magazine, that was an early indication of the differing opinions on Coltrane that would be expressed throughout the rest of his career and long after his death. The review referred to his "angry tenor," which, it said, hampered the solidarity of the Davis band. The review led directly to an article published in the magazine on October 16, 1958, in which critic Ira Gitler defended the saxophonist and coined the much-repeated phrase "sheets of sound" to describe his playing.
Coltrane's next Prestige session as a leader occurred later in July 1958 and resulted in tracks later released on the albums Standard Coltrane (1962), Stardust (1963), and Bahia (1965). All of these tracks were later compiled on a reissue called The Stardust Session. He did a final session for Prestige in December 1958, recording tracks later released on The Believer, Stardust, and Bahia. This completed his commitment to the label, and he signed to Atlantic Records, doing his first recording for his new employers on January 15, 1959, with a session on which he was co-billed with vibes player Milt Jackson, though it did not appear until 1961 with the LP Bags and Trane.
In March and April 1959, Coltrane participated with the Davis group on the album Kind of Blue. Released on August 17, 1959, this landmark album known for its "modal" playing (improvisations based on scales or "modes," rather than chords) became one of the best-selling and most-acclaimed recordings in the history of jazz. In between the sessions for the album, Coltrane began recording what would be his Atlantic Records debut, Giant Steps, released in early 1960. The album, consisting entirely of Coltrane compositions, in a sense marked his real debut as a leading jazz performer, even though the 33-year-old musician had released three previous solo albums and made numerous other recordings. His next Atlantic album, Coltrane Jazz, was mostly recorded in November and December 1959 and released in February 1961. In April 1960, he finally left the Davis band and formally launched his solo career, beginning an engagement at the Jazz Gallery in New York, accompanied by pianist Steve Kuhn (soon replaced by McCoy Tyner), bassist Steve Davis, and drummer Pete La Roca (later replaced by Billy Higgins and then Elvin Jones). During this period, he increasingly played soprano saxophone as well as tenor.
In October 1960, Coltrane recorded a series of sessions for Atlantic that would produce material for several albums, including a final track used on Coltrane Jazz and tunes used on My Favorite Things (March 1961), Coltrane Plays the Blues (July 1962), and Coltrane's Sound (June 1964). His soprano version of "My Favorite Things," from the Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II musical The Sound of Music, would become a signature song for him. During the winter of 1960-1961, bassist Reggie Workman replaced Steve Davis in his band and saxophone and flute player Eric Dolphy, gradually became a member of the group.
In the wake of the commercial success of "My Favorite Things," Coltrane's star rose, and he was signed away from Atlantic as the flagship artist of the newly formed Impulse! Records label, an imprint of ABC-Paramount, though in May he cut a final album for Atlantic, Olé (February 1962). The following month, he completed his Impulse! debut, Africa/Brass. By this time, his playing was frequently in a style alternately dubbed "avant-garde," "free," or "The New Thing." Like Ornette Coleman, he played seemingly formless, extended solos that some listeners found tremendously impressive, and others decried as noise. In November 1961, John Tynan, writing in Down Beat, referred to Coltrane's playing as "anti-jazz." That month, however, Coltrane recorded one of his most celebrated albums, Live at the Village Vanguard, an LP paced by the 16-minute improvisation "Chasin' the Trane."
Between April and June 1962, Coltrane cut his next Impulse! studio album, another release called simply Coltrane when it appeared later in the year. Working with producer Bob Thiele, he began to do extensive studio sessions, far more than Impulse! could profitably release at the time, especially with Prestige and Atlantic still putting out their own archival albums. But the material would serve the label well after the saxophonist's untimely death. Thiele acknowledged that Coltrane's next three Impulse! albums to be released, Ballads, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, and John Coltrane with Johnny Hartman (all 1963), were recorded at his behest to quiet the critics of Coltrane's more extreme playing. Impressions (1963), drawn from live and studio recordings made in 1962 and 1963, was a more representative effort, as was 1964's Live at Birdland, also a combination of live and studio tracks, despite its title. But Crescent, also released in 1964, seemed to find a middle ground between traditional and free playing, and was welcomed by critics. This trend was continued with 1965's A Love Supreme, one of Coltrane's best-loved albums, which earned him two Grammy nominations, for jazz composition and performance, and became his biggest-selling record. Also during the year, Impulse! released the standards collection The John Coltrane Quartet Plays... and another album of "free" playing, Ascension, as well as New Thing at Newport, a live album consisting of one side by Coltrane and the other by Archie Shepp.
