Tom Vincent - John Coltrane - Development of the Modal Style

JOHN COLTRANE: The Development of the Modal Style Period

Tom Vincent

Thesis submission in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Music (Honours)

October 1999

School of Music Victorian College of the Arts University of Melbourne

Statement of authenticity This thesis is the original work of Tom Vincent. Where the research of other authors has been discussed it has been referenced in the text.

Tom Vincent October 1999

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Acknowledgments I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to Andy Sugg, Tim Stevens, Gillian Wills, Laurel Hemming, and Clare Rhoden who have taught me so much this year and who have helped me with the writing of this thesis. With their inspiration, encouragement, and practical advice, this paper has also come into being thanks to Lucie Samek, Matthew Firth, Campbell Vincent, Ralph Newmark, and my parents, Roger and Carol. Special thanks are due to Marc Meader for inspiring me with his own appreciation of John Coltrane and sharing many rare recordings with me.

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Contents Foreword Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 2

Biography

Chapter 3

Literature Review

Chapter 4

Musical Influences

Chapter 5

Coltrane's Modal Period

Chapter 6

The Final Year of Coltrane's Modal Period, Three Musical Examples: "Acknowledgement" "Brasilia" "Transition"

Chapter 7

Conclusion

Appendix A

Transcriptions of Coltrane's Improvisations: "Acknowledgement" "Brazilia" "Transition"

Appendix B

Chronology of the Recordings made of Coltrane from December 1964 to November 1965

Bibliography Discography

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Foreword

"My goal is to live the truly religious life and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there’s no problem because the music is just part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith , my knowledge, my being...When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups. I think music can make the world better and, if I’m qualified, I want to do it. I’d like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.”

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"The true powers of music are still unknown. ... I’m passionate about understanding these forces. ... It’s in that direction that I want to commit myself and to go as far as possible."

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JOHN COLTRANE

Chapter 1 1Lewis

Porter. John Coltrane, His Life and Music, University of Michigan Press, Ann

Arbor, 1998, 231 2Porter

213

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Inroduction

"I was a waiter at the Village Vanguard in the early 1960s, and to me Coltrane was like Bach; for me there's no one after either of them."

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In common with Bach, Coltrane was a man of incredible musical maturity with a prolific, consistently high quality output. Like Bach he was also a composer, an improviser, and a deeply religious man.

This paper investigates Coltrane's

pioneering of modal jazz, with particular reference to three musical examples from the final year of his modal period. Two pivotal albums from 1959 that involved Coltrane were prominent jazz trumpeter and band leader Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and Coltrane's ground breaking Giant Steps. Through the early 1960s his output was profuse. In 1964 he recorded only two albums, Crescent and A Love Supreme. The following year, the final year of his modal period, there were sixteen recordings made of Coltrane. Coltrane was a virtuoso saxophonist and a highly influential composer. A relentless investigator of world musics, he became the forbear of modal jazz. Through the 1960s, while Davis's music developed mostly with underlying chordal concepts, Coltrane developed compositions with reduced harmonic rhythm. This modal approach allowed Coltrane to produce music of a wide emotional range and of exceptional energy and intensity. The Classic Coltrane Quartet was Coltrane's band of the period from 1961 to 1965. It must be taken into account that there was a special chemistry between the members of the Classic Coltrane Quartet, whose fertility enabled Coltrane to give realisation to his concepts. Coltrane's influence on McCoy Tyner (piano) is widely 3J.C.

Thomas, Chasin' the Trane, Double Day, N.Y. 1976.p152 quote from Burt

Britton

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evident in the music. The rapport between Elvin Jones (drums) and Coltrane is one of the most fertile in jazz. Jimmy Garrison (bass) played with an equally original style and sufficient humility to make the whole sound work so well. He followed Coltane's improvised implied harmonic movements with seemingly psychic synchronicity. In particular this paper examines three of Coltrane's improvisations. These are "Acknowledgement" from A Love Supreme, recorded on 9 December 1964, "Brasilia" from The John Coltrane Quartet Plays , recorded on 17 May 1965, and "Transition" from Transition, recorded on 10 June 1965.

Chapter 2

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Biography

John William Coltrane, an only child, was born on 23 September 1926 in North Carolina. His father died when Coltrane was twelve. His mother’s father, an authoritative, patriachal figure, was a Methodist minister. At the age of twelve Coltrane's grades at school declined as his interest in music took over. By the age of seventeen, Coltrane was playing professionally, having moved from playing clarinet to alto saxaphone. After the second world war, Coltrane, in his early twenties, was playing tenor saxaphone with Navy bands. The beauty of his melodic invention is apparent in Coltrane's recordings from the late 1940s and early 1950s as well as in his early compositions. The bebop revolution was in full swing and Coltrane was an active participant. By the mid 1950s he had joined the bebop band of Miles Davis and was receiving international acclaim. His music was strong, but after years of heroin addiction and alcoholism he had become unprofessional and was fired by Davis, a former heroin addict himself who wanted Coltrane to give up the drug.

Later

Coltrane rejoined Davis but soon left to lead his own group - a loss that Davis always regretted. His transition from sideman to band leader happened gradually over three years. In 1957 he made his first recording under his own name for the Prestige label. Soon after this he recorded Blue Trane under his own name for the Blue Note label. This recording consists mostly of original Coltrane compositions with a bebop rhythm section whose swing feel is sluggish compared to that of the Classic Coltrane Quartet (1961-1965).

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Renowned jazz pianist Thelonious Monk had seen Davis punching Coltrane in the band room after he had fired him in 1957. Monk took Coltrane on as a kind of apprentice. He spent many days at Monk's house learning Monk's compositions by ear. During this brief, under-recorded, but highly fruitful collaboration, Coltrane was described by the critic, Ira Gitler, as playing "sheets of sound". This apt phrase became generally associated with Coltrane's music from that time on. As Coltrane remarked: "When I was with Miles [Davis], I didn't have anything to think about but myself, so I stayed at the piano and chords! chords! chords! I ended up playing them on my horn!"

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According to the liner notes to A Love Supreme, released in 1965, Coltrane made a pledge to God in 1957, vowing to lead a spiritually aware life and to bring happiness to people through his music. His Muslim wife and Christian mother, with whom he lived, were his inspiration and support when he went 'cold turkey', and won his battle against heroin and alcohol. The different religious faiths and practices in his family may have influenced Coltrane's eclecticism in his spiritual and musical searches. The spiritual aspect of his life impacted on his approach to music, and in turn affected his sound. In the late 1950s and through the 1960s he listened to recordings of musics from all over the world. He became thoroughly self-educated in many different musical genres. Ornette Coleman was an avant-garde alto saxophonist who came to prominence at this time and whom Coltrane admired greatly. Coleman dispensed with not only a chordal instrument in his band but also with the harmonic restrictions that such an instrument easily imposes. Eric Dolphy was an equally distinctive avantgarde reed player from Los Angeles who became one of Coltrane's best friends,

4John

Coltrane, from Frank Kofsky's original liner notes to The John Coltrane Quartet Plays 1965".

