Hua Hin Jazz Festival 2006

Peter Somuah, trumpet (Ghana)

To me, John Coltrane stands as one of the true giants of jazz, a musician whose influence reaches far beyond the world of jazz and into the whole of music and culture. What moves me most about Coltrane is the sense that he takes us along with him on his personal, spiritual, technical, and experimental journey.

Anytime I listen to Coltrane, I feel transported to a celestial realm, almost as if the music creates a connection between the human spirit and nature. There is something deeply inward about the sound he creates. The command of the saxophone, the intensity, the vulnerability.

Coltrane left behind a remarkable musical and spiritual legacy that generations of musicians continue to explore, expand, and build upon. For me, listening to Coltrane is not simply listening to jazz. It is experiencing a journey, a search, and a reminder of what it means to give oneself completely to music.

Sean Hong Wei, saxophone (Singapore)

To dedicate one's being entirely to God through music is one of the most noble and inspiring life missions one can pursue, and John Coltrane did just that. I remember my mentor Christy Smith telling me, "Listen to Trane's intro on 'I'm Old Fashioned.' Listen to his sincerity in those notes."

That was a profound experience for me. That was when I realized there are other elements and dimensions of music, such as sincerity, intent, spirit, and a feeling of truth.

When I listen to John Coltrane, I hear a man whose dedication to music was deeply spiritual. Yes, of course there is the element of his genius, but behind that genius was a man with a relentless work ethic who put more time and energy into practicing that horn than most people could imagine.

As my mentor, bassist Reggie Workman, who played with John Coltrane, said, "John told the world that it's important not to lose the spiritual aspect of whatever you do. This is the thing that's going to reach all people because spiritually we are all the same."

John is one of my biggest inspirations. Sometimes I think, how is it that we love so many of our musical heroes, yet we never met them? That's the power of music. His journey has inspired me to seek my own truth, not just as a musician, but as a human being.

I am moved by all periods of Trane. Some of my favorites include the 1960 European tours with Miles, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, Transition, and Live at the Half Note from 1965. It is astounding to me how he changed the course of music multiple times in just a ten-year period, from 1957 to 1967.

We are so blessed to have so many recordings of him. They will last a lifetime and serve as endless inspiration to us if we let our hearts be open. With eternal gratitude to John Coltrane!

Samudi Suraweera, drums, Founder—Musicmatters Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka)

I first heard John Coltrane's A Love Supreme in my mid-twenties, and it made an enormous impression on me. What struck me most was the sheer raw energy and the sense of connection I felt—as though I was right there with them, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison, and McCoy Tyner. All these years later, his music still inspires me, and it's been amazing to see young people I work with—kids from rural parts of Sri Lanka with no upbringing or exposure to jazz—genuinely resonate with Coltrane's music.

Mina Nashaat Marie Gabra, saxophone (Egypt)

John Coltrane stands as an monumental figure in the jazz pantheon, defined by a multi-faceted legacy that completely revolutionized the music's technical, harmonic, and spiritual boundaries. From a technical standpoint, his blinding velocity and dense harmonic overtones birthed the legendary "sheets of sound" phrasing style, permanently altering the saxophone's linear capabilities. Harmonically, his obsessive architectural genius led him to deploy symmetrical chromatic modulations—such as the four-tonic system and the iconic major-third cycles introduced on "Giant Steps." This innovative matrix, forever coined as the "Coltrane changes," defined his seminal Atlantic era and became an inescapable rite of passage for all modern improvisers.

Yet, as his career progressed into the Classic Quartet and avant-garde years, this mathematical precision gave way to pure spirituality. As a pioneer of free jazz, Coltrane transformed improvisation into a profound meditative tool, bypassing traditional Western structures to use his horn as a direct conduit to the divine.

Despite the intellectual rigor of these pioneering harmonic ventures, Coltrane's music was never a detached academic exercise; it was delivered with an extremely heartfelt, touching, and undeniably genuine sonic expression. His mastery of complex theory never overshadowed his ability to communicate raw human emotion. Whether navigating a frantic, multi-key obstacle course or crying out over a static, open-ended avant-garde canvas, his tonal center retained a deeply vulnerable, vocal quality. It is this rare synthesis of uncompromising technical audacity and profound, universal emotional honesty that cements his work not just as brilliant music history, but as an enduring spiritual monument.

