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Yusuf Roshd

Julius Williams

08 August 2018

John Coltrane: The Musical Revolutionary

As time progresses each passing moment, history is made. Evolution is a constant for

humanity whether it be in humans themselves, the wildlife around us, the growing of technology,

and of course the evolution of music. By referring to the evolution of music, the way music has

changed its shape since the earliest times. In this context, the evolution of what is known as jazz

music came from the early days of slave labour America and the blues. Jazz evolved from the era

of Blues and Soul music sung by the African slaves brought by ship to the United States, singing

about life and woe being chained and forced to work for practically nothing. It was this sort of

music that was fueled by emotion and the emotional perspective of musicality kept going as the

Blues turned into Ragtime, New Orleans Jazz, Big Band, and eventually in Bebop. While bebop

pioneers such as saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and pianist

Thelonious Monk focused more on technique and expressing themselves through fast paced

playing - there was one individual that had stood out among the rest: John Coltrane. Coltrane

became a mainstay in the jazz world, changing the way that musicians approached music as well

as altering compositional methods and techniques. Coltrane took what had already been given

with the rise of the Bebop era and turned it into what has been known to the world as “Free

Jazz,” a new way of playing where chords and tempo changes had become altered and brought

more expressive freedom into the music. In a way, Coltrane brought forth a completely different
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way of approaching music not only from a technical standpoint, but from an emotional and

somewhat psychological standpoint.

Who was John Coltrane?

Arguably considered the greatest tenor saxophonist to ever live - John William Coltrane was

born on September 26th, 1923 in Hamlet, North Carolina. Coltrane was the son of tailor and

occasional musician John R. Coltrane and had grown up surrounded by music, listening to his

father and later being influenced by the likes of composer Count Basie and his tenor saxophonist

in the Count Basie Big Band - Lester Young.1 His grandfather - Rev. William W. Blair - was a

Church minister in the High Point/Hamlet area. As a child attending church later helped shape

the spiritual side of Coltrane’s musicality.2 Growing up, Coltrane had taken up the alto

saxophone and clarinet - becoming proficient in both.3 After his father had passed away and his

family ran into financial troubles, Coltrane’s mother had relocated the family to New Jersey,

where Coltrane had attended high school. Following high school, he moved to Philadelphia to

pursue an education in the musical arts by studying at the Ornstein School of Music in 1943.

John Coltrane had only spent a couple of years at Ornstein before being drafted to the Navy - and

was stationed in Hawaii. It was while he was stationed that Coltrane performed to lighten the

mood with his fellow sailors and made his first recording in 1945.4 In 1946, Coltrane was

1
​“John Coltrane.” Biography.com, 8 June 2018,
www.biography.com/people/john-coltrane-9254106.
2
​“Coltrane, John William (1926-1967) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed.” St. Clair,
Stephanie (1886–1969) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed,
www.blackpast.org/aah/coltrane-john-william-1926-1968.
3
​Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “John Coltrane.” Encyclopædia Britannica,
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 13 July 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/John-Coltrane.
4
​www.britannica.com/biography/John-Coltrane.
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discharged from the Navy and had returned to Philly to study at the Granoff School of Music -

where he made the switch from alto to tenor saxophone.5 It was by this time that Coltrane had

become a household name, garnering the attention of jazz heavyweights Miles Davis and Bebop

pioneer Dizzy Gillespie.6

The Era of Trane

After becoming a renowned name in the music industry for his playing capabilities, John

Coltrane found himself performing in a big band led by Dizzy Gillespie in 1949 - playing the

alto saxophone. After the big band broke up in 1950, Coltrane - now going by the nickname of

“Trane” had kept with Gillespie and played tenor saxophone in his smaller band until 1951.7 By

1953, Trane had begun playing with his idol Johnny Hodges, who was on a sabbatical period

from Duke Ellington’s Orchestra. It was with Hodges that Coltrane had developed new

approaches to playing the saxophone. Coincidentally enough, Duke Ellington had hired Coltrane

to fill in for Johnny Hodges, but had fired him after a year due to his increasing drug habits After

freelancing between 1954 and 1955, Trane had received a phone call from Bebop trumpeter and

eventual Fusion pioneer Miles Davis to join the Miles Davis Quintet. Then known as the “first

great quintet,” Coltrane and Davis created records that highlighted the improvisational abilities

of Coltrane.8 The quintet eventually disbanded in 1956 and from there John Coltrane had taken

6
​“John
Coltrane.” Jama Masjid, Delhi - New World Encyclopedia,
www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entr
7
​www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_Coltrane
8
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_Coltrane
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some leadership skill he learned from working with Miles and wanted to put it to some use.

However before he could do so, he had some habits of his own to cut.