1966 saw the release of the albums Kulu Se Mama and Meditations, Coltrane's last recordings to appear during his lifetime, though he had finished and approved release for his next album, Expression, the Friday before his death in July 1967. He died suddenly of liver cancer, entering the hospital on a Sunday and expiring in the early morning hours of the next day. He had left behind a considerable body of unreleased work that came out in subsequent years, including "Live" at the Village Vanguard Again! (1967), Om (1967), Cosmic Music (1968), Selflessness (1969), Transition (1969), Sun Ship (1971), Africa/Brass, Vol. 2 (1974), Interstellar Space (1974), and First Meditations (For Quartet) (1977), all on Impulse! Compilations and releases of archival live recordings brought him a series of Grammy nominations, including Best Jazz Performance for the Atlantic album The Coltrane Legacy in 1970; Best Jazz Performance, Group, and Best Jazz Performance, Soloist, for "Giant Steps" from the Atlantic album Alternate Takes in 1974; and Best Jazz Performance, Group, and Best Jazz Performance, Soloist, for Afro Blue Impressions in 1977. He won the 1981 Grammy for Best Jazz Performance, Soloist, for Bye Bye Blackbird, an album of recordings made live in Europe in 1962, and he was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992, 25 years after his death.
John Coltrane is sometimes described as one of jazz's most influential musicians, but one is hard put to find followers who actually play in his style. Rather, he is influential by example, inspiring musicians to experiment, take chances, and devote themselves to their craft. The controversy about his work has never died down, but partially as a result, his name lives on and his recordings continue to remain available and to be reissued frequently.
Music Is My Sanctuary
John Coltrane Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Music Is My Sanctuary' by these artists:
Gary Bartz Music speaks to all It's so dear to us Music makes us…
We have lyrics for these tracks by John Coltrane:
'Round Midnight It begins to tell, 'round midnight, midnight. I do pretty we…
01. Stairway to the Stars Let's build a stairway to the stars And climb that stairway…
09 Spring Is Here Spring is here! Why doesn't my heart go dancing? Spring is…
1Bye Bye Blackbird No one here can love or understand me Oh, what hard…
4 Of the wonderful things that you get out of life…
A Love Supreme A love supreme…
A Love Supreme Pt. I A love supreme…
Africa I hear the drums echoing tonight But she hears only whisper…
Afro Blue Newton-John Olivia Xanadu Magic (Olivia Newton-John) Come…
After the Rain Behind your eyes, dark clouds are formin' I see his memory…
Ain Though folks with good intentions Tell me to save my tears W…
Alabama Moonlight and magnolia, starlight in your hair All the world…
All or Nothing At All All or nothing at all Half a love, never appealed to…
Angelica Angelica cuando te nombro Me vuelve a la memoria Un…
Ascension Part I A love supreme…
Autumn Leaves The falling leaves drift by the window The autumn leaves of…
Autumn Serenade Through the trees comes autumn with her serenade. Melodies t…
Bakai John Coltrane - tenor saxophone Johnnie Splawn - trumpet S…
Black Pearls Hey I've been runnin' Since I don't know when Runnin' i…
Body and Soul My heart is sad and lonely For you I sigh, for…
But Not for Me Old man sunshine listen you Never tell me dreams come true J…
Bye No one here can love or understand me Oh, what hard…
Bye_Bye_Blackbird No one here can love or understand me Oh, what hard…
Centerpiece The more I'm with you pretty baby The more I feel…
Chronic Blues There's no point in asking You'll get no reply Oh just rem…
Could Write A Book If they ask me, I could write a book About the…
Countdown [Instrumental]…
Dear Old Stockholm Dear old Southland I hear you calling me. And I long…
Dear Old Stockholm* Dear old Southland I hear you calling me. And I long…
Dedicated to You If I should write a book for you That brought me…
Don Ever since the lucky night I found you I've hung around…
Don't Blame Me Ever since the lucky night I found you I've hung around…
Easy to Love I know too well that I'm just wasting precious time In…
Equinox Meet me on the Equinox Meet me half way When the sun…
Exactly Like You I used to have a perfect sweetheart Not a real one,…
Falling In Love With Love I weave with brightly colored strings To keep my mind off…
Four Of the wonderful things that you get out of life…