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spending hundreds of hours practising with him . Dolphy joined the Coltrane Quartet 5

regularly for concerts and recordings through the early 1960s. Each had a strong influence on the other's music. The albums Kind of Blue and Giant Steps, recorded in 1959, were major turning points in the direction of jazz. These albums are discussed in Chapter 5. The recording of the Miles Davis Sextet's Kind of Blue, featuring Coltrane, is a breakthrough into modal jazz, using a simplified, open framework with fewer chords. Coltrane's Giant Steps, with its dense and complex formulaic harmonic structure, represents a final outreach of the bebop development. In 1960, Coltrane became very famous with the release of his album My Favorite Things. The first track is the title track of the album, which is followed by "Every Time We Say Goodbye", "Summertime", and "But Not For Me". All of these songs were already familiar with the general public. However, he by no means sacrifices his artistic integrity to popular taste. "But Not For Me" uses some of his "Giant Steps" style chord changes and "My Favorite Things" is a window into forthcoming modal avenues. His Coltrane Plays the Blues album was also released in 1960. It is a blues concept of all original material. When he played the blues, Coltrane usually played the original, basic chord progression rather than the stylised blues of the beboppers. The first two tracks on the album use this simple progression and are dedicated to Sidney Bechet and Elvin Jones respectively. The next four tracks are in the blues form with chord changes unlike any blues played before. Sidney Bechet was the first jazz exponent of the soprano saxophone which Coltrane had just started playing himself, using it on the album My Favourite Things. Elvin Jones is considered to be one of the world's greatest jazz drummers. Coltrane first heard Jones while still with Davis when Jones replaced the regular drummer, 5Dolphy

played bass clarinet, alto saxophone, and flute.

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Philly Joe Jones on one engagement. When Coltrane was putting his own group together, Elvin Jones was his drummer of choice. Jones and Tyner joined Coltrane’s group in 1960. Coltrane had known Tyner from when they both lived in Philadelphia. Tyner had worked on the Giant Steps chord changes with Coltrane well before the "Giant Steps" album was recorded. Neither Tyner nor Jones were available when Coltrane put his first group together, but as soon as they were able, they joined Coltrane and made several classic recordings with bass player Steve Davis. In 1961 Garrison was the final member to join Coltrane to create what became known as the “Classic Coltrane Quartet.” This group was together until the end of 1965, by which time Coltrane had added another tenor saxophonist, Pharaoh Sanders, and another drummer, Rashied Ali. Tyner and Jones left, while Garrison stayed until Coltrane died in May 1967. The synergy that resulted from his collaborations was no doubt due to not only his choice of musicians but also to his tact. He was not a man to tell his musicians how to play although he knew what sound he wanted to hear. By the end of the 1950s Coltrane had acquired self confidence from his success as a band leader. During the next several years his recorded output was prolific and ranged widely. For his live performances, however, he concentrated on a small staple repertoire. The vehicles for these improvisations were "Impressions", "My Favorite Things", "Chasin' the trane", "Bessies Blues", "Mr PC", "Naima", and "I Want To Talk About You". The innovations and variations within this staple repertoire were prodigious. In an interview in Paris on 1 November 1963, Coltrane said he needed to get away from playing the same tunes over and over.

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Coltrane's originality made him impervious to assumptions about conventional format. An example of this occurred in 1963 when he recorded his composition 6Porter

231

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"Alabama" His phrasing on the piece is inspired by a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. The composition is dedicated to the young black girls who were killed in a Klu Klux Klan church bombing in Alabama. Half way through this sombre piece Coltrane suddenly tells his sidemen to stop and then continues unaccompanied. During 1963 Coltrane had trouble with his saxophone mouth piece. His recorded output that year was technically less demanding. It included a ballads album, an album with Duke Ellington, and an album with an obscure ballad singer, Johnny Hartman; They surprised and delighted most jazz critics. The conservatism of these recordings contrasted with his live performances, which continued to push the boundaries of music. Some fans, expecting to hear what they had at home on record, were disappointed when they went to hear the ever searching Coltrane live. His live performances were not only ahead of his recordings from previous years but they were also ahead of his concurrent recordings. This was not the first time that Coltrane lost fans. After being with Miles Davis for years he wanted to leave and lead his own group. What held him back was first, the uncertainty about his popularity and second, he was happy with the financial security of playing with the world's highest paid jazz musician. The Miles Davis group played pretty show tunes in which Coltane’s solos were increasing in length, harmonic language, and emotional intensity. Like many great innovators he was faced with the isolation entailed in the breaking of new ground. As musicologist, Gerhard Putschögl, points out: "one can perceive in the course of his development an increasingly uncompromising stance, which regarded itself as obligated primarily toward his own personal development."

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Regardless of whether or not Coltrane was playing bebop, he was always playing in his own style and emerged with such distinctive concepts that he stands out even beyond the world of jazz, influencing many avant garde western art composers. 7Putschögl

319

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Coltrane was indefatigable. Every year from as early as the Miles Davis years, Coltrane toured Europe. In 1966 he toured Japan with his final quartet which included his wife, Alice Coltrane, on piano.

This band, of the last and most

iconoclastic period of Coltrane's career, rarely directly stated a pulse. The music was a radical, yet logical, development from his modal period. The "flower power" revolution of the 1960s and other consciousness raising movements - the sexual revolution, the antiwar movement, the black civil rights movement, the rise of improvisation and spontaneity of the avant-garde in the arts world from the 1940s and 1950s, and the free jazz movement with its general rejection of Euro-centric aesthetics - all contributed to the social environment in which Coltrane was working. They would naturally, if only indirectly, have had their influences. It was, however, the climate of his musical genre, a time of explorative ferment in the jazz world, that made Coltrane a man for, and ultimately well ahead of, his time. Coltrane’s music is very dense. Its profundity evolved through relentless daily study and development. He was religious in a personal way and all of his music was embued with this sanctity. There was nothing trivial about Coltrane’s approach to music. Nat Hentoff puts it well in his CD liner notes for New Thing at Newport (1965): “Coltrane has already made it in the sense that he has a sizeable international audience. By his own stern criteria, he will never entirely “make it” in terms of what he wants to say because the essence of Coltrane is an infinity of searching.”

8CD

liner notes to "New Thing at Newport" Nat Hentoff p9.

