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Sample Dictionary Entry (major jazz artist, 2492 words)
This sample biographical entry for The Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition, has
been adapted from The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition (2001),
which is available electronically as part of Grove Music Online (www.grovemusic.com).
Coltrane, John (William) [Trane]
(b Hamlet, NC, 23 Sept 1926; d New York, 17 July 1967). American jazz tenor and soprano
saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He was, after fellow jazz musician Charlie Parker, the
most revolutionary and widely imitated saxophonist in jazz.
1. Life.
Coltrane grew up in High Point, North Carolina, where he learnt to play the E alto horn, clarinet
and (at about the age of 15) alto saxophone. After moving to Philadelphia, he enrolled at the
Ornstein School of Music and the Granoff Studios; service in a navy band in Hawaii (1945–6)
interrupted these studies. He played the alto saxophone with the trumpeter King Kolax, then
changed to the tenor to work with the alto saxophonist Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson (1947–8). He
performed on both instruments while in groups led by the saxophonist Jimmy Heath, the
trumpeter Howard McGhee, Dizzy Gillespie, the alto saxophonist Earl Bostic and lesser-known
rhythm-and-blues musicians, but by the time of his membership in Johnny Hodges’s septet
(1953–4) he was firmly committed to the tenor instrument. He leapt to fame in Miles Davis’s
quintet (1955–7), but throughout the 1950s addiction to drugs and then alcoholism disrupted his
career. Shortly after leaving Davis, however, he overcame these problems; in 1964 his album A
Love Supreme celebrated this victory and the profound religious experience associated with it.
Coltrane next played in Thelonious Monk’s quartet (July–December 1957). He rejoined Davis
and worked in various quintets and sextets with Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and others
(1958–60). While with Davis he discovered the soprano saxophone, and purchased his own
instrument in February 1960. Having led numerous studio sessions, established a reputation as a
composer and emerged as the leading tenor saxophonist in jazz, Coltrane was now prepared to
form his own quartet. Its long-standing members were McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison
(double bass) and Elvin Jones (drums). Eric Dolphy also served as an intermittent fifth member.
Coltrane turned to increasingly radical musical styles in the mid-1960s. Surprisingly these
controversial experiments attracted large audiences, and by 1965 he was affluent. From autumn
1965 his search for new sounds resulted in frequent changes of personnel in his group. New
members included Pharoah Sanders (tenor saxophone), Alice Coltrane (his wife, piano), Rashied
Ali (a second drummer until Jones’s departure) and a number of African-influenced
percussionists. In his final years and after his death, Coltrane acquired an almost saintly
reputation among listeners and fellow musicians for his energetic and selfless support of young
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avant-garde performers, his passionate religious convictions, his peaceful demeanor and his
obsessive striving for a musical ideal. He died at the age of 40 of a liver ailment. The Coltrane
Legacy was issued in 1987.
2. Music.
The success of Coltrane’s performances in the 1950s depended largely on their tempo: although
mature in his ballad playing and often imaginative at medium tempos, he was frequently shallow
in his fast bop solos. At times he rendered ballad themes with little or even no adornment, as in
“Naima” (named after his first wife) (from the album Giant Steps, 1959, Atl.). In other ballads,
such as Monk's “ ’Round Midnight” (1956, Col.) on Davis's album ’Round about Midnight, he
alternated paraphrases of the theme with complex elaborations in which brief thematic references
served as signposts. In either case, his priority was beautiful sounds. However esoteric his music
became in later years, Coltrane remained a great romantic interpreter of ballads.
One of Coltrane’s main objectives was to elaborate the full implications of bop chord
progressions. At moderate speeds he could do this without ignoring rhythmic and expressive
nuance, for example in his widely varying improvisations on “All of You” (on ’Round about
Midnight), “Blues by Five” (on Davis's album Cookin’, 1956, Prst.) and “Blue Train” (on Blue
Train, 1957, BN). But the faster the piece, the more concentrated was his exploration of harmony
at the expense of other considerations. Like Charlie Parker, Coltrane improvised rapid bop
melodies from formulae: but unlike Parker he drew on a small collection of formulae, failed to
juxtapose these in new combinations, and tended to place them in predictable relationships to the
beat. Early solos on “Salt Peanuts” (on Davis's album Steamin’, 1956, Prst.) and “Tune-up”
(from Cookin’) exemplify this practice, which culminated in a blistering performance in the title
track on Giant Steps. This solo was impressive because of Coltrane’s huge driving tone, his
astonishing technical facility and his complex harmonic ideas; but rigid, repetitious eight-note
formulae lay just beneath the surface.