As a jazz saxophonist myself, I am constantly exposed to the overwhelming brilliance of Coltrane's late-career innovations—monolithic achievements that could easily fill volumes of musicology literature. However, what resonates most deeply with me, and never fails to touch my soul on a visceral level, is the tender lyricism of his early Prestige and Blue Note periods. There is an irreplaceable magic in his incredibly moving performances on tracks like "My Ideal," "Theme for Ernie," and "I'm Old Fashioned." Long before he dismantled the jazz landscape, his masterful control of the ballad and his elegant, searching phrasing laid the groundwork for everything to come. These specific, timeless recordings will forever shape how I listen to, appreciate, understand, and perform music on my own instrument.

Imran Ahmed, founder-managing director of Butternote Jazz Café, Dhaka (Bangladesh)

John Coltrane has been a huge influence on the way I understand and approach jazz. Tunes like "Giant Steps" pushed me to understand harmony and melodic movement in a much deeper way. And "Naima" taught me how powerful space and simplicity can be. And "Miles Mode" taught me how sophisticated yet fun playing modal can be. The second part of the melody are the same notes played backwards. My mind was blown.

Furthermore, John McLaughlin has always been my guitar hero, so discovering how deeply Coltrane influenced and inspired McLaughlin made my connection with Coltrane even more personal. In a way, exploring Coltrane helped me understand the musical roots of someone who had already been a huge inspiration to me. What I admire most about John Coltrane is that constant desire to explore, evolve and never stay in one place musically.

Elina Duni, vocals (Albania)

There is a moment suspended in time, like an old photograph, where Coltrane's music plays endlessly:

In my native homeland of Albania in the early 2000's, together with my dear friend and pianist Gent Rushi, I spent some time living in an old theatre, rehearsing onstage every day.

After dusk, when everyone else had gone home, there remained only us two and the old brick walls. The only CD I had with me at the time was John Coltrane's Ballads. Each song would resonate every evening, our very own call to prayer.

His unique tenor sound would haunt us for days and nights. We felt so privileged and thrilled to be able to enjoy his music in post-communist Albania, in a provincial town still slowly awakening from half a century of brutal dictatorship. This was a place where nobody had probably even heard the celestial music of John Coltrane before...

This old theatre, this small town and the genius of John Coltrane rising above us all.

Leon "Foster" Thomas, steel pan (Trinidad)

"In any situation in that we find in our lives, when there's something that we feel should be better, we must exert every effort to try and make it better. So, it's the same socially, musically, politically, in any department of your life."(Blank on Blank, 2015)—John Coltrane (interview with Frank Kofsky KPFK 90.7fm in Nov. 1966).

My mentality as a musician is that I can always play better than my last performance. Whether it is the interpretation of a melody, the vocabulary and rhythm I use in my approach to the changes, or my connection to the theme itself, I can dig deeper. This has become something of a mantra. It is in this concept of digging deeper that I draw inspiration from John Coltrane.

Coltrane's playing was a journey into endless possibilities, so much so that it fascinated me every time I listened. He was not just playing an average lick over a 2-5-1, but rather a lyrical Giant Step that opened a new musical dimension. To Coltrane, improvisation was not an academic exercise—a point I feel strongly about—but rather a vehicle for the essence of self-expression. Music was spiritual to him, and therefore improvisation was a manifestation of his spirituality.

I have always been inspired by his extensive practice routine, a routine reflective of a bricoleur sorting through the immense fragments of playing methods and harmonic devices, knowing that there is a possibility of achieving a new musical path outside the ordinary. This form of musical expression is what I also try to emulate in my playing on the steel pan. John was a person on a mission, and in his interview with Frank Kofsky, he made that clear: "I'm trying so many things at one time... I have a whole bag of things I'm trying to work through and get the one essential..."(Orenstein 2010). For John, that one essential was his pursuit of universal truth. His spiritual journey to God.

"The truth itself doesn't have any name on it to me, and each man has to find it for himself." (Meditations, 1965)

As we celebrate the 100th birthday of John Coltrane, I am grateful for his inspiration and for the way his music continues to inspire me to dig deep into the depths of music and to manifest the levels of spirituality that the realms of music have stored in their chambers.