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Chapter 3 Liturature Review

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The most important works on Coltrane available today are: John Coltrane, His Life and Music by Lewis Porter , John Coltrane: A Discography and Musical 9

Biography by Yasuhiro Fujioka , John Coltrane and the Afro American Oral 10

Tradition by Gerhard Putschögl , and the transcriptions of Coltrane's solos by 11

Andrew White . 12

Lewis Porter, a jazz saxophonist and pianist himself, is a great admirer of Coltrane. His in-depth and thorough account of Coltrane's life and music opens up dimensions of understanding for a heightened appreciation of Coltrane's achievement. It is the first major publication to acknowledge the full significance of Coltrane's great contribution, not only to the field of jazz, but also to other fields of popular and classical music. Porter goes so far as to give him the title of "first world musician". Of particular interest in respect to this paper is his chapter on A Love Supreme with its clear analysis of the first movement of this suite, "Acknowledgement". Porter has researched Coltrane's childhood and family circumstances with academic rigour, unearthing factual information and revealing a broad picture of his heritage and the social environment in which Coltrane was raised. Numerous rare photographs and interviews are shared with the reader as well as accounts of Coltrane's teenage years and the time he spent in Navy bands. Recent interviews with jazz saxophonist, Jimmy Heath, who spent many years with Coltrane, 9Lewis

Porter. John Coltrane, His Life and Music, University of Michigan Press, Ann

Arbor 1998. 10Yasuhiro

Fujioka. John Coltrane a Discography and Musical Biography ,

Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, 1995.

11Gerhard

Putschögl. John Coltrane Und Die Afroamericanische Oraltradition,

Jazz Forschung 25 (1993), Graz, Austria. 12Andrew

White, Andrew's Music,Washington

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reveal intricacies of Coltrane's musical and emotional development. These interviews cover the late 1940s and early 1950s, which he spent touring America with blues bands and later playing with jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Porter's writing on Coltrane's time with Monk is penetrative in disclosure and unequalled by other researchers. Quotations from Coltrane tell how unsettled he felt at first when Monk would leave the bandstand for extended periods, leaving Coltrane to continue his improvisation with just the bassist and drummer. This is interesting because later, during his years with the Classic Coltrane Quartet, Coltrane would often have Tyner cease playing for periods. This time gave Coltrane huge harmonic freedom in which to improvise. Porter makes a detailed coverage of Coltrane's modal period, his final two years, his study of foreign musics, his eclectic spiritual study, his relationships with his two wives and mistress, and his death. Gerhard Putschögl's doctoral thesis, John Coltrane and the Afro American Oral Tradition, includes excellent analyses of Coltrane improvisations from his modal period on. Chapter 6 of this paper refers to his analysis of "Transition". Putshögl makes obvious the similarity of Coltrane's phrasing and improvisation development to that of black Baptist preachers. He points out that although Coltrane was raised a Methodist, over time he developed his own inner world-religion and at times used the black preacher style in communicating his feelings. Both Putschögl's and Porter's coverage of Coltrane's modal period are discussed in Chapter 5. Andrew White's transcriptions are a reliable documentation of Coltrane's recorded improvisations and a most valuable resource for the analysis of Coltrane's music.

His transcriptions of the three recordings under discussion have been

transposed into concert pitch in order to give easy access to investigation on piano. They are appended to this paper.

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Fujioka's concise Discography and Musical Biography reveals the amazing amount of music Coltrane produced both in the studio and in concerts around the world. In terms of output alone, Coltrane's achievement is impressive. Another publication that uses Coltrane as a central figure is Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music by Frank Kofsky.

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In the work, in an

interview with Coltrane, Kofsky attempts to endow him with a certain political stance, asking Coltrane questions which try to corner him into agreement with Kofsy's political agenda.

It is understandable that attempts have been made to

associate Coltrane with the black cultural struggle given the intensity and the expressive power of his music and his break with Euro-centric structural methods. There were certainly some political dimensions to the free-jazz movement of the time, but Coltrane himself has made it clear, on other occasions, that what motivated his endeavours was a deeply felt spiritual impulse that transcended politics. Lastly, Chasin' the Trane, subtitled, "The Music and Mystique of John Coltrane", by J.C.Thomas, should be mentioned.

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This biography of Coltrane is

romantic and somewhat anecdotal compared with Porter's rigorous research and today the scholarly world does not rely on it. Nevertheless, its existence is an indication of the cult status that Coltrane had acquired. The public was fascinated by Coltrane and his monumental output from 1955 until his death just twelve years later in 1967. Many critics found his early bebop improvisations with the Miles Davis Quintet less than masterly. Without the orienting signposts of rhymically consistent, resolving harmonic chord changes, some critics to the present day have found little to appreciate in Coltrane's modal creations. The following two quotations serve to demonstrate:

13Frank 14J.C.

Kofsky. Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music

Thomas, Chasin' the Trane, Double Day, N.Y. 1976.

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Personally I find these very boring tracks, varying from 10 to 17 minutes, interminably boring, particularly when they are all taken at similar medium up tempi. Allied to Coltrane’s ugly, strangulated sound, the result is like a lost soul in torment. The one exception to this is "Niama", which makes a pleasant contrast in that it is a ballad, and of course a delightful tune as well, and it only lasts seven minutes! In retrospect, this could be considered a fairly straight performance, but at the time it represented a radical step. Coltrane was introducing elements of post-Coleman tonality into a musical world that, for all its emotional intensity, was ruled by strict and very different rules. 15

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The radical nature of Coltrane's music tended to elicit extreme responses. The rapidity of his extraordinary development, combined with the evident way in which his spiritual commitment increasingly flavoured his sound, ultimately resulted in a massive wave of popular response that virtually amounted to cult worship. This often had more to do with the feelings that his music evoked than it had to do with intellectual appreciation of the coherence of his complex and radical constructs. Writing in 1998, Charles D. Gerard reflects on this phenomenon; John Coltrane was acknowledged by his followers as such an exemplary figure. His music revealed to them an individual who had reached an elevated state of consciousness. For several decades the jazz community had ascribed special importance to altered states of consciousness, either drug-induced or musically inspired. Coltrane showed that religious mysticism could lead someone to such a state without intoxicants. In this respect he was a role model for young musicians who wanted to join the jazz community without becoming alcoholics or drug users. Shortly after his death it was common to see jugs of water on stage, in what was sometimes a pointed display of the performers’ sobriety. Coltrane’s spiritual awakening had a profound effect on his music. While he was undergoing it he had musical dreams in which he heard sounds that he spent the rest of his life trying to recapture. In one dream Charlie Parker told him to keep working on his new approach to harmony. After his religious awakening Coltrane’s music grew to become monumentally intense, seemingly created in a state of mystical enthrallment. 17

15Mike 16Jazz

Shera Live in Antibes, 1965 Jazz J Int 47:22 Oct 1994.

Journal International, 1992 March p26 John Coltrane/Archie Shepp “New Thing at

Newport” 1965 review by Barry McRae.

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Jazz historian Dan Morgenstern recalls a typical evening at the Half Note around 1964 or 1965: The intensity that was generated was absolutely unbelievable. I can still feel it, and it was unlike any other feeling within the music we call jazz ....It carried you away. If you let yourself be carried by it, it was an absolutely ecstatic feeling. And I think that kind of ecstasy was something that Coltrane was looking for in his music. 18

Outside the West, Coltrane's music elicited strong responses of a distinctly divided nature also: I was much disturbed by his music. Here was a creative person who had become a vegetarian, who was studying yoga and reading the BhagavadGita, yet in whose music I still heard much turmoil. I could not understand it. 19

When I heard Coltrane on record, there was tranquillity and serenity in his music. I do not recall the kind of restlessness in Coltrane’s music as I have heard in other types of music and from other musicians. 20

Much has been said about Coltrane over the last forty years. Interestingly enough, it is only now in the last thirteen years that, through the work of people such as Porter and Putschögl, a deeper understanding of what Coltrane was actually doing has been revealed.

