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John Coltrane: Free jazz
In the early 60s Coltrane was influenced by Davis' modal approach, the free jazz of
Ornette Coleman and the music of Ravi Shankar. Much of this influence can be heard as early as Coltrane's surprise 1960 hit
My Favorite Things, a song Coltrane would frequently play until his death. Coltrane's success was phenomenal for the jazz world at the time. By following his personal vision absolutely, he would captivate many listeners and aspiring musicians, producing a public persona of total independence and artistic rigor.
Coltrane's late period music showed an increasing interest in the free jazz pioneered by Cecil Taylor,
Albert Ayler and others. In formulating his late period style, he was especially influenced by Ayler's dissonance in Ayler's trio with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray. By any measure, Pharoah Sanders, whom Coltrane invited into his band for most of his late-period experiments, was one of the most abrasive saxophonists then playing. Coltrane, who used over-blowing frequently as an emotional exclamation-point, gravitated to Sanders's solos, frequently overblowing-based orgies of screaming revelation. Longtime Sun Ra saxophonist John Gilmore was a major influence on Coltrane's late-period music, as well. After hearing a Gilmore performance, Coltrane is reported to have said "He's got it! Gilmore's got the concept!"
http://members.tripod.com/~hardbop/gilmore.html Coltrane took informal lessons from Gilmore, and his own "Chasin' the 'Trane" was strongly inspired by Gilmore's music.
Tyner and Jones eventually resigned from the group, dissatisfied with the changing sound of Coltrane's music. In 1965 Coltrane began using LSD, which would inform the sublime, "cosmic" transcendence of his late period, and also its incomprehensibility to many listeners. He formed a quintet with Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone, his new wife Alice Coltrane on piano, and Rashied Ali on drums. Coltrane and Sanders were described by Nat Hentoff as "speaking in tongues," an interesting interpretation seen relative to Coltrane's Christian upbringing in the south. The screaming, especially, can be compared to the cadences of black preachers demanding salvation from their congregation.
Today, most casual jazz listeners and even traditionalists like Wynton Marsalis consider late-period Coltrane unlistenable. However many recordings — among them
Ascension, Meditations and the posthumous Interstellar Space — are widely considered masterpieces. Many of Coltrane's innovations would be incorporated into the jazz fusion movement, however with diminishing returns of spiritual fervency and earnestness. Also more mainstream rock guitarists like Jimi Hendrix would seize upon Coltrane's work as inspiration in addition to American Blues music.
Coltrane's recording rate was astonishingly prolific: He released about fifty recordings as a leader in twelve years, and appeared on dozens more led by other musicians.
Coltrane died from liver cancer at Huntington Hospital in Long Island, NY on July 17, 1967, at 40. Coltrane's excessive alcohol and heroin abuse during the 40s and 50s likely laid the seed for this illness, which can strike former alcoholics years after they quit. Tragically, in a 1968 interview
Albert Ayler revealed that Coltrane was consulting a Hindu meditative healer for his illness instead of western medicine, though conventional treatment may have been ineffective regardless.
Coltrane's son, Ravi Coltrane, has followed in his father's steps and become a saxophonist.
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Published: Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:13:28 GMT - Source: Theregister.Co.Uk - Read the article
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