From this moment on From this moment on You for me, dear Only two for tea,…
Giant Steps [Instrumental]…
How Deep Is the Ocean How much do I love you? I'll tell you no lie How…
How Deep Is the Ocean? How much do I love you? I'll tell you no lie How…
Hown Long Has This Been Going on As a tot, when I trotted in little velvet panties, I…
I I wish I knew someone like you could love me I…
I Could Write A Book If they ask me, I could write a book About the…
I got it bad Though folks with good intentions Tell me to save my tears W…
i mean you I'll get by As long as I have you Though there be…
I Never Knew You, get me feelin' crazy There always on my mind And I…
I Wish I Knew I wish I knew someone like you could love me I…
I'll Get By I'll get by As long as I have you Though there be…
If I Ask me how do I feel, Now that we're cosy and…
If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You If there is someone lovelier than you Then I am blind,…
If There is Someone Lovelier You If there is someone lovelier than you Then I am blind,…
In a Sentimental Mood In a Sentimental Mood I can see The stars come through…
It Might as Well Be Spring I'm as restless as a willow in a windstorm I'm as…
It's a Good Day Though folks with good intentions Tell me to save my tears W…
Jupiter Searching in the sky one night, while looking for the…
Just for the Love Love for sale Appetizing young love for sale Love that's fre…
Just Friends Just friends, lovers no more Just friends, but not like befo…
Just Squeeze Me Want you to know I go for your squeezin' Want you…
Just You Just you, just me Let's find a cozy spot To cuddle and…
Just You Just Me Just you, just me Let's find a cozy spot To cuddle and…
Just YouJust Me Just you, just me Let's find a cozy spot To cuddle and…
Like Someone in Love Lately, I find myself out gazing at stars, Hearing guitars…
Limehouse Blues And those weird China blues Never go away Sad, mad blues For…
Little Old Lady Little old lady passing by Catching everyone's eye You hav…
Love The very thought of you makes my heart sing Like an…
Love for Sale Love for sale Appetizing young love for sale Love that's fre…
Love Supreme Pt. 1: Acknowledgement Chant-like: A love supreme Supreme, supreme…
Love Thy Neigbor Love thy neighbor, Walk up and say "How be ya Gee! But…
Love Thy Neighbour "Love thy neighbor and you will find your labor A great…
Lover You went away I let you We broke the ties that bind I…
Lush Life I used to visit all the very gay places Those come-what-may…
Miles Point me at the red planet I want to get my…
Moment From this moment on You for me, dear Only two for tea,…
Mr. P.C. [Instrumental]…
My Favorite Things Raindrops on roses and Whiskers on kittens Bright copper ket…
My Little Brown Book ""My little brown book With the silver binding How it…
My One And Only Love The very thought of you makes my heart sing Like an…
Naima [Instrumental]…
Nature Boy There was a boy A very strange Enchanted boy They say he…
On Green Dolphin Street It seems like a dream, yet I know it happened A…
On It They say that falling love is wonderful It's wonderful, so t…
Once in a While Once in a while will you try to give One little…
One And Only Love The very thought of you makes my heart sing Like an…
One By One I wish I knew someone like you could love me I…
Part 1 A love supreme…
Polka Dots and Moonbeams A country dance was being held in a garden I felt…
Rise Rise 'n' shine, Stand up and take it! Rise 'n' shine, Lif…
Round About Midnight It begins to tell, 'round midnight, midnight. I do pretty we…
Saturn I ask Him when will I be free He said…
Solitude In my solitude You haunt me With dreadful ease Of days gone …
Something I Dreamed Last Night I can't believe that you're not here with me To have…
Speak Low Speak low when you speak, love, Our summer day withers away…
Spiral [Instrumental]…
Spiritual Jesus I don't wanna die alone Jesus, oh Jesus I don't wan…
Spring Is Here Spring is here! Why doesn't my heart go dancing? Spring is…
Stairway To The Stars Let's build a stairway to the stars And climb that stairway…
Stardust And now the purple dusk of twilight time Steals across the…
Stars Fell on Alabama Moonlight and magnolia, starlight in your hair All the world…
Stella By Stardust The song a robin sings Through years of endless springs The …
Summertime Summertime and the livin' is easy Fish are jumpin' and the…
Sweet and Lovely Sweet and lovely sweeter than the roses in May Sweet and…
Syeeda's Song Flute [Instrumental]…
The Believer Never mind all the things you heard about me You're never…