17Gerard, 18Porter

Charles D. P80 Jazz in Black and White Westport: Praeger 1998.

216.

19Thomas,

Ravi Shankar 199.

20Thomas,

Swamisatchidananda 199.

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Chapter 4 Musical Influences

Coltrane was raised in an all black neighbourhood of a small southern town in North Carolina, where the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Quakers exerted a strong influence. In the Afro-oral tradition, religious ritual was saturated with music and glossilalia was known to bubble up.

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Spirituals and the blues were a

natural heritage. His earliest saxophonist role models were Hodges, Webster, and Young of the swing era, and then Parker, when he came to prominence in the late 1940s. 21the

word glossilalia is a term employed to describe speaking in tongues.

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Hodges's renditions of the blues and ballads are characterised by rich sensuous tones and an abundance of varied expressive nuances; a melodic soulfulness. Parker's style, in contrast, emphasises drive, pitch, and rhythm. Hodges's influence can be surmised in Coltrane's slow, rubato compositions and his beautiful renditions of ballads. Coltrane's use of false fingering techniques was pioneered by Young among others. Coltrane took the dynamic intensity of Parker's style to previously unexplored territory. There were no precursers in jazz for his expressive range of timbre, his style of motivic development, and the rich rhythmic texture of his groups' sound. The jazz world of Coltrane's time was a lively environment.

He was

surrounded by the outstanding working jazz musicians of the period. Jazz, due to its improvisational nature, depends crucially on the collective energy of the players; their interaction and communication. The exceptional vitality around him, and the cross fertilisation that was occurring all the time, nurtured the essence of his own creativity. However, the originality of his concepts is evident from 1957 and became increasingly distinctive and radical up until his untimely death a decade later. Davis played minimally and was the perfect foil for Coltrane's style. Monk was the first to show Coltrane how to produce two different notes on the saxophone at the same time. Coleman's freely melodic polytonality had an influence on Coltrane which is not obvious due to their radically different styles, but was important in Coltrane's development. Coltrane said of him: I love him. I’m following his lead. He’s done a lot to open my eyes to what can be done....I feel indebted to him, myself. Because, actually, when he came along, I was so far in this thing [“Giant Steps” chords], I didn’t know where I was going to go next. And I don’t know if I would have thought about just abandoning the chord system or not. I probably wouldn’t have thought of that at all. And he came along doing it, and I heard it, I said, “Well, that must be the answer.” ...Since I have a piano, we have to consider it, and that accounts for the modes that we play, but...after a while, that’s

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going to get a little monotonous to do it on every song, so there probably will be some songs in the future that we’re going to play, just as Ornette does, with no accompaniment from the piano at all - except on maybe the melody, but as far as the solo, no accompaniment. 22

Coltrane greatly admired Dolphy, whose quirky style was in stark contrast to the style of Davis. Dolphy toured Europe and recorded regularly with the Coltrane Quartet in the early 1960s. Distinct qualities of Dolphy's sound are his use of extreme intervalic melodic leaps, quarter tones, speech like phrases, original timbres, and his unique melodic and harmonic conception. The world-music influences in Coltrane's work are many. Porter points out that in most cases Coltrane's licks are not traceable to the influences that helped create them. He goes on to say: "One way that Coltrane developed this unique sound world is by bringing into his music - and through his influence, into all of jazz and beyond - an eclectic collection of method books, exercises, and scales from around the world. The eclecticism gave his style originality - the more widespread one’s sources, the less one sounds like any one of them. 23

From western music he endorsed, by thorough use, the Slominsky Thesaurus of Melodic Patterns and Scales, written in 1947. Porter points out that Coltrane's broader mission was to discover the universalities in music. His interest covered scales and modes from India, Algeria, China, Japan, and the Middle East. He was very much influenced by African and Indian music, using drones and pedal point passages in a large portion of his work. He studied folkloric African recordings and recordings of Michael Babatunde Olatunji, the Nigerian drummer. This influence can be heard in his use of ostinatos, whereby each instrument is given its own rhythm. 22

Porter 203.

23Porter

216.

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Dom Cerulli, in the notes to Africa/Brass (1961), described the way he prepared for these sessions: He listened to many African records for rhythmic inspiration, One had a bass line like a chant, and the group used it, working it into different tunes. In Los Angeles, John hit on using African rhythms instead of [swing style] 4/4, and the work began to take shape. He wanted to concentrate more on melody, and the rhythm was often his starting point. So Coltrane looked for ways to thicken the rhythmic texture of his music even as he simplified its harmonic motion by keeping to a repeated pedal point. He said in 1964, “I feel that since we have used fewer chordal progressions, we need more rhythm, and I want to experiment. I have an African record at home and they’re singing these rhythms, some of their native rhythms, so I took part of it and gave it to the bass. And Elvin plays a part and McCoy managed to find something to play, some kind of chords. I didn’t tell him what chords, I said, ‘I’m through with it.’ And so he’s on his own, and I’m going on my own, see?...Still no melody, though. [Laughs] I had to make the melody as I went along. But at least I’m trying to think of a melody; I’m not referring to the chords to get the melody.” 24

Porter mentions that "...African structural concepts may have influenced him too - West African drumming groups will repeat one section until the leader gives a cue to go onto the next, much as Coltrane does in "My Favorite Things" [October 1960]".

25

The influence of Indian music is clear in pieces such as "India" (1961), a chant that remains constantly on G pedal point. Porter posits the influence of the North Indian style of sitar improvisation, also "...perhaps in the way he likes to repeat and develop short motives in his improvisations."

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This is arguable.

Since the

publication of Porter's work, Putschögl has made an analysis of the stylistic characteristics of the American Afro-oral tradition.

Since the appearance of

Putschögl's work, it seems likely that Coltrane's typical forms of repetition and

24Porter

213.

25Porter

213.

26Porter

213.