Samuel Laval, saxophone (Mauritius)

As we celebrate the centenary of John Coltrane, I find myself returning to a composition that has always held a very special place in my heart: "Naima."

For me, "Naima" represents the more tender and contemplative side of Coltrane. In a musical world often associated with his extraordinary virtuosity, relentless exploration and spiritual intensity, "Naima" reveals another dimension—simplicity, tenderness and profound emotion.

The melody is deceptively simple yet deeply moving. Coltrane does not need to overwhelm the listener with notes. Every phrase seems carefully placed, allowing the music to breathe. There is a sense of intimacy and serenity that continues to touch me every time I hear it.

What makes Coltrane so extraordinary is precisely this ability to combine technical mastery with humanity. He could push jazz towards unexplored territories while remaining connected to something deeply emotional and universal.

As a jazz musician from Mauritius, I am particularly inspired by the way Coltrane transcended geographical and cultural boundaries. His music belongs not only to America or to jazz, but to the world. His search for expression, spirituality and freedom continues to inspire musicians across generations and continents.

"Naima" is my favourite Coltrane composition because it reminds me that sometimes the most powerful musical statement is not the loudest or the most complicated one, but the one that speaks directly to the soul.

One hundred years after his birth, John Coltrane's voice remains alive—not simply in the history of jazz, but in the hearts and instruments of musicians everywhere.

Thank you, John Coltrane, for showing us that music can be both a journey of discovery and a prayer.

Lockie Bennet, guitar (New Zealand)

John Coltrane—with the Miles Davis Quintet—was one of the first artists I heard when I was initially exposed to this music. His playing on these recordings was always the highlight for me, and I still find myself going back to them regularly.

To me, Coltrane embodies absolute openness and freedom—just as much in his earlier years as his later years. Like his predecessors, Coltrane sounds human and honest. This is what draws me to him and players like Bud Powell and Charlie Parker. My current favourite John Coltrane album would have to be Mating Call with the great, Tadd Dameron.

Christine Jensen, saxophone (Canada)

Coltrane left his mark on me on so many levels through different periods of my life as an evolving saxophonist and composer. His personal saxophone sound is the most striking thing to me. I first heard him on the recordings with Miles Davis. HIs growth from the exercise of "Giant Steps" onward led to a spiritual exploration with meaning, and that period really captivates me.

HIs performance on soprano was equally progressive with use of linear language and tone. I have a deep love for him as a composer, especially after exploring his modal choices that surely evolved from the Kind Of Blue sessions. I think the other mark he made with pushing sound forward was his combination of players with his classic quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. There is a certain magic in that quartet that pushes our ears into a new space.

My favorite recording is Crescent. I am late in my research in discovering his work Blue World (Impulse!) from the same period. There is a Canadian connection at that point. It is crazy that Coltrane only performed in Montreal a few times—he was there in 1963, 1964 and 1965 respectively—and even more interesting that in recent times NFB uncovered the recording he made to go with the film Le Chat Dans Le Sac by Quebec filmmaker Gilles Groulx from mid-'60s, thus Blue World...it is an album of 1964 sessions done between Crescent and A Love Supreme for the film, and released on September 27, 2019 after it was uncovered in the NFB archives.

Apparently the filmmaker was friends with Jimmy Garrison, thus the making of the magical recording. The quartet sounds so in sync on all of the tracks, and it's a really nice set of music with thrust and trust from the band.

Temadayo Balogun, saxophone (Nigeria)

John Coltrane is the reason I play tenor saxophone today.

I first encountered his music just after secondary school, while studying at Peter King College of Music in Lagos, Nigeria. A Love Supreme and Blue Train were among the albums that changed my life. Coltrane became a major influence on me, both as a player and as a composer, and he still is today.

Most of the solos I have transcribed are his. One of my favorites is his solo on "26-2." I have spent a lot of time listening to him and trying to understand what he was doing through those transcriptions. Coincidentally, I am currently transcribing his solo on "Satellite." Even after all these years, I am still learning from him.

