Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
Name	Post-bop
Color	black
Bgcolor	pink
Stylistic origins	JazzBebopHard bopModal jazzAvant-garde jazzFree jazzImpressionist music
Cultural origins	early 1960s New York City
Instruments	Drums - Saxophone - Trumpet - Trombone - Clarinet - Piano - Double bass
Popularity	Moderate}}

Post-bop is a term for a form of small-combo jazz music that evolved in the early-to-mid sixties. The genre's origins lie in seminal work by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Generally, the term post-bop is taken to mean jazz from the mid-sixties onward that assimilates influence from hard bop, modal jazz, the avant-garde, and free jazz, without necessarily being immediately identifiable as any of the above. The term is a fairly recent coinage and (like "Northern soul") was not in common use while the genre was active.

Much "post-bop" was recorded on Blue Note Records. Key albums include Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter; The Real McCoy by McCoy Tyner; Out to Lunch by Eric Dolphy; Miles Smiles by Miles Davis; Maiden Voyage by Herbie Hancock; and Search for the New Land by Lee Morgan (an artist not typically associated with the post-bop genre). Most post-bop artists worked in other genres as well, with a particularly strong overlap with later hard bop.

By the early seventies, most of the major post-bop artists had moved on to jazz fusion of one form or another.

Partial list of musicians or groups linked to post-bop

Gilad Atzmon

Terence Blanchard

Carla Bley

Ron Carter

Tony Williams

Chick Corea

Andrew Cyrille

Miles Davis

John McLaughlin

Eldar Djangirov

Eric Dolphy

Antonio Farao

Charlie Haden

Jim Hall

Herbie Hancock

Joe Henderson

Conrad Herwig

Andrew Hill

Freddie Hubbard

Bobby Hutcherson

Milt Jackson

Keith Jarrett

Howard Johnson

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Harold Land

Wilbur Little

Joe Lovano

Cecil McBee

Branford Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis

Pat Metheny

Charles Mingus

Lewis Nash

Junko Onishi

Art Pepper-In the 1970s

Joshua Redman

Sonny Rollins

Woody Shaw

Wayne Shorter

McCoy Tyner

Mal Waldron

Phil Woods

Kenny Garrett

Ira Sullivan

See also

:Category:Post-bop jazz musicians

External links

Indie jazz article on Post-bop

Rhapsody.com

Category:Jazz genres

Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
Name	John Scofield
Landscape	yes
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	December 26, 1951 Dayton, Ohio, United States
Genre	Jazz, jazz fusion
Instrument	Guitar
Occupation	Musician, songwriter
Associated acts	Miles Davis, Medeski Martin & Wood
Label	EmArcy Records, Verve, Blue Note, Gramavision, Enja
Years active	1970s-Present
Url	www.johnscofield.com
Notable instruments	Ibanez Artstar AS200

John Scofield (born December 26, 1951 in Dayton, Ohio), often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham, Medeski Martin & Wood, George Duke, Jaco Pastorius, John Mayer, and many other well known artists. At ease in the bebop idiom, Scofield is also well versed in jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul, and other forms of modern American music.

Biography

Early in his life, Scofield's family left Ohio and relocated to the small, then mostly rural location of Wilton, Connecticut; it was here that he discovered his interest in music.

Educated at the Berklee College of Music, Scofield eventually left school to record with Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. He joined the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band soon after and spent two years playing, recording and touring with them. Scofield recorded with Charles Mingus in 1976, and replaced Pat Metheny in Gary Burton's quartet. In autumn 1976 he signed a contract with Enja Records, and he released his first album, John Scofield, in 1977. Around this time, he toured and recorded with Pianist Hal Galper, first on his own solo album Rough House in 1978, and Galper's album Ivory Forest (1980), where he is heard playing a solo rendition of Thelonious Monk's "Monk's Mood". In 1979 he formed a trio with his mentor Steve Swallow and Adam Nussbaum which, with drummer Bill Stewart replacing Nussbaum, has become the signature group of Scofield's career. In 1982, he joined Miles Davis, with whom he remained for three and a half years. He contributed tunes and guitar work to three Davis recordings, Star People, You're under Arrest and Decoy.