23

development of short motives in his improvisations are as much a result of his own Afro-oral cultural heritage as they are a result of influence from other ethnic sources. Coltrane acknowledged the influence of Indian music on his work, but it was the spirit of the music that he emphasised: I like Ravi Shankar very much. When I hear his music, I want to copy it - not note for note of course, but in his spirit. What brings me closest to Ravi is the modal aspect of his art. Currently, at the particular stage I find myself in, I seem to be going through a modal phase....There’s a lot of modal music that is played every day throughout the world. It’s particularly evident in Africa, but if you look at Spain or Scotland, India or China, you’ll discover this again in each case. If you want to look beyond the differences in style, you will confirm that there is a common base. That’s very important. Certainly, the popular music of England is not that of South America, but take away their purely ethnic characteristics - that is, their folkloric aspect - and you’ll discover the presence of the same pentatonic sonority. It’s this universal aspect of music that interests me and attracts me; that’s what I’m aiming for." 27

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Coltrane was searching for no less than the elements that constitute a transforming power in music. I’ve already been looking into those approaches to music - as in India - in which particular sounds and scales are intended to produce specific emotional meanings... I would like to bring to people something like happiness. I would like to discover a method so that if I want it to rain, it will start right away to rain. If one of my friends is ill, I’d like to play a certain song and he will be cured; when he’d be broke, I’d bring out a different song and immediately he’d receive all the money he needed. But what are these pieces and what is the road to travel to attain a knowledge of them, that I don’t know. 29

Throughout Coltrane's modal period, the underlining melodic and harmonic structure of his music is that of fourth based motives. This contrasts with most jazz and Western music in general, which builds on a basic structure of major and minor 27North

Indian sitar virtuoso.

28Porter

211.

29Porter

213.

24

chords. Porter observes that "This gives his music a serious, rather abstract sound and ... it probably contributes to the spiritual element in his music."

30

This pentatonic

sonority, which Coltrane detected as the common base beneath the ethnic differences of much folk music world-wide, can also be found in the Afro-christian chanted sermon. Fourths are also, of course, a basis of the blues. As Porter says: "That mixture of intense blues and spiritual fervour gives his music astounding power"

31

Porter goes on to make a key observation, which was later to be taken up and explored so valuably by Putschögl: "The way he builds his solos by developing short ideas at length, repeating them in different registers and building up to higher and higher notes, makes him a preacher on the saxophone."

32

Coltrane's music has been influenced by an exceptional number of sources. Particularly striking is the connection between characteristics of Coltrane's modal music and those of the American black preaching formulae, with roots in the Afrooral tradition. It is perhaps because Coltrane's improvisational inspiration is derived in essence from folk roots that his sound has such enduring vitality.

30Porter

217.

31Porter

217.

32Porter

217.

25

Chapter 5 Coltrane's Music from 1959 to 1964

There are three periods in Coltrane's music. The bebop period from 1954 to 1959 was followed by his modal period, from around 1959-60 until 1965. His last brief period from the end of 1965 until his death in 1967 has been less rerearched. It is termed 'post modal' in this paper for the sake of convenience, but the term is not necessarily definitive. Two major corner stones of jazz were recorded two months apart at the beginning of 1959. They were Kind of Blue and Giant Steps. In February, Davis recorded Kind Of Blue. Davis arrived at the recording session with little motivic sketches of compositions with simplified melodies and chord progressions. (This was a fresh approach which influenced Coltrane's later recording sessions with his own groups). The three horn players approached this recording differently. Cannonball Adderly, on alto saxophone, soloed in his "hardbop" melodic style, at times implying bebop chord changes that were not being played by the rhythm section. Davis had his refined, dry, tone and melodic phrasing. Coltrane played his sheets of sound with dominating conviction of execution. His playing had hard-driving swing with a solidity unlike the bounciness of Cannonball.

26

His melodic direction was unshakeable with occasional, cute, raspy notes from alternate fingerings, usually on an off beat towards the end of a phrase.

Like

Cannonball, Coltrane would imply chord changes but in a different way; in more of a “late bop” vernacular. In April 1959 Coltrane recorded Giant Steps. He had developed a chord sequence pattern which he used in different ways and in varying degrees of intensity. The title track, “Giant Steps”, is a jazz student's study legacy. It embodied Coltrane’s chordal ferris wheel, moving quickly through three different equidistant tonal centres: B, G, and Eb. This is an interesting way of winding back harmonic resolution. B major, D dominant 7 /G manor, B flat dominant 7 /Eb.../A minor 7, D dominant 7 /G major 7, B flat dominant 7 /Eb major, F sharp dominant 7 /B major... Porter gives us Coltrane's words on the subject: "At first I wasn't sure, because I was delving into sequences, and I felt that I should have the rhythm section play the sequences right along with me, and we all go down this winding road. But after several tries and failures at this, it seemed better to have them go free - as free as possible. And then you superimpose whatever sequences you want to over them." 33

His rhythm section played modally, through which he would sometimes imply Giant Steps chord changes in his improvisations. Kind of Blue was the first prominent modal jazz album. Giant Steps could be characterised as the final development of bebop. Coltrane’s most famous modal composition is “Impressions” which was first recorded in 1960. It is based on the same 32 bar form as “So What” from the album, Kind of Blue: AABA. The A section is in D minor and the B section is in Eb minor. This is a basic concept of modal jazz; using one chord/scale, usually of a minor tonality, for whole sections of music. Bebop had chords changing every bar or two

33Porter

167.

27

and usually twice in one bar. Melodic navigation through the ever changing chord related scales of bebop requires of the improviser a very different conceptual approach from that required by modal jazz. These two contrasting tonal approaches fuelled Coltrane's development through the early 1960s: The quickly changing harmonic structure like that of “Giant Steps” which he used in his melodic lines, and the slowly changing harmonic structure such as he used in“Impressions”. The range of his repertoire from this period, both live and recorded, is discussed in Chapter 2. Songs from a variety of genres were revitalised by Coltrane's treatment. Through Putschögl's deconstruction of the final recordings of "Mr PC" and "Traning In" from October and November of 1963, he demonstrates the striking variety of innovative ways in which Coltrane's modal style of playing revitalised the blues form.

The blues voice-sequence becomes a central principle of melodic

stucture in Coltrane's modal treatments, and he returned the blues from the characteristic major-chord implications of the bebop style to its modal origins in reanimated form. Modal jazz was a radical new departure in that the motivic formula replaced the chord sequence as the major structural device. Within this new open modal style of playing Coltrane used identifiable structural techniques both in the overall form of his solos and also in the actual melodic phrases. thoroughly analysed by Putschögl and Porter.

These techniques have been

They observe that throughout

Coltrane's modal period, although he was always exploring new changes and variations, his style did not alter in any radical sense. His astonishing development of that time of his most influential music took place within the basic stylistic confines of formulaic improvisation, however far it may have traveled from the formulae of bebop.

