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John Coltrane: Blue Train – Blue Note 1577
by Marc Davis
John Coltrane was arguably the greatest jazz musician of the 1950s and '60s. Blue Note Records was arguably the greatest jazz label of the same period. And yet they had almost nothing to do with each other. Except for one album--and it's a classic. Blue Train is one of a handful of Coltrane's best-known and best-loved works. It came in 1957, just as Coltrane was making his name with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, and it ...
Continue ReadingIf Coltrane emerged today, would he receive recognition and appreciation?
by Maxim Micheliov
A while ago I had a chat with Vytautas Labutis, an influential Lithuanian saxophonist, educator and, at the time, curator of Vilnius Mama Jazz Festival. He said: “The list of players with top skills is almost endless. Today we have kids who can do amazing things on their instruments, but the world is waiting for a new Coltrane." This phrase set my mind to thinking about this nearly religious aspect of contemporary jazz reality. If He arrives, how will we ...
Continue ReadingJohn Coltrane: Exploring the Mystery of A Love Supreme, Part 2
by K. Shackelford
Part 1 | Part 2 This year marks the 50th anniversary of John Coltrane's album, A Love Supreme. Here is a critical engagement of various parts of A Love Supreme by UC-Berkeley professor and author Dr. Scott Saul. The excerpt is taken from his award winning book Freedom Is, Freedom Ain't: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties. Saul provides a penetrating analysis of the deep spirituality embedded in Coltrane's iconic album, supported by a sharp musical ...
Continue ReadingJohn Coltrane: A Deeper Look Into His Iconic Album A Love Supreme
by K. Shackelford
Part 1 | Part 2 This year marks the 50th anniversary of John Coltrane's album, A Love Supreme. Here is a critical engagement of Coltrane's 4th movement entitled “Psalm" by UC-Berkeley professor and author Scott Saul. The excerpt is taken from his award winning book entitled Freedom Is, Freedom Ain't: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties. “Psalm" extends the recitative texture of the opening moments of “Liberia" over its entirety. For seven minutes, Coltrane ...
Continue ReadingJohn Coltrane and the Meaning of Life
by Douglas Groothuis
Few jazz musicians inspire more respect or demand more attention than John Coltrane. Elvin Jones, Coltrane's drummer in “The Classic Quartet" (1961-65), said that most people who listen seriously to John Coltrane's music eventually acquire all of his recordings. I find that those who hear Coltrane for who he was want to hear all that he was. I am one of these completists, ever scanning music stores and the Internet to find new releases. The man behind the music fascinates ...
Continue ReadingColtrane, Mozart, l'inverno del '66 e l'assoluto
by Luca Canini
Offering: Live at Temple University È una sublime vertigine quella che fa mancare la terra sotto i piedi quando ci si avvicina, biograficamente e musicalmente, agli ultimi mesi della vita di Mozart. Mesi scanditi da uno straniante e straziante distaccamento dalle cose terrene, dagli affanni e dalle meschinità del quotidiano viennese; mentre le forme si sfaldano, le categorie estetiche si sbriciolano, gli orpelli vengono spazzati via con i virtuosismi, e la musica, citando Massimo Mila, sembra porsi ...
Continue ReadingJohn Coltrane: Offering: Live At Temple University
by Chris M. Slawecki
Offering: Live at Temple University finally and officially releases the John Coltrane concert (in)famous for him singing with his voice in addition to singing through his saxophone during several pieces. Released on the saxophonist's 88th birthday (September 23, 2014), it presents a genuinely legendary 1966 performance in a small hall about ten blocks from Coltrane's own home in his adopted Philadelphia hometown, plus a snapshot of one of his most musically combustible ensembles: His wife Alice Coltrane on piano, Pharoah ...
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