Whereas Coltrane was far more important as an improviser than as a composer, he did write
several pieces that have become jazz standards and from May 1959 until his death the vast
majority of his recordings as a leader were of his own compositions.
By seeking to escape harmonic clichés with pieces such as “Giant Steps,” he had inadvertently
created a confining, one-dimensional improvisatory style. In the late 1950s he pursued two
alternative directions. First, his expanding technique enabled him to play what the critic Ira
Gitler called ‘sheets of sound’, as exemplified in his very fast sixteenth-note runs during a live
performance of “Ah-leu-cha” recorded at Newport in 1958 (ex.1). Such flurries gradually
replaced the rhythmic clarity in “Giant Steps” and disguised his excessive reiteration of
formulae. Second, when Miles Davis discarded bop chord progressions in favor of relaxed
ostinatos, Coltrane abandoned formulae in favor of true motivic development. Davis’s “So
What” (on the album Kind of Blue, 1959, Col.) was the first recording on which Coltrane
systematically varied motifs throughout a solo (ex.2). This process became increasingly
prominent in his most famous recordings, including “My Favorite Things” (on My Favorite
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Things, 1960, Atl.), “Equinox” (on Coltrane’s Sound, 1960, Atl.), “Teo” (on Davis's Someday
my Prince will Come, 1961, Col.), “Impressions” (on Impressions, 1961–3, Imp.) and the album
A Love Supreme (1964, Imp.). Initially he developed motifs only in performances when neither
tempo nor harmonic rhythm was fast. Eventually Coltrane was also able to avoid repetitive
responses at high speeds; for example, large portions of “Impressions,” played at a metronome
marking of 310, gained coherence by his continuous, inventive manipulation of distinctive
eighth-note formulae. (These recordings of the early 1960s are often described as being modal,
the concept of which owes more to Tyner’s accompaniments – some of which suggest modal
scales – than Coltrane's chromatic lines.)
While consolidating his new manner of organizing melody, Coltrane embarked on a quest for
new sonorities. Following Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet and others, he used “false” fingerings to
extend the tone color and upper range of his instrument. The same quest led him to rescue from
oblivion the soprano saxophone, which soon rivaled the tenor as his principal instrument. On
both he learned to leap between extreme registers at seemingly impossible speed, and thus to
convey the impression of an overlapping dialogue between two voices, as in the latter part of
“My Favorite Things” (on Selflessness, 1963, Imp.). Radical timbres akin to human cries
dominate his late improvisations as his concern with tonality and pitch waned.
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At this time Coltrane also developed a type of meditative, slow, rubato melody based on black
gospel preaching. In “Alabama” (on Live at Birdland, 1963, Imp.), he interpreted a speech by
Martin Luther King; later, in “Psalm” from A Love Supreme (1964), he instrumentally “narrated”
his own prayer. This technique also appears without obvious reference to a written source in
several late recordings.
Coltrane’s expansion of individual sonority went hand in hand with an expansion of group
texture. In the quartet, Tyner often kept time and established tonal centers with chordal
oscillations, thus freeing Jones to create swirling masses of drum and cymbal accents. Jones
(later, Ali) and Coltrane frequently engaged in extended coloristic duets. The addition of
Dolphy’s bird- and speech-like sounds on wind instruments and Sanders’s screaming tenor
saxophone intensified the group’s textures. Coltrane moved to the forefront of experimental jazz
with Ascension (1965, Imp.), which presented a sustained density of dissonant sound previously
unknown to jazz. Two alto and three tenor saxophonists, two trumpeters, a pianist, two double
bass players and a drummer played through a scarcely tonal, loosely structured scheme; their
collective improvisation and many of their “solos” stressed timbral and registral extremes rather
than conventional melody. Thereafter, Coltrane’s ensembles concentrated on maintaining
extraordinary levels of intensity by filling a vast spectrum of frequencies, tone colors and (when
he employed extra percussionists) accents. The albums Om and Meditations (1965, Imp.), the
late versions of “My Favorite Things” and “Naima” (on Live at the Village Vanguard Again,
1966, Imp.) and many other recordings exemplify this final stage of his musical evolution.