28

Putschögl usefully analyses the characteristics of Coltrane's structurally innovative melodic lines of this period, and the way in which his permutations of pentatonic scales created new melodic combinations of intervals. In this expanded system of pentatonics can be heard the distinctive non-western melodic influences discussed in the previous Chapter. Coltrane incorporated the tripartite division of the octave, as used in "Giant Steps", with pentatonics, to create winding paths of melodic chromatacism. The rhythm section was free to wander modally while the third cycle vocabulary expanded melodically. Putschögl coined the phrase "formulaic units" to describe the episodic patterns that characterise the structure of Coltrane's modal music. These units are formulaic in that they are defined by conventional chorus or eight bar parameters. They are usually either binary or ternary; the binary consisting of contrasting sections, and the ternary consisting of two contrasting sections and then a resolution or climax. Putschögl's work is rich in its detailing of the analogous nature of Coltrane's structural methods and expressive effects to that of the African oral tradition. First: He describes the black sermon principle of variation and permutation of a basic motif or idea, where aesthetic value is placed on the skill and variety of circumlocution. This principle, which stands in contrast to the Western linear method of communication, is clearly evident as a means of melodic organisation in Coltrane's modal development. Second: He outlines a principle of controlled dynamic and dramatic increase, a form of "ecstaticisation", designed to stimulate the growing emotional involvement of the listener. Techniques include what Putschögl has termed "running-note stalling" (the breaking up of long notes into repeated or alternating notes, as Porter describes it), "glossilalia" (speaking in tongues or "false fingering" in Porter's terminology), and

29

"screaming", "honking", and "zooning" at the extremes of register. Intensity of expressive gesture and extreme sonic variation are hallmarks of Coltrane's voice. The modal style of jazz with its reduced use of chordal progressions allowed complex rhymic texture to take a more predominant role in the music. Putschögl aptly acknowledges the importance of Jones, particularly the strong dynamic significance and expressive power of his characteristic ternary groupings within his asymetrical forms of movement. This style of drumming gave Coltrane maximum flexibility and support. In an interview in 1963, Coltrane comments on the dynamics of the rhythm section: It is necessary to have a firm beat going, (but) it's not necessary to have everyone playing 4/4, I mean rigidly. Between the three man or the two man [pianoless] rhythm section, there should be enough interplay to give you at every point of the song the same solidarity that you get in 4/4, but it will be implied sometimes instead of actually played. Now this thing, it can be done and sometimes it is done but it has to be the right combination of individuals playing. They have to really feel this way, and they have to have very good sounds. They have to be able to produce good quality sound on the instrument so when they do play, what they play will sustain and thus create this level [of sameness] underneath, although it will be broken actually as it's played. 34

34Porter

214.

30

Chapter 6 The FinalYear of Coltrane's Modal Period, Three Musical Examples: "Acknowledgement" "Brazilia" "Transition"

This chapter investigates Coltrane's modal style in its final phase, from November 1964 to December 1965. This is done through the analysis of three examples. The chronology of the large number of recordings made of Coltrane during the period can be found in Appendix B.

"Acknowledgement" The first piece of music to be discussed is "Acknowledgement", recorded on 9 December 1964. It is the first part of the four part suit, A Love Supreme, which is Coltrane's most famous album and has sold over a million copies. Many non jazz fans bought the album because of its strong spiritual statement. Coltrane wrote the liner notes for the album and decided on the visual lay out, selecting serious images of himself. Of special note is the prayer he wrote which is included on the inside of the folding cover. It is a prayer of praise to God.

31

Both Porter and Putschgöl comment on the similarities between the idioms of the black American preacher tradition and that of Coltrane's 'sermonesque' cries on his saxophone. Listening to "Psalm", one can read Coltrane's prayer along with his improvisation. It seems clear that Coltrane's conscious intention was to sing this prayer on his instrument. It is interesting to note, however, that in an interview, Elvin Jones remarked that at the time of the performance, he (Jones) was unaware of this. Did Coltrane tell the quartet of his intentions? If not, why not? The poem may have been written after the performance but regardless of whether the poem or the suite was conceived first, both are Coltrane's compositions.

He made it clear, by

publishing the poem inside the cover of the album, that both are intended to express the same message. In order to nurture spontaneity, Coltrane gave very little information to his group. He introduced them to the music at the recording session where they played it for the first time. Porter observes that

"The four sections of A Love Supreme,

“Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance,” and “Psalm,” suggest a kind of pilgrim’s progress, in which the pilgrim acknowledges the divine, resolves to pursue it, searches, and , eventually, celebrates what has been attained in song."

35

The metrically free flowing structure of "Psalm" indicates the direction of his later development.

The other movements' metric orientation is similar to the

established Coltrane sound. The beautiful evolution of the suite grows from a strong and simple musical cell. B E F#

35Porter

cell a

236

32

Coltrane starts the suite with a relatively brief fanfare in which he uses only the three notes of this cell. After this it is Garrison who is the first to set a pulse. He plays: F Ab (F) Bb

cell b

The intervallic relationship of F Ab Bb is a logical development from the intervalic relationship of B E F#. After opening up a tone from the second note to the third, it now folds in a tone (from the third note to the second) F Bb C

F Ab Bb

(the intervallic relationships have been transposed to a common key, F, for clarity) The intervals in the fanfare cell delineate neither major nor minor tonality. By swinging its smallest interval in mirror fashion as explained above, there is now a minor tonality. Tyner's improvised addition of G# in his accompaniment to the fanfare creates the only major tonality in the entire suite. This cell is exceedingly fertile as it gives way to infinite natural developments. In its second inversion it is simply a voicing of two fourths. The whole modal concept of harmony is based on fourths and is referred to as quartal harmony. Tyner pioneered this approach on piano. After Garrison starts the "Acknowledgment" ostinato, Jones joins the pulse with his evocative Afro-Latin drum feel. This is soon followed by bare Tyner quartal accompaniment . After sixteen bars Coltrane comes in with the melody: C G F

The first two phrases use cell a starting on C and then F. Cell a and cell b are combined in the third phrase, creating the first run of three whole tones in the piece. The fourth phrase, a response to the first three phrases, uses cell b starting on C and

33

then F which adds Eb to the development and thus completes the blues scale. On the twelfth bar of Coltrane's solo Garrison climbs up to a repeated quaver Eb figure in an empathetic cry. There is no set chord progression used in "Acknowledgment". Garrison and Tyner follow Coltrane as he moves into different tonal areas a quarter of the way through his solo. The overall tonal centre of F minor, however, remains throughout. Porter has it that Coltrane said that “the first part is not composed of a fixed number of measures.” After the first sixteen bars of Coltrane's solo, the strictness of eight or 36

sixteen bar sounding sections dissipates. Immediately before Coltrane enters, Jones starts to use semi quavers which propel the music with their syncopation and continue throughout Coltrane's solo. Jones, often joined by Tyner, accents the first beat of every bar, grounding the music. In the 35th bar of his solo Coltrane starts transposing cell b into different keys, keeping it in its basic form. By the 60th bar he has played the cell in eleven keys. At bar 61 Coltrane plays cell b in its final transposition, repeating it five times. Although Porter observes Coltrane's final modulation of the cell into the twelve keys, he does not mention this first "pan-tonal" development. In between the developing cell fragments Coltrane plays many sweeping, swelling flurries, thirteen of which are semi quaver quintuplets. At bar 112 Coltrane uses D natural for the first time as part of the F minor tonality. This lift from aeolian to dorian occurs just before Coltrane's final cell b ostinato. At the 119th bar of his solo Coltrane plays the cell b ostinato figure in its original key, in unison with Garrison. For the next 36 bars until the end of his improvisation, Coltrane repeats cell b every bar in the same rhythm, playing it in every key. He ends by repeating the cell in unison with Garrison eight times. It is at

36Porter

237.