The Way You Look Tonight There was a time I was everything and nothing all in…
Then I You look at me and wonder, you look at me…
There Is No Greater Love There is no greater love Than what I feel for you No…
They Say It They say that falling love is wonderful It's wonderful, so …
They Say It's Wonderful They say that falling love is wonderful So wonderful, so the…
To Be You look at me and wonder, you look at me…
Vigil Our father thy will be done. I have denied this life…
Violets for Your Furs [Instrumental]…
When Lights Are Low Listen to the melody entrancing Blending in a soft and sweet…
Why Was I Born Spending these lonesome evenings With nothing to do But to l…
Why Was I Born? Spending these lonesome evenings With nothing to do But to…
You Are Too Beautiful You are too beautiful, my dear, to be true And I…
You are too beautifull You are too beautiful, my dear, to be true And I…
You Go to My Head You go to my head And you linger like a haunting…
You Leave Me Breathless If our love was a fairy tale I would charge in…
You're A Weaver Of Dreams You're a weaver of dreams You and your strange fascination …
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@billmay7364
FZ is great font get me Wrong.
Great Composer and underrated Guitarist. ❤
FZ is not in the same Status as Guitarist John Mclaughlin as a player.
John is Technical as it gets along with Fingers that just Dance and Weave for over 50 years.
Allan Holdsworth is another who comes to mind.
Guthrie is another.
FZ has a point about Speed.
Robert Fripp once stated playing fast is Easy.
Playing Slow is Hard.
Fripp is another Master.
It's interesting take on FZ talking about John the Great One.
Miles Davis knew what he was Doing .
Love all above listed.
@phillipschuman4307
Here is John McLaughlin 'returning the favor' to Frank (from Zappa's Wiki page):
"Zappa's guitar style was not without its critics. English guitarist and bandleader John McLaughlin, whose band Mahavishnu Orchestra toured with the Mothers of Invention in 1973, opined that Zappa was "very interesting as a human being and a very interesting composer" and that he "was a very good musician but he was a dictator in his band," and that he "was taking very long guitar solos [when performing live]—10–15 minute guitar solos and really he should have taken two or three minute guitar solos, because they were a little bit boring."
Meanwhile, Jeff Beck and Pat Matheny said JM was the best guitarist alive, and many other great guitarists cite JM as an important inspiration:
McLaughlin has been cited as a major influence on many 1970s and 1980s guitarists, including prominent players such as Steve Morse,[22] Eric Johnson,[23] Mike Stern,[24] Al Di Meola,[25] Shawn Lane,[26] Scott Henderson,[27] and Trevor Rabin of Yes.[28] Other players who acknowledge his influence include Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta,[29] Paul Masvidal of Cynic,[30] and Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan.[31] According to Pat Metheny, McLaughlin has changed the evolution of the guitar during several of his periods of playing.[32]
McLaughlin is considered a major influence on composers in the fusion genre. In an interview with Downbeat, Chick Corea remarked that "what John McLaughlin did with the electric guitar set the world on its ear. No one ever heard an electric guitar played like that before, and it certainly inspired me. John's band, more than my experience with Miles, led me to want to turn the volume up and write music that was more dramatic and made your hair stand on end."
@Oneness100
Hmm. I had a different take on the Five Peace Band. I thought Vinnie simply wasn't listening to the melody line as much as he was just playing a solo all over the place.
I am a die hard McLaughlin fan, and I loved everything he's done until the Trio he had with Trilok Gurtu. After that, JM kind of lost me. I still listen to it and some of it is sinking in. But I just prefer his playing and his tone, melodies and compositions from the Trio with Trilok and earlier. And of course, anything he does with Shakti and other incarnations. But his best guitar with Shakti is of course, the Shakti guitar, I don't know why he uses an Electric at all. I know his Shakti guitar got trashed when he loaned it out, but he did manage to get a replacement, I wish he'd use it. Such a beautiful instrument. Especially his bending using the scalloped fingerboard. Shakti with an Electric guitar just doesn't sound right since the other instruments are acoustic.
