Jazz Articles about John Coltrane

About John Coltrane

Book Excerpts

John Coltrane: A Deeper Look Into His Iconic Album A Love Supreme

by K. Shackelford
January 25, 2015

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 ...

Jazz Primer

John Coltrane and the Meaning of Life

by Douglas Groothuis
January 22, 2015

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 ...

Lyrics

Coltrane, Mozart, l'inverno del '66 e l'assoluto

by Luca Canini
October 20, 2014

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 ...

Album Review

John Coltrane: Offering: Live At Temple University

Read "Offering: Live At Temple University" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 11, 2014

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 ...

Album Review

John Coltrane: Offering: Live At Temple University

Read "Offering: Live At Temple University" reviewed by Robert Bush

by Robert Bush
August 20, 2014

Discovering unheard John Coltrane material is the Holy Grail for serious music devotees, and the imminent release (Sept.23,2014) of a 1966 live date in the form of Offering: Live at Temple University on the Impulse! label (in conjunction with Resonance Records and Universal Music) to join The Olatunji Concert and One Down, One Up Live at the Half Note in the Coltrane archive is good news, indeed, for those wishing to explore the iconic saxophonist's later years. Adding significantly to ...

Jazz Poetry

The Fire in Coltrane’s Lungs

by Larry Jaffe
August 2, 2014

When the horn sounds the jazz begins Unity rediscovered A crisscross divergence of souls Coltrane steals the birthright of his heritage makes it into music The horn blasts loud and not so pure-- Life lives between the notes not at the end of the song Painfully hidden tones magically appear dragged out one by one by one breathless gasps of tonal agony Coltrane plays tears of subjugation between notes of joyous rhapsody

Extended Analysis

John Coltrane: Live at Birdland

by Nenad Georgievski
December 6, 2013

Historically important recordings by artists that are still celebrated today in most cases are those that have transcended the times they were made in. In those cases are seen more as milestones that mark their progress and advancement as artists. Such is the case with saxophonist John Coltrane where each record in his cannon indicates his progress, insatiable curiosity, zealous dedication and appetite for music. Consequently, this semi live recording Live at Birdland is another stop for him and his ...