34

this point that the chant, "A Love Supreme", begins, sung by Coltrane and another, possibly Garrison. Coltrane's structural method now becomes clear. "We realise that this was the goal toward which Coltrane directed his solo. He brilliantly executed a reverse development, saving the exposition ... for the end. He’s telling us that God is everywhere - in every register, in every key - and he’s showing us that you have to discover religious belief ...(that) the listener has to experience the process and then the listener is ready to hear the chant. As we listen to the music, its meaning unfolds for us."

37

Jazz improvisation in music is analogous to the experiential rather than the doctrinal approach in religion. Perhaps this was part of the reason why Coltrane did not tell his band about the underlying inspiration of the suite's conception. He was preparing a space of receptivity in the hearts of his sidemen and listeners alike.

"Brazilia" "Brazilia" is the longest track on the album, "The John Coltrane Quartet Plays. It was recorded on 17 May 1965, five months after the recording of A Love Supreme. Coltrane's style developed considerably during these intervening months. In "Brazilia" we find the beginnings of Coltrane's move into his post-modal period. There is continuing development of modal vocabulary and this is marked by increased motivic and paraphrastic variation. The improvisatory settings are less delineated by harmonic preconceptions. At this crossover point between Coltrane's modal and post-modal periods, the eight bar or start-of-chorus sign-posts appear to dissolve. "Brazilia" combines the use of metrically free sections with quarter time, four beat swing feel.

It develops further the loose adherence to a minor tonality

foundation that can be heard in "Acknowledgment". The theme, an ABA form, is 37Porter

242.

35

based on two different twelve-tone passages. The work incorporates pentatonics, whole tone scales and derivations of Coltrane's "Giant Steps" vocabulary. Only the theme and the coda are played in free meter, in what Putschögl calls the "cantillation" style. The devolopment of this free style is a basic departure from the formal rhythmic conventions of jazz. Putschögl locates its origin in the black Gospel solo conventions. The body of the work, which is more conventionally modal, consists of improvisations in quarter time. "Brazilia" starts with a rubato duet between Coltrane and Jones in which Coltrane plays the theme. As there is no harmonic accompaniment, Coltrane is free to play the theme as he feels, shaping the twelve-tone rows with connecting notes which disguise these skeletel structures. It has a structure which could be loosely described as ternary within ternary within ternary. The overall form consists of a saxophone solo followed by a piano solo followed by another saxophone solo. Each twelve-tone row of the theme is comprised of three four-note cells. Within the juxtaposition of the two twelve-tone rows, the motion is contrary for the first seven pitches, parallel for the next three, and contrary for the last: diagram

Coltrane adds an extra final note to the final cell (cell M, the third cell of the second twelve-tone row B), which creates a five note cell consisting of the four smallest intervals in our Western scale. As a final cell, it has an apt quality of closure brought about by the use of smaller and smaller intervals. This is a very subtle construct.

There was an increasing degree of abstraction in the structuring of

36

Coltrane's melody as his modal work developed. This tendency may not have been deliberate, but as Coltane says, "You have to do a lot of work consciously, then you can leave the rest to your subconscious later on.”

38

On the other hand, perhaps these intricate relationships were a conscious aspect of Coltrane's composition. In the liner notes to "Transition", the next piece to be discussed, Alice Coltrane is quoted as saying "He was doing a lot of writing, even more writing than practicing, and you know how much time he spent practicing."

39

When the improvisations in "Brazilia" are analysed, although relationships are less clearly evident than they are in his modal work of previous years, there is too much coherence of structure at all levels for the piece to have been composed spontaneously. The theme of Coltrane's composition "Miles' Mode", recorded in 1961, uses a strict twelve-tone row immediately followed by its retrograde, followed by improvisations based on the tonality of C minor. In the improvisations in "Brazilia", the twelve tone system appears to have been abandoned again. The improvisations are loosely based in Eb minor. When asked about improvising in the twelve tone method he said "Damn the rules, it’s the feeling that counts [during improvisation]. You play all 12 notes in your solo anyway."

40

There are traceable elements from

Slominsky's Thesaurus in the coda. The lengthy build up to the conclusion of the coda alludes again to the Gospel solo tradition.

"Transition"

38

Porter 205.

39Nat

Hentoff 1970liner notes to Transition CD.

40Porter

231.

37

Of the three pieces discussed in this paper, "Transition" best illustrates Coltrane's use of the declamation style of the black preacher idiom., where "dynamic intensification is invoked by the use of paraphrastic repetition."

41

Putschögl argues persuasively that "some of the most convincing and systematically constructed forms of reappropriation and transfomation of black oral culture can be found in the music of John Coltrane."

42

He maintains that "the most

authentic forms of significant creative and expressive features of Afro-American performative culture can be found in the structural sequence of religious rituals."

43

He adds that "the 'chanted sermon' represents the most systematic construction and the most intense forms of expressive and communicative elements...[of these rituals]."

44

Putschögl refers to the key organising device of the chanted sermon as "paraphrase variation":

"the most applied creative mode in the whole black

world..." and an art form basically alien to traditional Euro-centric aesthetics. He 45

describes it as "a varying-repetitive-circling around a tonal, rhythmic or textual 'basic formula'."

46

It is, without doubt, a most highly regarded artistic abiliy within the

culture. The declamation form of sermon line is a linear shape where recitation stays mainly on one note. The technique of "paraphrase variation" groups these lines into larger sections.

These groups develop through the use of dynamics.

Dynamic

increase occurs both within a number of periods in the sermon and also, these periods

41Putschögl

332.

42Putschögl

334.

43Putschögl

334.

44Putschögl

336.

45Putschögl

336.

46Putschögl

336.

38

themselves build in increasing intensity to the highly charged climax. This technique stimulates the full emotional participation of the congregation. "Transition" has a continuous metrical basis throughout and the theme at the start and finish is in the phrygian mode. In parts of his improvisations Coltrane uses the a wholetone scale to create sections which imply an ascending melodic minor scale with a flat second. He uses a great variety of melodic fragments in related groups throughout both of his improvisations. This is one of the recording's most noticeable features.

The piece is based on a single scale tonal foundation but

coherence is achieved through the use of episodic sections. The other noticeable feature of the piece is the series of wailing climaxes, similar to a black sermon. The note g (two octaves above middle c), at the peak of these climaxes is sustained and emphatic. The structure of his improvisations is built around this note. There are many peaks within "Transition" where Coltrane builds up to screaming altissimo phrases. Coltrane plays the first improvisation, and then Tyner, and then Coltrane takes a second, longer solo where three extended climaxes take place. Chants of black sermons use a modal scale and "Transition" is rooted in a D minor tonality. Coltrane emphasises fundamental notes from this tonality, creating strong structural frameworks which are interspersed with dense chromatic runs and glossalalic expression.