John and Vinnie? I didn't care for it at all. I don't think Vinnie is suited for fusion music. He's got the chops, but his approach is just not something I care for. There is nothing I actually wanted to sit down and listen to over and over again or even learn how to play. I sat down and compared Vinnie and Ranjit playing the same song and I preferred Ranjit's playing over Vinnie. The main reason was Ranjit just breathed better and was more relaxed. I don't hear as much musicality from Vinnie as he seems to wander in his own little world and it doesn't include playing WITH the rest of the band, but rather separate.
As far as which drummers I prefer playing with McLaughlin?
Billy during the MO days. Narada, Tony Smith, Trilok Gurtu. So far, those are the best players that JM has ever played with that I enjoy. The rest of them simply don't float my boat in terms of meshing with McLaughlin.
Allan Holdsworth? I only liked his playing/style/sound with Tony Williams for the two albums he did. I bought many Allan Holdsworth albums since he left the TWL, and none of them really interested me at all. I know Allan has die hard fans and all, but to be quite honest, none of it did a thing for me. It wasn't enjoyable to listen to, it didn't blow me away at all.
As far as Chick Corea, I don't care for his synth playing. He has a tin ear when it comes to picking patches and he definitely doesn't know what he's doing with a Pitch wheel. I prefer Chick's piano and Rhodes playing. I've been that way for many years since RTF days. I much prefer Joe Zawinul, Jan Hammer and George Duke for synth players.
@alvarhanso6310
One doesn't become guitarist for Miles Davis by being conventional, unsurprising, and just having the technical ability to move his fingers really fast. At 80 years old, McLaughlin literally just finished his last tour a few days ago, and was just in the US reunited with Shakti, and still has incredible command of the guitar. Fluidity, speed, tone, and note choice all still incredible. I still vividly recall many looks of awe and surprise on the face of Jimmy Herring as he and McLaughlin traded licks on Mahavishnu material on their double bill tour in 2017, still one of the greatest nights of music in my life.
@integralherbalism3093
I was blessed to attend Shakti's two concerts in London. I've seen him in various shows over the last 20 years but will forever be grateful to have seen Shakti my favorite of John's incarnations. Two of the most powerful concerts I have ever experienced.
@jjmatashi
Thank you sir! I guess Zappa was dealing with how to articulate his envy without sounding envious. And Mclaughlin did not just play scales... he was such a sophisticated, articulate and expressive player.
@haakonlenzi
I also caught one of those Shakti shows this summer it was undoubtedly one of the most amazing performances of my life. Unreal. And that most recent Shakti album is incredible.
@ramonbermejo4525
@@jjmatashi I don't think Zappa is underestimating John McLaughlin. In fact, Zappa admitted several times his limitations as a guitar player. I think it's just that Zappa was not surprised by John McLaughlin's music, which is only a matter of musical taste.
@HurtTurtlesTreehouse
@@ramonbermejo4525 To characterize any of McLaughlin's playing -- with, for instance, the Mahavishnu Orchestra -- as "unsurprising" is, at best, absurd and, at worst, dishonest. When "Birds of Fire" was released, there was nothing to compare with it. I owned all of the Mothers of Invention albums up to and including "Uncle Meat" and Zappa's "Lumpy Gravy," and I saw him perform with the Mothers in Central Park. The band was tight, as he was smart enough to surround himself with competent musicians, but there was nothing surprising or even particularly distinctive in Zappa's own guitar playing.
@christophercole8877
McLaughlin surprised me from the first notes of “Birds of Fire,” when I first heard him in 1972, and never stopped. His speed combined with sophisticated chordal patterns and irregular meters gave him an unequalled range of expression. Sometimes his guitar tone was a bit harsh for my tastes, and some songs were a bit too outre to be beautiful, but he certainly opened wide new vistas of musical exploration. Zappa could also play fast, but not with the same command of scales and modes as McLaughlin, and despite his great talent as a composer and comedic lyricist, Zappa’s guitar work never really “surprised” and delighted me anywhere near as much as McLaughlin’s.
@michael1
I put your theory to test by learning all of McLaughlin's pieces last night and then Zappa's and then asked my wife which surprised her the most and she said she was surprised I hadn't come to bed.
@christophercole8877
@@michael1 LOL
@hubbsllc
I feel the same way. The original MO hit me like a hammer (heh heh) when I was about ten years old and I've been all over that material almost 50 years later.