A few years ago, while studying at Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I made an Afrobeat arrangement of "Lonnie's Lament." I wanted to honor Fela Kuti and John Coltrane, two revolutionary musicians who are my greatest influences. Bringing Coltrane's composition into Afrobeat felt like a personal way to celebrate both of them. That arrangement will be part of my next album project.

I was also fascinated to learn about his connection with Babatunde Olatunji, a Nigerian-born percussionist. Listening to Africa/Brass deepened that feeling. These connections speak to how much he valued Africa, and as a Nigerian jazz musician, that means a lot to me.

When I think about Coltrane, I think about how much his music has shaped my journey, from my days at Peter King College of Music to what I am working on now. He is the reason I chose the tenor saxophone, and his influence is still very much present in the music I make.

Peter Erdei, bass guitar (Hungary)

As a bass guitarist, John Coltrane's impact on my playing has been less about trying to imitate his tone or phrasing, it is more about how his music changed my views on harmony and improvisation.

His music and playing always encouraged me to listen more deeply and to look past the obvious when figuring out a tune. "Giant Steps" has been particularly important to me. I remember practicing over the changes, connecting the two-five-ones together and trying to make sense of it. I still do time and time again, and it has been a great exercise in learning to hear and understand rapid harmonic movement. At first, the changes can seem almost impossible to create bass lines over that make sense while still being interesting. But as you practice more and more, you eventually begin to understand them. The challenge becomes less about playing the right notes and more about creating something musical to happen within the chord progression.

That was one of the lessons beside "26-2" I take most strongly from Coltrane: difficult changes aren't the purpose, instead they create opportunities for expression. Studying his music pushed me to be more adventurous, yet to remain disciplined. More than anything, I think it made me listen better. His musical legacy continues to be present in my playing, even though I'm no longer consciously thinking about it.

Sri Hanuraga, piano (Indonesia)

My encounter with jazz begins with my pre-teen obsession toward Keith Emerson, the keyboardist of '70s progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). His subversive musical expression, stage act and raw energy propelled me to imitate him in any way I could. Witnessing my relentless endeavor, several prominent Indonesian musicians around me suggested that I needed to undertake a deep study of jazz in order to play like Emerson. Compelled by their advice, I forced myself to listen to some jazz—Charlie Parker, Chick Corea, Bill Evans, to name a few.

The music interested me in some ways, but It wasn't until my encounter with John Coltrane's A Love Supreme in my teenage years that I really fell in love with jazz. The quartet's intensities, raw energy and unapologetic subversiveness intoxicated me. Despite my lack of deeper understanding of their musicality, spirituality and the discourse surrounding the music, it reminded me of ELP—only more intense.

A Love Supreme became my gateway to Coltrane's sound world. After encountering it I began to devour his earlier records and then his later ones. But throughout all these years, A Love Supreme is the one that I always go back to. Each listening reveals new perspective. It begins with the intense yet warmly welcoming energy that, to me, is unparalleled. Many groups within this tradition play with explosive energy, yet they can sometimes reek of testosterone, even of bloodlust of some sort. Trane's was different; there is grace, warmth and something majestic about it.

As my ear developed, my admiration shifted towards his harmonic fluidity, the way he gracefully danced in and out of harmony and created euphonic melodies over superimposed harmonic structures, as if the bar line did not exist. He sounded remarkably free while remaining highly structured at the same time.

Thereafter, I began to realize how McCoy, Elvin, and Jimmy operated interdependently alongside Trane. McCoy weaves harmonic threads that at times tread a different path from Trane's; Jimmy's hard-driving pulse occupies unlikely rhythmic and harmonic spaces; and Elvin's typhoon-like drumming encloses it all. It feels as if they are at ease in the presence of multiple harmonic spaces and temporalities compressed into the present. Undisturbed by nonrelation, untroubled by the need to find themselves reflected in one another, an openness to the exorbitance and underdetermination that result from bringing seemingly incompatible approaches together. This very approach captivated me, but there is something about it that I did not quite understand.

Finally, through my more recent encounter with Black Studies, particularly the writing of Fumi Okiji, I began to better understand my experience of A Love Supreme, and Trane's music in general. Okiji defines blues as an African way of life that is comfortable with containing unresolved contradiction. Something that can be observed in the encounter between African cosmologies and the arrival of Islam and Christianity in Africa, where the latter did not simply supplant pre-existing systems of belief.