The theme consists of a triple invocation and response

common to liturgy, based on the form of a 16-measure, modal, Blues (AAAB) without harmonic progression, commonly called the "Baptist Blues". "Transition" is a long piece (15:28) for a studio recording. At this stage in his career, Coltrane was welcomed by his record company, Impulse!, to take his band into the recording studio as often as he wished. Artistically, he was in a position to play whatever he wanted to play. Without being familiar with Coltrane's development up to this time, it can be hard to appreciate his complex concepts. Once observed,

39

the orienting sermon analogy provides a key to realising the maturity and originality of Coltrane's artistry, both in his reappropriation of this creative form and in the sheer beauty of his phrasing.

Chapter 7 Conclusion

In review, there are several general points to be made: Firstly, what can be heard to emerge most distinctly from the development of Coltrane's modal style between 1960 and 1965 is a comprehensive use of traditional Afro-oral creative conventions; as thoroughly elucidated by Putschögl. These are not merely surface similarities. Closer and closer scrutiny reveals more and more that these conventions were appropriated and developed upon in a fully conscious, consistent, and disciplined manner; both on the macro and micro structural levels. Examination of the dynamic elements of the works also reveals a strikingly consistent adherence to the Afro-oral conventions. The expressive force of the works and the synergy created by the collaboration of the group have perhaps become more significant than the formal structure as vehicles for creative cohesion. Episodic sections relate to each other through a controlled and conscious use of the dynamic ecstaticisation process. .

Secondly, it is remarkable that, through his modal approach, Coltrane was

able to incorporate a new and sacred element into jazz. In 1965 Coltrane's output was dominated by spiritual themes. Half of the albums recorded in this period had spiritual titles. As this spiritual aspect became more evident, Coltrane's style became

40

more radical and was moving futher from conventional jazz. He had developed a whole new concept for playing music. By the end of 1965 Jones and Tyner left the band to continue playing metrically oriented music. Today they are still alive, playing jazz. Coltrane went on to explore freer and freer forms until his death in 1967. Thirdly, was it because he had researched so much of the worlds music; had delved into the base roots of the popular music of many different cultures, and assimilated their essential elements so completely into his conceptual repertoire, that his music has such power and vitality? His improvisations reveal a new type of episodic manner for creating structure in jazz.

His genius is revealed in the

innovation and sheer variety of his melodic lines and his mastery of the paraphrastic art. Coltrane himself stressed the importance of the common modal base beneath the ethnic characteristics of music. It was the universal aspect of music that interested him and what he was aiming for. Coltrane has said of his music: "I would like to arrive at the point where I am able to grasp the essence of a certain place and time, compose the work and play it on the spot naturally."

47

He may not have achieved his

ambition, but ultimately he transcended all styles to invent a new music.

47Porterp248.

41

Appendix A

42

Apendix B

The chronology of recordings made of John Coltrane during the period from December 1964 to November 1965. A Love Supreme

Dec 9 ‘64

First Meditations

Feb

The John Coltrane Quartet Plays

Feb 17-18, May 17 '65

Impulse! 85

Transitions

June

Impulse! 9196

Ascension

June 28 ‘65

Impulse! 95

New Thing At New Port

July 2 ‘65

Impulse! 94

Live In Paris

July

‘65

Charley 1137

Antibes

July 26 ‘65

Charley 1146

Antibes - A Love Supreme

July27 ‘65

Charley 1149

Comblain La Tour

Aug 1 ‘65

Charley 1160

Sun Ship

Aug 26 ‘65

Impulse! 9211

Infinity

Sept 22

Impulse! 9225

Live In Seattle

Sep 30

Impulse! 9202-2

Om

Oct 1

Impulse! 9140

Kulu Se Mama

Oct 14

Impulse! 9106

Meditations

Nov 23

Impulse! 9110

43

‘65

‘65

Impulse! 77 Impulse! GRP 11182

Bibliography

Porter, Lewis. John Coltrane, His Life and Music. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, c1998. Fujioka, Yasuhiro, Lewis Porter, and Yoh-ichi Hamada.

John Coltrane: A

Discography and Musical Biography. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1995. Thomas, J.,C. Chasin' the Trane. Garden City: Doubleday, 1975. Kofsky, Frank.

Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music.

New York:

Pathfinder Press, 1970. Gerard, Charles, D. Jazz in Black and White: race, culture, and identity in the jazz community. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998 Weinstein, Norman C. A Night in Tunisia: imagings of Africa in jazz. New York: Limelight, 1993. Rosenthal, David H. Hard Bop: jazz and Black music, 1955-1965 New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Litweiler, John. The Freedom Principle: jazz after 1958. New York: W. Morrow, 1984 Davis, Miles, and Quincy Troupe. Miles: the Autobiography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. Berliner, Paul.

Thinking in Jazz; the Infinite Art of Improvisation.

University of Chicago Press, 1994.

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Chicago:

Priestly, Brian. John Coltrane. London: Apollo, 1987.

DOCTORAL THESIS Gerhard Putschögl, John Coltrane Und Die Afroamericanische Oraltradition, Jazz Forschung 25 (1993), Graz, Austria.

TRANSCIPTIONS Andrew White's transcriptions of Coltrane solos. Dakota Avenue, N.E. Washington D.C. 20017

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Andrew's Music, 4830 South

Discography

Coltrane, John. Blue Train. Blue Note, 1957. Davis, Miles. Kind of Blue. Columbia, 1959. Coltrane, John. Giant Steps. Atlantic, 1959. Coltrane, John. Coltrane's Sound. Atlantic, 1960. Coltrane, John. My Favorite Things. Atlantic, 1960. Coltrane, John. Coltrane Plays the Blues. Atlantic, 1960. Coltrane, John. The Avant-Garde. Atlantic, 1960. Coltrane, John. Afric/Brass. Impulse, 1961. Coltrane, John. Live at the Village Vanguard. Impulse, 1961. Coltrane, John. The European Tour. Pablo Live, 1962. Coltrane, John. Duke Ellington and John Coltrane. Impulse, 1962. Coltrane, John. John Coltrane with Johnny Hartman. Impluse, 1962. Coltrane, John. Impressions. Impulse, 1963. Coltrane, John. Crescent. Impulse, 1964. Coltrane, John. A Love Supreme. Impulse, 1964. Coltrane, John. First Meditations. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. The John Coltrane Quartet Plays. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. Transition. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. Ascension. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. New Thing At New Port. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. Live In Paris. Charley, 1965.

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Coltrane, John. Antibes. Charley, 1965. Coltrane, John. Antibes - A Love Supreme. Charley, 1965. Coltrane, John. Comblain La Tour. Charley, 1965. Coltrane, John. Sun Ship. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. Infinity. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. Live In Seattle. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. Om. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. Kulu Se Mama. Impulse, 1965. Coltrane, John. Meditations. Impulse, 1965.

47