The Awakening

After the breakup of the Miles Davis Quintet, John Coltrane had been off freelancing yet again

while using the skills taken from his time in the quintet. He would allow the other musicians to

solo with little to no interference, there would be no wordplay between songs and also no

introductions. Coltrane refrained from being a public figure as proven by his broken relationship

with his crowds and media, while also being criticized as having a “angry and harsh” tone.9 In

1957, Trane had then ceased his addictions to Heroin and other drugs and allowed himself to

concentrate on the expansion and evolution of his own music. Later on in the year, Trane had

begun a six month tenure in New York City playing with pianist Thelonious Monk and began to

further awaken his spiritual side and further develop his skill set. While working with Monk, two

very important moments came out of it. The first being the release of his record ​Blue Train​ in

1958, and second being the formation of his “Sheets of Sound” concept.10

“The notes that Trane was playing in the solo became more than just one note following another.

The notes came so fast, with so many overtones and undertones...they had the effect of a piano

player striking chords rapidly but articulating separately each note in the chord.” - American Poet

Amiri Baraka (FKA LeRoi Jones)

9
www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_Coltrane
10
​ ww.britannica.com/biography/John-Coltrane.
w
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This newfound concept brought by his flurry of notes showed Coltrane’s technical abilities as

well as his emotional side as a performer. It had also shown his fascination and love for chord

progressions, wanting to take them further. He had done so with his 1959 release: ​Giant Steps.11

Miles Away from Bebop

After his tenure with Thelonious Monk and learning new concepts and techniques, John Coltrane

had returned to the Miles Davis Quintet where he worked with the like of saxophonist

Cannonball Adderley; Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, and Bill Evans on piano; Paul Chambers on

Bass; and Jimmy Cobb and Philly Joe Jones on the drums. This reincarnation of the Miles Davis

Quintet had gone on to record albums such as ​Milestones​ and what most agree on being the most

impactful jazz record of all time: ​Kind of Blue.12 The record had become the spark that changed

the outlook on jazz from then on. Kind of Blue was a far more subtle and spacious record than

any of its Bebop predecessors. Pianist Bill Evans had used very radical chord voicings and

drummer Jimmy Cobb only played on one cymbal for the entire record - never once leaving the

ride. On top of that, the record took a more “modal” approach coming from a compositional

standpoint where scale patterns other than major and minor were being used. This was an

experimental time for Miles Davis and his partnership with John Coltrane allowed his

experiments to come alive in the greatest ways possible, and in return - the duo would become

legends of the jazz world. Two weeks after the sessions of Kind Of Blue had finished, Coltrane

took off from the Quintet to record his new record that would also shake the landscape of jazz -

Giant Steps - ​using his own group of musicians. Another very modal record, the title track of the

11
​ ww.britannica.com/biography/John-Coltrane.
w
12
w​ ww.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_Coltrane.
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record featured a chord progression so difficult that it took Coltrane three years of practicing it to

be able to masterfully improvise over it. It was after this that Coltrane had taken up the soprano

saxophone, left the Miles Davis Quintet, and formed what may have been the greatest span of

years in his career.

New Group, New Coltrane

In 1960, after releasing Giant Steps to the world and leaving the Miles Davis Quintet, John

Coltrane had put together his first properly led group - a quartet. In this quartet with Coltrane

were some of the greatest to play their respective instruments featuring McCoy Tyner on piano,

Steve Davis on upright bass, and Elvin Jones on the drums. At this point in John Coltrane’s

career while taking a modal approach to his compositions, he began to incorporate musical

traditions from Africa, slave spirituals, and the blues into his writing.13 After that, Coltrane began

to include traditional elements from Europe and India not only into his compositions, but into his

techniques with the soprano saxophone. In 1961, the John Coltrane Quartet had recorded a modal

jazz record entitled ​My Favorite Things​ - which had featured a modal take on the Rodgers and

Hammerstein classic of the same name from the musical “The Sound of Music.” In this and on

future records, Coltrane looked to become more and more harmonically stable in his writing so

that he could create new ways to approach his improvising from a standpoint of rhythm, melody,

and motif.14

​ ww.blackpast.org/aah/coltrane-john-william-1926-1968.
w13

“​ John Coltrane.” Jama Masjid, Delhi - New World Encyclopedia,

www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_Coltrane.
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Trane’s Favorite Things

What exactly was it that brought John Coltrane to where he kept his harmonic progressions

stable and not rampant like Giant Steps had been? Why was it that he began to incorporate

influences from India, Europe and his African heritage into his compositions and technique? By

the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, Coltrane - along with then quartet member Eric Dolphy - had

been considered members of the Anti-Jazz/post-Bebop movement. While Coltrane and Dolphy

still kept their technical chops up, they focused more on expression - which saw them be heavily

criticized by other musicians including Miles Davis. When ​My Favorite Things​ was released in

