John Coltrane (1926-1967)

John Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina and grew up in High Point, North Carolina.  Coltrane was born into a musical family, his father played ukulele and violin and his mother played piano.  Both parents also sang.  The family lived with Coltrane's grandfather, who was a prominent minister in the High Point community.

In 1939 Coltrane's mother moved to Philadelphia after the death of his father and grandfather.  Coltrane stayed in North Carolina long enough to finish high school and then moved to be with his mother in 1944.  Following a two year stint playing clarinet in the U.S. Navy band Coltrane returned to Philadelphia, where he began to work by playing in both rhythm & blues and jazz bands, mostly on alto saxophone.  In 1949 Coltrane was recorded for the first time with Dizzy Gillespie's big band, now on tenor saxophone.  He stayed with Gillespie past the break up of the big band and played in Gillespie's small group until 1951, when he returned to Philadelphia to go to school.

Coltrane continued to play as a sideman for such bandleaders as Johnny Hodges but did not receive much recognition until 1955, when he was asked by Miles Davis to join his newly formed quintet.  It was during Coltrane's tenure with Davis, from 1955-1957 and then 1958-1960 that he would grow as a musician, change his stylistic approach, and receive an international reputation as an improviser of the highest level.

Listen to this excerpt from Coltrane's solo with Davis in 1955 on the blues composition "Two Bass Hit".  At this period in Coltrane's development he had mastered the technique of the tenor saxophone and was already considered an original and innovative soloist.  His style was already very energetic, a trait that would be evident throughout every style period he went through.  His tone was darker in these earlier periods with Davis than it would become later.

In 1957 Coltrane's addiction to drugs and alcohol would affect his playing to the point where Davis fired him from his group.  Davis, who had kicked his own heroin habit in 1955, not only wanted the best possible sound from his group but also probably wanted to avoid exposure to the drug and a possible relapse of his own.

Where Davis had kicked his addictions cold turkey by locking himself in his father's house until the withdrawal symptoms subsided, Coltrane turned to the religious and spiritual influence of his minister grandfather.  Coltrane would later say about this time, "I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life, In gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music."

Coltrane spent the rest of 1957 playing with pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, producing some very high quality recordings and absorbing lessons that Monk had to offer.  Coltrane stated that his experiences with Monk "brought me close to a musical architect of the highest order.  I felt I learned from him in every way - through the sense, theoretically, technically."

Miles Davis rehired Coltrane in 1958.  Coltrane was not only spiritually a different man, but his style had changed by this point as well.  This period begins Coltrane's infatuation with the possibilities of different chord progressions and ways to superimpose different chord progressions over what the rhythm section would be playing.  Many earlier jazz artists had begun to add new chord changes to preexisting progressions, such as the bebop innovation of "turnarounds," but Coltrane took this idea a step farther.  Coltrane's chord substitutions usually involved distantly related keys that provided a very tense sound that could be resolved very effectively.  His improvisations at this time were densely packed with chord arpeggios and experiments of different types of note choices.  Often this style period is referred to as Coltrane's "sheets of sound" period.

Listen to this excerpt of Coltrane's solo from a 1958 recording of "Two Bass Hit."  Coltrane breaks up his fast runs of chord arpeggios silences before breaking off on his chordal explorations.

The culmination of Coltrane's experiments with chord progressions would be his 1959 recording Giant Steps.  The title track of this album showed Coltrane's ability to play not only unusual chord progressions where each chord lasted only two or four beats, but also his facility to play his unique ideas over incredibly fast tempos.  Coltrane would say on the liner notes of this album, "I feel like I can't hear but so much in the ordinary chords we usually have going in the accompaniment. I just have to have more of a blueprint. It may be that sometimes I've been trying to force all those extra progressions into a structure where they don't fit, but this is all something I have to keep working on. I think too that my rhythmic approach has changed unconsciously during all this, and in time, it too should get as flexible as I'm trying to make my harmonic thinking."

Listen to this MP3 file of an excerpt from Coltrane's first solo on "Giant Steps" and listen to how Coltrane solos over this chord progression.

In 1960 Coltrane formed his classic quartet, with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums.  This quartet would be highly influential to the shape of jazz, becoming one of the predominant small group approaches up to today.  This group was noted for its unique approach to performing, primarily by deviating from explicit demarcations of the beat into measures, avoiding accompanimental style where chords changed frequently, avoiding simple ride cymbal patterns and walking bass lines, and little bouncing solo lines of eighth-note lines.  This group also expanded their approach through the following ways (see Mark C. Gridley, Jazz Styles; History and Analysis, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2000, page 272 in the Gridley):

1.              Pedal points (sustained or repeated bass tones)

2.              Drum patterns which occupied several measures, rather than one or two

3.              Loud, sustained piano chords

4.              Use of a single mode (a scale) or a two chord pattern over long periods of time, rather than a typical chord progression (modal jazz)

5.              Long saxophone glissandos used to preface a dramatic high note, evoke a rhapsodic effect, or to snake around a central motif (similar to Johnny Hodges from Duke Ellington’s band)

6.              Sustained saxophone pitches to break up the densely packed runs

7.              A long term continuity of mood throughout the entire composition or album, instead of changing the mood for each soloist

It was also about this time that Coltrane began experimenting with the soprano saxophone, an instrument not used much in jazz since Dixieland styles.  After Coltrane began recording and performing on soprano, in addition to tenor saxophone, many other saxophonists, including Sonny Rollins and Cannonball Adderley, began to play soprano as well.  It is not a coincidence that the popularization of the soprano saxophone also occurred at the same time that the general volume level of groups began getting louder.  In order to cut over the sound of loud drums and amplified rhythm instruments many saxophonists turned to the higher register of the soprano.  Additionally, the sound of the soprano had become new again, not having been heard regularly for so long.

Listen to this excerpt from Coltrane's recording of "My Favorite Things," on which he plays soprano saxophone.  Another thing to note about this recording is the use of a two chord vamp (two chord repeated) as the basis for improvisation.  Rather than improvising around the chord progressions the soloists base their improvisations on playing modes (modal jazz).

In 1965 the classic Coltrane Quartet recorded the album A Love Supreme.  This religious and spiritually inspired album is noted as one of Coltrane's masterpieces; a summation of his style period to this time.  Listen to an excerpt from the first track of four, "Part 1-Acknowledgement."  The four note motif first heard in the bass and later chanted by Coltrane forms the basis for this entire composition.

Following A Love Supreme Coltrane began to explore the possibilities that free jazz had to offer.  Like all of his other stylistic directions, jazz musicians were inspired by the approach and originality Coltrane took and began to perform and record in a free jazz format.

The impact of Coltrane's classic combo and his saxophone improvisations are still felt by today's jazz musicians.  There is quite a bit of controversy over his continuing influence as well.  His playing has influenced so many musicians, particularly tenor saxophonists, that many critics complain about a general lack of originality in today's players.

By 1966 internal strife, in part caused by Coltrane's increasing quest for finding new musical styles to explore, had caused the breakup of Coltrane's quartet.  Although he continued to perform with bassist Jimmy Garrison, after this point Coltrane would be accompanied by his wife Alice on piano and Rashied Ali on drums.

John Coltrane died on July 17, 1967 of liver failure, leaving behind a legacy of music and recordings which was mostly unappreciated during his life, but is gaining recognition as some of the most innovative and influential jazz ever performed.

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