While still with Davis, he released the first of his Gramavision recordings Electric Outlet (1984). Still Warm (1985) followed after he left Davis's group. At the end of the Davis tenure, he started what is now referred to as his Blue Matter Band - with Dennis Chambers on drums, Gary Grainger on bass and at times either Robert Aries or Jim Beard on keyboards - releasing Blue Matter, Loud Jazz and Pick Hits Live.

At the beginning of the 1990s, he formed his quartet that included Joe Lovano with whom he recorded several important albums for Blue Note Records. Time on My Hands (1990), with Lovano, Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette, showcased Scofield's guitar and Mingus-influenced writing. Bill Stewart subsequently became the group's drummer, and played on Meant To Be (1991) and What We Do (1993). In 1992, Scofield released Grace Under Pressure, featuring fellow guitarist Bill Frisell, with Charlie Haden on bass and Joey Baron on drums. Stewart rejoined with Scofield and bassist Steve Swallow for the 1994 collaboration with Pat Metheny, I Can See Your House from Here.

Towards the end of his tenure with Blue Note, Scofield returned to a more funk and soul jazz-oriented sound, a direction which has dominated much of his subsequent output. In 1994 and 1995, Scofield formed a core group that included organist/pianist Larry Goldings, bassist Dennis Irwin, and alternately drummers, Bill Stewart and Idris Muhammad. The group toured extensively, and the albums Hand Jive and Groove Elation feature this funk/groove/soul dimension in Scofield's music, bringing in tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris, percussionist Don Alias, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and others. He recorded the acclaimed 1997 album A Go Go with the avant garde jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood. Also during this period, his relationship began with British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. First as a soloist on Turnage's Blood on the Floor: Elegy for Andy, the two paired up to create Scorched, Turnage's orchestrations of Scofield compositions largely form the Blue Matter period. Scorched, a recording available on Deutsche Grammophon, debuted in Frankfurt, Germany.

He released Überjam in 2002 and Up All Night in 2004, two albums on which he experiments with drum n bass and other modern rhythms. John Scofield has also worked and recorded in Europe with nu-fusionist Bugge Wesseltoft New Conception of Jazz in 2001/2 and 2006. Late 2004 saw the release of , which features the jazz trio of John Scofield, the venerable Steve Swallow on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. It was recorded live at The Blue Note in NYC in December 2003. The next year, he released That's What I Say - JS plays the music of Ray Charles - Scofield with an all-star guest studded collection of Ray Charles material. This led to a series of performances with Mavis Staples, Gary Versace on organ, John Benitez on bass, and Steve Hass on drums.

After sitting in for two engagements in December (3rd & 4th) of 2005 with Phil Lesh and Friends, Scofield has since played numerous shows with the band. Most recently, on June 3 at Mountain Jam, which took place in Hunter, NY the first weekend of June 2007.

On September 26, 2006 he released Out Louder, his second collaborative effort album with avant garde jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood. The group, known collectively as MSMW toured extensively worldwide in 2006 and 2007, with sporadic engagements planned in the future. Scofield also performs as a duo with John Medeski - aptly named The Johns and another groove trio with Scofield, Medeski and drummer Adam Deitch.

September 18, 2007 saw This Meets That released on EmArcy Records - Universal Music's jazz label, a record featuring his trio with Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart. This time John added a horn section to expand the sound of his trio.

Never one to follow an expected path, in recent years Scofield launched a personal search for musical inspiration beyond the standard 12 bar blues and found it in "old time gospel music - the closest relative to and inspiration for the R& B.” His 2009 release Piety Street with bass legend George Porter, Jr. and singer/keyboardist Jon Cleary. The collaboration heard on the 2010 release 54 had its origins back in the 90's when Vince Mendoza asked John Scofield to play on his first album. John has since been featured on two of Vince’s records and his guitar sound and improvisational skills work well within Vince’s concept. When Mendoza assumed directorship of The Metropole Orchestra, he and Scofield decided to collaborate again with a primary focus on Mendoza’s arrangements of Scofield compositions as performed with The Metropole Orchestra.

In a return to Scofieldesque "straight ahead" jazz, he went to the studio in January 2011 with pianist/organist Larry Goldings, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade, laying the tracks for a ballads album scheduled for a May 2011 release on EmArcy Records.

In April 2010, Scofield was named an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

Scofield is currently serving as an adjunct faculty member in the Jazz Department at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education.

He married Susan Scofield in 1978. They are the parents of music producer Jean Scofield (b. 1981) and writer Evan Scofield (b. 1987).

