Welcome to John Coltrane @ All About Jazz!

This is the first in a series called "The Giants of Jazz", each one dedicated to an outstanding artist who changed the face of jazz with his or her performances, arrangements, style, outstanding groups, and historical impact. In the coming months, we will be producing pages on such greats as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis. Each page will be chock full of links, scholarly writing, discussion groups, CD reviews, photos and artwork, video clips, and other features designed to educate the reader, promote interactive dialogues, and illustrate the breadth and depth of the contributions of each of these landmark musicians to our musical heritage.

John Coltrane @ AAJ is honored that David Liebman and Lewis Porter have come on board as Advisers. Dave, of course is the premier post-Coltrane jazz saxophonist, and Lewis is founder and director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University and has written the definitive biography, John Coltrane, His Life and His Music." They will help us maintain the high standards that are due a musician such as Trane, who gave his life to music as an art form and a spiritual quest.

Importantly, this page is intended to promote scholarly contributions, musical analyses, interviews, recollections, ideas and discussions about Trane. We encourage you to take seriously our request to express yourself here. Write an article, or submit your ideas in a one or two paragraph format, go to Under Discussion Topics and add your own comments, tell us about any Coltrane memorabilia and news clippings you may have. Let us know about Coltrane recordings that aren't on our discography yet. Or initiate your own section of the page. Contact me (Vic Schermer) to get your contributions on line, except for the Discussions, which you can post to directly. (If you have more than a paragraph or two, check with me first via email.)

There is a great deal of "hype" about Jazz today, such as the Ken Burns series on Public Television. While such efforts have their value, they don't help the listener to tune in more deeply to the music itself, which is the greatest tribute a jazz fan can pay a musician. We hope that the "Giants of Jazz" series will not only fill in some of the blanks about the musicians and their work, but will ultimately increase the depth of understanding of their music. In preparing two interviews about Coltrane for All About Jazz, my own appreciation and grasp of his music went from a guy who made music that sang to a master who expressed his soul in phenomenal ways. Jazz is one of the deepest modes of communication and artistry in human history.

John Coltrane @ AAJ is also designed to encourage musicians to exchange ideas. Under Discussion: Musicians on Coltrane: How did Coltrane influence you? is a forum for musicians to share their ideas to a wider audience, which they often do not have time to do when they perform. Musicians: Welcome!

So, browse John Coltrane @ AAJ, click various links, and home in on the pieces that interest you the most. Enjoy! And most of all, contribute your thoughts!

Vic Schermer
Managing Editor
John Coltrane @ All About Jazz

P.S. We asked Dave Liebman to write some comments on the importance of Coltrane and the significance of his music (see The Relevance Of John Coltrane Today). It's a good place to start, and it's right here.