In Africa, monotheism found its place within polytheistic worlds but certainly did not displace them. Another example is the contradictory nature of African American subjectivity, particularly the critical character of its obligatory retention of two conflicting positions: that of heterogeneous difference—inhuman, African, internally differentiated— and that of the hegemon—human, white, tending toward homogeneity and resolution. In music, blues becomes a materialization of this African way of relating to the world. At a most immediately recognizable level, this can be heard in the unresolved coexistence of the minor and major.

With this understanding, I began to interpret Trane differently. His freedom within tight structures, his harmonic and rhythmical superimpositions and the interdependent operation of his quartet began to appear to me as an extreme mutation of the blues. Trane understood the essence and generative potential of the blues, of Africanness, and was able to recognize and realize possibilities within it that had remained unexplored.

What ultimately captivates me is not simply Trane's radicalism, but his ability to stand firmly within a tradition while simultaneously pushing that tradition to its limits through the materials available to him at his particular historical moment. It is this tension between fidelity and transformation—between inhabiting a tradition and making its unresolved possibilities audible—that has come to shape my own understanding of jazz and, ultimately, my artistic approach.

Danylo Vinarikov, Saxophone, Bandleader of the Dnipro Big Band (Ukraine)

I was once a first-year student at the music college in Bakhmut, studying classical music, and I hadn't even heard of jazz. I asked my teacher to get me some jazz recordings on CD. My teacher brought me one that contained two albums—Tutu by Miles Davis and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane. The first album I listened to was A Love Supreme. And that's when the magic happened. Back then, I didn't understand what jazz was or how to play it, but A Love Supreme defined the trajectory of my life. From the moment I first discovered jazz music to this day, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme remains my all-time favorite album.

Joey Keysade, piano (Benin)

John Coltrane's music has always meant more to me than notes and harmony; it represents a deep search for truth, freedom, and spiritual connection. In A Love Supreme, you can hear that search, the music feels like a prayer and a journey toward something greater. As a Beninese musician, I connect deeply with that spirit because jazz carries strong African roots.

Coltrane inspires me to look deeper into my own roots and bring the rhythms and spirit of where I come from into my music. His journey reminds me that finding your own voice sometimes means returning to your source. A hundred years after his birth, his music still inspires us to search, question, and discover who we are and will impact generations to come.

Christina Dahl, saxophone (Denmark)

John Coltrane has been, and continues to be, a profound inspiration to me through his endless curiosity and relentless search to develop and refine his musical voice—not only in sound, lines, and harmonic structures, but also in the philosophical and spiritual way he approached his role as a translator of the human spirit through music. There is a depth and honesty in Coltrane's music that touches something deep within my soul.

Kibrom Birhane, piano-keyboards, (Ethiopia)

John Coltrane's music is more than just sound it bridges different cultures. The first time I listened to him, it felt familiar right away. My favorite album, A Love Supreme, connects directly to my roots. It is full of real emotion, sounding like someone singing from the heart and telling a powerful story.

Since Ethiopian music is built on pentatonic scales, Coltrane's heavy use of pentatonic scales, particularly in his later era, aligns perfectly with the spirit of Ethio-jazz. That is why his sound made sense to my ears immediately. The way he plays his lines, his embellishments, and his deep expression touch me like no other artist. Coltrane is one of the main reasons I fell in love with jazz.

Rahim Alhaj, oud (Iraq)

Growing up in Bagdad at that time, only what I would call serious musicians knew about John Coltrane, and it was really hard to find these records. When I was at school I was obsessed with jazz. I thought, 'Wait a minute, this is maqam with different variations to it.' I studied the connection between improvisation in our world and improvisation in jazz and I found a lot of similarities, particularly with standard jazz; there is a seam then an improvisation and then back to the seam. But John Coltrane took a different path. He invented a new voice. That was his genius. His ability to combine innovation and imagination was absolutely fascinating. He was not obsessed about proving himself. He was obsessed about improving himself and that's why he's a genius. He changed the face of jazz.

Toms Rudzinskis, saxophone (Latvia)

What I admire most about John Coltrane is the depth and spiritual dimension in his music. He seemed to be searching for something beyond music itself, creating a language that can reach very deep and feel universal.