3. Influence.
Coltrane’s impact on his contemporaries was enormous. Countless players imitated his sound on
the tenor saxophone, though few could approach his technical mastery. He alone was responsible
for recognizing and demonstrating the potential of the soprano saxophone as a modern jazz
instrument; by the 1970s most alto and tenor saxophonists doubled on this once archaic
instrument. Finally, by selling hundreds of thousands of albums in his last years, he achieved the
rare feat of establishing avant-garde jazz, temporarily, as a popular music.
Selected Recordings
* composed by Coltrane
Duos:
with R. Ali: Interstellar Space (1967, Imp. 9277)
As leader:
Coltrane (1957, Prst. 7105); Lush Life (1957-8, Prst. 7188); Traneing In (1957, Prst. 7123); Blue
Train (1957, BN 1577), incl. *Blue Train, *Moment’s Notice; The Last Trane (1957-8, Prst.
7378); Soultrane (1958, Prst. 7142); Trane’s Reign (1958, Prst. 7213); Black Pearls (1958, Prst.
7316); The Believer (1958, Prst. 7292); Standard Coltrane (1958, Prst. 7243); Stardust (1958,
Prst. 7268); Bahia (1958, Prst. 7353); Giant Steps (1959, Atl. 1311), incl. *Giant Steps, *Mr. P.
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C., *Naima; Coltrane Jazz (1959-60, Atl. 1354); with D. Cherry: The Avant-Garde (1960, Atl.
1451); My Favorite Things (1960, Atl. 1361); Coltrane Plays the Blues (1960, Atl. 1382);
Coltrane’s Sound (1960, Atl. 1419), incl. *Equinox; Africa/Brass (1961, Imp. 6); Olé Coltrane
(1961, Atl. 1373); Live at the Village Vanguard (1961, Imp. 10), incl. *Chasin’ the Trane;
Impressions (1961-3, Imp. 42), incl. *Impressions; Coltrane (1962, Imp. 21); with J. Hartman:
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963, Imp. 40); Selflessness (1963, 1965, Imp. 9161), incl.
My Favorite Things; Live at Birdland (1963, Imp. 50), incl. *Alabama; Crescent (1964, Imp.
66); *A Love Supreme (1964, Imp. 77), incl. *Psalm; Transition (1965, Imp. 9195); Ascension
(1965 Imp. 95); Sun Ship (1965, Imp. 9211); First Meditations (1965, Imp. 9332); Live in Seattle
(1965, Imp. 9202-2); Om (1965, Imp. 9140); Kulu se Mama (1965, Imp. 9106); *Meditations
(1965, Imp. 9110); Cosmic Music (1966, Coast Recorders 4950), incl. *Reverend King; Live at
the Village Vanguard Again (1966, Imp. 9124), incl. My Favorite Things, *Naima; Expression
(1967, Imp. 9120), incl. *Expression, *Offering
As sideman:
M. Davis: Miles (1955, Prst. 7014); ’Round about Midnight (1955-6, Col. CL949), incl. All of
You, ’Round Midnight; Relaxin’ (1956, Prst. 7129); Steamin’ (1956, Prst. 7200), incl. Salt
Peanuts; Workin’ (1956, Prst. 7166); S. Rollins: Tenor Madness (1956, Prst. 7047); M. Davis:
Cookin’ (1956, Prst. 7094), incl. Blues by Five, Tune up; ’Round Midnight (1956, Prst. 45-413);
T. Monk: Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (1957, Jlnd 946); R. Garland: All Mornin’ Long
(1957, Prst. 7130); Soul Junction (1957, Prst. 7181); M. Davis: Milestones (1958, Col. CL1193);
Jazz Track (1958, Col. CL1268); Miles and Monk at Newport (1958, Col. CL2178), incl. Ah-leucha; Jazz at the Plaza (1958, Col. C32470); C. Adderley: Cannonball Adderley Quintet in
Chicago (1959, Mer. 20449); M. Davis: Kind of Blue (1959, Col. CL1355), incl. So What;
Someday my Prince will Come (1961, Col. CS8456), incl. Teo; D. Ellington: Duke Ellington and
John Coltrane (1962, Imp. 30)
