Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

HISTORY OF JAZZ February 29, 2020

The John Coltrane Home in Philadelphia: The Fight to Preserve an Historic Landmark

John Coltrane (1926-1967) was in the upper echelon of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. He, along with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, and other innovators, changed the face of jazz forever. Beyond such encomiums, Coltrane has become a great African American hero, overcoming his heroin addiction, experiencing a spiritual awakening which he brought to realization in his devoted marriages to Naima and Alice Coltrane, their children, and music (the iconic albums A Love ...

RADIO January 14, 2020

John Coltrane - The Final Act (1961 - 1967)

By Russell Perry

John Coltrane is undoubtedly one of the most influential players in the history of jazz, yet his important work fits within a brief twelve-year period (1955—1967). Previously in this series we have covered his work in the 1950s with Miles Davis for Prestige and Columbia, his blowing sessions on Prestige, his solo work with Blue Note (Blue Train), his breakout recordings for Atlantic (Giant Steps) and his collaborations with Duke Ellington and Johnny Hartman. In this hour, we will focus ...

RADIO September 24, 2019

Impressions of Coltrane

By Bob Osborne

To mark reaching the 350th edition of World of Jazz a show focusing on the music of John Coltrane with music from the man and also interpretations of his compositions by other jazz artists.... Playlist John Coltrane “Billie's Bounce" from The Prestige Recordings (Prestige) 00:00 Khan Jamal “Blues for P.C." from Impressions of Coltrane (Steeplechase) 10:44 Jack DeJohnette, Matthew Garrison, Ravi Coltrane “Alabama" from In Movement (ECM) 19:51 Teodross Avery “Blues Minor" from After The Rain, A Night For Coltrane ...

ALBUM REVIEW September 21, 2019

John Coltrane: Blue World

By Victor L. Schermer

Discovering old and forgotten audio tapes of a jazz icon like John Coltrane is always exciting, but their posthumous release can have mixed motives. Taking advantage of the musician's name to make money is less salutary than, say, providing more great music for the public or providing opportunities for enthusiasts and scholars to fill in gaps and trace the musician's progress. Always in the background is the question of whether the musician would have permitted their release if he or ...

RADIO July 11, 2019

Discoveries... and Re-Discoveries

By Patrick Burnette

Two major reissues and one highly publicized discovery from the 1960s provide the core of this round's podcast, as the boys discuss the latest album from the John Coltrane Quartet (despite the insistence of one internet denizen that “Coltrane's creativity really dropped off in the seventies") and then look at lavishly repacked work from Sonny Clark and Eric Dolphy. Pop matters rounds things out with discussions of the personal politics of listening to Jimi Hendrix, the latest Beatles remixes, and ...

RADIO June 2, 2019

A dip in the archive

By Bob Osborne

In a slight change from the usual new music dominated shows a reflective trawl through my jazz collection with a few handpicked gems from my favourite artists... Playlist John Coltrane “Africa" from Africa/Brass (Impulse) 00:00 Eric Dolphy “Alone Together" from Musical Prophet -The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions (Resonance) 16:56 Ornette Coleman “Comme Il Faut" from Crisis (ABC/Impulse) 31:09 Miles Davis “Mtume" from Get Up With It (Columbia) 46:00 Joe Henderson “Ask Me Now" from An Evening ...

THE VINYL POST May 22, 2019

Coltrane 58: The Prestige Recordings

By C. Andrew Hovan

Some fifty-two years since his death, the shadow of John Coltrane looms large in the minds of many jazz fans and musicians. Over the past few years this has been aided and abetted by the fact that his music continues to be repackaged. In the case of last year's Both Directions at Once, some previously unissued sides even brought further clarity to the saxophonist's development at Impulse Records in the mid '60s. Concurrent with the fascination of all-things-Coltrane ...