To me, Coltrane represents someone who completely transformed the way the saxophone could be played and understood. His harmonic, rhythmic and melodic innovations opened new directions for generations of musicians and changed the trajectory of jazz.

What inspires me most is his constant search and willingness to follow his musical vision wherever it led him. In his relatively short life, he managed to keep evolving, taking enormous creative risks and leaving an influence that is still deeply present in music today.

Leopoldo Osio, piano-keyboards (Venezuela)

With Coltrane for me there's always the sense that the music is reaching for something. You can talk about pentatonic scales, modes, substitutions and sound, all those things are there, and he had an extraordinary command of them. But then there is the question of what they are all leading towards. Listen to A Love Supreme and the question becomes part of the music itself.

There's a spiritual purpose there, a search of something, perhaps god or meaning. You don't have to understand what he is playing to feel that something matters deeply to him. This is what draws me to his music, the search for something that's bigger than music, the ability to move so deeply through it that it opens into something beyond itself, and this is such an important source of inspiration to me.

Gabriel Alegría, trumpet (Peru)

John Coltrane taught us that a melody can travel much farther than the place where it was born. That idea hit me hard when I decided to record "My Favorite Things" with the Afro-Peruvian Sextet, putting Coltrane's concept over a festejo rhythm. Suddenly, when we Peruvian musicians were in the studio with Ron Carter on bass... something deeply American was speaking in the rhythmic language of the Black music of coastal Peru. A festejo was exploding through "My Favorite Things."

And there was something else happening in that recording that meant—more subtly—that Coltrane was present: hearing Laura Andrea Leguía play soprano saxophone on it. There is a particular power in hearing a woman's voice on that instrument, carrying a melody that Coltrane made so personal, and then hearing Laura make it her own. She didn't imitate Coltrane. It was as if she took the door he opened and walked somewhere new.

That recording empowered all of us. It reminded the Sextet that we don't have to choose between honoring the music that shaped us and transforming it through our own musical culture. Coltrane showed us what it means to search beyond what seems possible. For Afro-Peruvian jazz, that search continues—with our own rhythms, our own voices, and our own questions.

Maria Manousaki, violin (Greece)

Listening to John Coltrane specifically play the beautiful tune "In a Sentimental Mood," makes time feel like its slowing down as the melody unfolds. The noise of the day fades into the background, leaving a warm tone that fills the room. It is a quiet, comforting sound that invites you to relax and simply listen.

Lejla Alimanović, vocals (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

"If I should write a..." few thoughts on John Coltrane from this timeline, a century after the birth of this singular saxophonist and composer, my thoughts inevitably return to the Coltrane Changes, which even today resonate with remarkable brightness in our understanding of the full spectrum of musical art.

John Coltrane's artistic oeuvre—his approach to the instrument, melody, harmony, and composition—reflects his "Impressions" of the world he lived in. Deeply inspired by art and his exploration of different cultures and Eastern religious philosophies, he strove for a pure aesthetic concept in which everything had to serve the harmony of the music itself. Trane, as he was called, articulated these impressions of sound by developing them into complex, mathematical, and harmonic structures, through which his soul shimmered at every moment. By breaking through these sonic "Spirals," he paved the way for his "Giant Steps," which remains open today, though only those rare few are able to follow it to the end.

Coltrane belonged to that unrepeatable generation that included Miles Davis. As time has shown, they were true aesthetic kinsmen, despite possessing completely different poetics. For each of them to develop that rare gift, their paths had to branch out into different sonic landscapes. Two distinct paths, yet the same sublime goal—Music.

Trane would "stretch" time like dough, filling it with complex content. In the words of Ira Gitler, he created sheets of sound: dense layers of sound and endless curtains of notes from which, though they moved along wondrous paths, balance always emerged. A pioneer. In an artistic sense, Trane knew how to utilize complex systems elegantly, making them serve equilibrium. Libra. With him, it was precisely the ear that spoke (to borrow a synesthetic play on words inspired by Roland Barthes). For any great musician, the ability to hear deeply is a prerequisite, but with Coltrane, the ear became an organ of perception and knowledge, attuned to an order that transcended technique itself. Relying on the giants who preceded him, he fused precision with raw emotion. Imagination.