Bibliography
I. Gitler: “Trane on the Track,” DB, xxv/21 (1958), 16
A. Blume: “An Interview with John Coltrane,” JR, ii/1 (1959), 25
Z. Carno: “The Style of John Coltrane,” JR, ii (1959), no.9, p.17; no.10, p.13
J. Coltrane: “Coltrane on Coltrane,” DB, xxvii/20 (1960), 26
B. Dawbarn: “John Coltrane: I’d Like to Play your Clubs,” MM (25 Nov 1961), 8
D. DeMichael: “John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy Answer the Critics,” DB, xxix/ 8 (1962), 20
J. Goldberg: Jazz Masters of the Fifties (New York and London, 1965/R1980)
A. Spellman: “Trane: A Wild Night at the Gate,” DB, xxxii/26 (1965), 15
J. Cooke: “Late Trane,” JM, no.179 (1970), 2
F. Kofsky: “Revolution, Coltrane, and the Avant-Garde,” Black Giants, ed. P. Rivelli and R.
Levin (New York and Cleveland, 1970/R1980 as Giants of Black Music)
M. Williams: The Jazz Tradition (New York, 1970, rev. 2/1983)
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B. McRae: “John Coltrane: the Impulse Years,” JJ, xxiv/7 (1971), 2
E. Jost: Free Jazz (Graz, Austria, 1974/R1994)
C. O. Simpkins: Coltrane (New York, 1975)
J. C. Thomas: Chasin’ the Trane: the Music and Mystique of John Coltrane (Garden City, NY,
1975/R1979)
D. Wild: The Recordings of John Coltrane (Ann Arbor, MI, 1979) [incl. chronology of activities]
D. Baker: The Jazz Style of John Coltrane: a Musical and Historical Perspective (Lebanon, IN,
1980) [incl. transcrs.]
B. Kernfeld: Adderley, Coltrane, and Davis at the Twilight of Bebop: the Search for Melodic
Coherence (1958–59) (diss., Cornell U., 1981)
A. N. White, III: Trane ’n Me: a Semi-autobiography: a Treatise on the Music of John Coltrane
(Washington, DC, 1981)
G. Filtgen and M. Ausserbauer: John Coltrane: sein Leben, seine Musik, seine Schallplatten
(Gauting, Germany, 1983, rev. and enlarged 2/1989)
B. Kernfeld: “Two Coltranes,” ARJS, ii (1983), 7–66
L. Porter: John Coltrane’s Music of 1960 through 1967: Jazz Improvisation as Composition
(diss., Brandeis U., 1983)
A. Gerber: Le cas Coltrane (Marseilles, France, 1985)
L. Porter: “John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme: Jazz Improvisation as Composition,” Journal of the
American Musicological Society, xxxviii (1985), 593
B. Priestley: John Coltrane (London, 1987) [incl. discography]
F. Postif: Les grandes interviews de Jazz hot (Paris, 1989)
D. Demsey: “Chromatic Third Relations in the Music of John Coltrane,” ARJS, v (1991), 145
W. Weiskopf and R. Ricker: Coltrane: a Players’ Guide to his Harmony (New Albany, IN,
c1991)
E. Nisenson: Ascension: John Coltrane and his Quest (New York, 1993)
G. Putschoegl: John Coltrane und die afroamerikanische Oraltradition (Graz, Austria, 1993)
I. Monson: “Doubleness in Jazz Improvisation: Irony, Parody, and Ethnomusicology,” Critical
Inquiry, xx/2 (1994), 283
P. Watrous: “John Coltrane: a Supreme Life,” in The Jazz Musician, ed. M. Rowland and T.
Scherman (New York, 1994), 165
X. Daverat: John Coltrane (Paris, 1995)
Y. Fujioka with L. Porter and Y. Hamada: John Coltrane: a Discography and Musical
Biography (Metuchen, NJ, and London, 1995)
B. Kernfeld: What to Listen for in Jazz (New Haven, CT, and London, 1995)
D. Demsey: John Coltrane Plays Giant Steps (Milwaukee, 1996) [incl. transcrs.]
The Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition / 7
J. Fraim: Spirit Catcher: the Life and Art of John Coltrane (West Liberty, OH, 1996)
D. Liebman: “John Coltrane's Meditations Suite: a Study in Symmetry,” ARJS, viii (1996), 167
F.-R. Simon: John Coltrane (Paris, 1996)
K. E. Hester: The Melodic and Polyrhythmic Development of John Coltrane’s Spontaneous
Composition in a Racist Society (Lewiston, NY, 1997)
L. Porter: John Coltrane: his Life and Music (Ann Arbor, MI, 1998)
Barry Kernfeld