1961, fans of Coltrane knew that he was taking a different approach with his playing compared

to his days with Dizzy or with Miles. Around this time, John Coltrane had learned about Indian

scales and modes from Sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar and studied African rhythms with Michael

Babatunde Olatunji from Nigeria.15 In the title track of My Favorite Things, Coltrane utilized the

knowledge of modes he had gained from Ravi Shankar, as the tune revolves around E major and

E minor but played in a phrygian mode by Bill Evans. That coupled with Coltrane’s tone on the

soprano sax - which has been said to replicate the sound of an Indian reed instrument known as

the ​Shennai -​ gave the reimagining of the musical classic a more foreign feeling to it. When

listening to the title track, it can be very well heard that Coltrane gives it a Middle Eastern

approach, allowing John and band to become far more creative with what they’ve been given and

created from it.

​ World Music Influences on John Coltrane's Music.” KCRW, 19 Jan. 2018,

www.kcrw.com/music/shows/tom-schnabels-rhythm-planet/world-music-influences-on-john-coltr
anes-music.
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Avant Garde and the End of Coltrane

In the early 1960’s following the success of the original John Coltrane Quartet and having done a

residency at the Village Vanguard, the quartet released their masterpiece - a 4 movement suite

entitled ​A Love Supreme. ​This record was more about Coltrane’s faith and love for God than

modality - it was atonal - or technicality. It was a record of pure expression coming from John

Coltrane, and the spiritual elements of the record highlighted what would become of John

Coltrane’s standpoint in composition and performance until his passing.16 In a way, A Love

Supreme was the highlight and foundation of Coltrane’s movement into the era of Avant Garde

Jazz. After the records release, Coltrane began to dive into the world of Avant Garde/Free Jazz

by influence of dissonance found in the playing of musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra,

and Albert Ayler. Coltrane had found a new love in dissonance brought in techniques he had

used in the Miles Davis/early Coltrane Quartet days by utilizing multiphonics, overblowing and

playing in the altissimo register. When recording, Coltrane had gone back to the tenor saxophone

and using his once criticized dark and full tones and using it to his advantage in this new strange

era of jazz. Over the years following, Coltrane had seen the Quartet go through changes -

including the departures of Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner and the arrivals of his wife Alice

Coltrane on piano; Rashied Ali on the drums; and Bebop legend - and also devout Muslim -

Pharoah Sanders as a second horn in the group. By this point in time, the once grand John

Coltrane Quartet had become a group dedicated to praise of the higher powers that be through

their instruments. A group that began to abandon the compositional foundation of music and go

back to the days of the slaves where their songs were expressed from the heart and soul. By the

​ John Coltrane.” Jama Masjid, Delhi - New World Encyclopedia,

www.newworldencyclopedia.org/en
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end of the second quartet’s time, Coltrane had matched Sanders with his usage of overblowing

and multiphonics to tell his story through the horn. Although somewhat abrasive of sound to

hear, it was how Coltrane evolved with the times. On July 11th, 1967, John Coltrane had passed

away due to liver cancer in Long Island, New York. Since then, Coltrane has been widely

considered as the most influential tenor saxophonist of all time, with his works from the three

major eras of his life influencing many great musicians around the world today including that of

Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana. Since his passing, his oldest son Ravi Coltrane followed in the

footsteps of his father by maintaining the traditions of Bebop and Avant Garde jazz. While it

may not be popular in this day and age, John Coltrane’s trek through the realm of jazz from the

1940’s until his death changed the way jazz is perceived by the new generation. The Big band

era was about showmanship and dancing, the Bebop era was about technicality. The

post-Bebop/Avant Garde era of John Coltrane had shown that there is more to music than just the

notes or chord symbols on the page. Expression is so important as a performer, regardless of

religious or cultural beliefs, that a musician must stay true to one’s self and show their thoughts

and mindsets through the power of music.

Works Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “John Coltrane.” ​Encyclopædia Britannica​,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 13 July 2018,

www.britannica.com/biography/John-Coltrane.

“Coltrane, John William (1926-1967) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed.” ​St. Clair,

Stephanie (1886–1969) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed​,

www.blackpast.org/aah/coltrane-john-william-1926-1968.

“John Coltrane.” ​Biography.com,​ A&E Networks Television, 8 June 2018,

www.biography.com/people/john-coltrane-9254106.

“John Coltrane.” ​Jama Masjid, Delhi - New World Encyclopedia​,

www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_Coltrane.

“World Music Influences on John Coltrane's Music.” ​KCRW​, 19 Jan. 2018,

www.kcrw.com/music/shows/tom-schnabels-rhythm-planet/world-music-influences-on-jo

hn-coltranes-music.