He learned composition and harmony from Thelonious Monk, which is highly significant because Monk was a genius whose authentic, enigmatic vision would only be understood and appreciated with the passage of time. I believe that working with that Monk gave John that hidden knowledge that complexity could be the deepest expression of clarity.

Through this rigorous, higher artistic order, Coltrane's work began to resonate on a universal plane, catching echoes of the Pythagorean "music of the spheres." Simultaneously, in an instrumental sense, he pushed the boundaries of human capability, which is perhaps best recognized through his approach to the rhythmic and melodic deconstruction of the phrase. He developed a new approach to the instrument, placing all that filigree work at the service of the whole. It was never mere, cold theory. On the contrary, systems never suppressed emotion in his music; rather, they gave it greater depth and space. Simultaneously a scientist and a shaman, John Coltrane succeeded in entering the very heart of real time, filling it with complex systems and the relationships of harmony and melody. Music simply pours from his playing.

Although he created in the previous century and lived a short life, his music remains vital today. Trane still sounds avant-garde, as if he had arrived from a time that has not yet come. He found inspiration in the music of his peers, whose playing sounded technically complex yet spiritually close to him. That is precisely how I perceive him today: technically elusive, yet spiritually near, in direct resonance with my heart.

In today's era of technological determinism, Coltrane's oeuvre can serve as a reminder that no system, no matter how complex, produces meaning on its own. Technology is a product of the human spirit, whereas music is an artistic medium through which something speaks that cannot be reduced to a function, a data point, or an algorithm. His music reminds us that the spirit cannot be reduced to matter alone. His "Giant Steps" have traversed the 20th and 21st centuries, leaving us a legacy that tells us that our most important capital is spiritual—if we can overcome the ugly discomfort of placing the words "capital" and "soul" in the same sentence. Ultimately, Coltrane's music, at its cosmic peak and destination, is nothing less than a quest for "A Love Supreme."

His timeless legacy lives on through a lineage of saxophonists who continued to follow his tracks, walking the path mentioned above. When we recognize that unique Coltrane-esque fire in the technique and expression of a master like Michael Brecker, whose own legacy continues to resonate long after his passing, we recognize not only the depth of Coltrane's influence but also the highest compliment one musician can pay another: to carry a part of their voice into the future.

A century later, the union of Coltrane's extraordinary technique and sublime soul continues to emit, without end, its most beautiful, eternal sheets of sound. And somehow, "If I should find a twinkling star (...) that star would be" John Coltrane.

Liber Galloso, saxophone (Uruguay)

My experience with the music and work of John William Coltrane goes back to the beginning of my studies as a musician, to my very first steps. The person who introduced me to, and first made me listen to, the music of John William Coltrane was my first teacher, Álvaro Armesto.

From that moment to the present day, now that I have been on this musical journey for thirty years, I have never stopped listening to his work, I have never stopped admiring his work, and every time I hear his music it is like a feeling of renewal. Coltrane's music brings about a renewal in my spirit, a profound sense of contemplation, of joy, and also of impetus—a desire to continue making music.

Music is a supreme, primordial element that makes us human beings more compassionate, that gives us empathy for one another, that brings us together as brothers and sisters. That is what John William Coltrane's music awakens in me.

If I have to talk about a particular album, I cannot say that this is the one I like most, but I have four albums that are reference points for me: Coltrane, Olé, Africa/Brass... Obviously, the period with Jimmy Garrison, McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones is the one that resonates most strongly with me. I believe that those four people created, within jazz and the wider world of music, a new way of conceiving listening and feeling.

Vladimir Karparov, saxophone (Bulgaria)

What impressed me most about John Coltrane was his unique sound on the tenor saxophone. Unlike all the other great tenor saxophonists of that era, he was the first to draw a sound from the instrument that was very different—brighter, more singing, and seemingly closer to that of the alto saxophone. It was precisely this sound that later influenced musicians like Michael Brecker and gave a whole new direction to tenor saxophone playing.

I've always heard in Coltrane's sound—especially in the second octave—how the timbre of each individual chromatic note differs from that of the others, and I've imagined it as beads of tone, like an orchestra performed by a single musician. This is perhaps most vividly felt on my favorite album of his, Ballads (Impulse!, 1963).