Equipment

Scofield endorses Ibanez guitars. His signature guitar, the JSM100, is based on his longtime stage and recording guitar, a 1981 Ibanez AS200 which he believes to be one of the best semi-acoustics ever built. He gets his tone by running a Pro Co RAT through either a Vox AC-30 or Mesa Boogie amplifier. Some of his effects include an Ibanez CS9 Analog Chorus, a Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler, and a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler. Some of his additional effects include a DigiTech XP100 Whammy/Wah, a Boss EQ Pedal, a Boss Loop Station, and a Boomerang phrase sampler pedal. John Scofield uses Dunlop Delrin 2 mm picks.

Discography

As leader & co-leader

John Scofield Live (1977) - Enja Records

John Scofield aka East Meets West (1977) - Trio Records/Black-Hawk Records, Bellophon Records

Rough House (1978) - Enja Records

Who's Who? (1979) - Arista/Novus

Bar Talk (1980) - Jive/Novus

Out Like a Light (1981) - Enja Records

Shinola (1981) - Enja Records

Electric Outlet (1984) - Gramavision

Still Warm (1985) - Gramavision

Blue Matter (1986) - Gramavision

Loud Jazz (1987) - Gramavision

Pick Hits Live (1987) - Gramavision

Flat Out (1989) - Gramavision

Time on My Hands (1990) - Blue Note

Meant To Be (1991) - Blue Note

Grace Under Pressure (1992) - Blue Note

What We Do (1993) - Blue Note

I Can See Your House From Here (1994) - w/Pat Metheny - Blue Note

Hand Jive (1994) - Blue Note

Groove Elation (1995) - Blue Note

Quiet (1996) - Verve

A Go Go with Medeski Martin & Wood(1998) - Verve

Bump (2000) - Verve

Works For Me (2001) - Verve

Überjam (2002) - Verve

Oh! (2003) - as ScoLoHoFo - Blue Note

Up All Night (2003) - Verve

Scorched (2004) - w/Mark-Anthony Turnage - DG Deutsche Grammophon

(2004) - Verve

(2005) - Verve

Saudades (2006) - as Trio Beyond - ECM

Out Louder (2006) - as Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood - Indirecto

This Meets That (2007) - Emarcy Records

Piety Street (2009) - Emarcy Records

54 (2010) - w/Vince Mendoza & The Metropole Orkestra - Emarcy Records

Compilations

Best of John Scofield (1989) - Blue Note

(1990) - Gramavision

(1994) - Gramavision

Steady Groovin': The Blue Note Groove Sides (2000) - Blue Note

As a sideman

With Teodross Avery

My Generation (1996) - Impulse!

With Billy Cobham

A Funky Thide of Sings (1975) - Atlantic

Life & Times (1976) - Wounded Bird Records

With Joe Beck & Larry Coryell

Tributaries (1978) - Arista Novus

With the George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet

Live at Montmartre (Timeless, 1985)

With Miles Davis

You're Under Arrest (1985) - Columbia

Decoy (1984) - Sony Music

Star People (1983) - Sony Music

'''With John Ellis:

One Foot In The Swamp (2005) - Hyena

With David Friesen

Two for the Show (1994) - ITM Pacific

With Bill Goodwin

Solar Energy (1981) - Omni Sound Jazz

With Jon Gordon

Possibilities (2000) - Double-Time

With Herbie Hancock

The New Standard (1995) - Verve

With Jimmy Haslip

A R C (1993) - UMG

With Roy Haynes

Love Letters (2003) - Columbia

With Joe Henderson

So Near, So Far (Musings for Miles) (1993) - Verve

Porgy & Bess (1997) - Verve

With Ron Holloway

Struttin' (1995) - Milestone Records

With Marc Johnson

Shades of Jade (2005) - ECM

Second Sight (1987) - ECM

Bass Desires (1986) - ECM

With Lee Konitz

Rhapsody II (1993) - Evidence

With Manhattan Jazz Quintet

Manhattan Blues (1990) – Sweet Basil

With Gary Marks

Gathering (1974) - Arewea Records

With Charles Mingus

Three of Four Shades of Blue (1977) - Collectables Records

With Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker

Carnegie Hall Concert (1974) - CTI Records

With John Patitucci

Now (1998) - Concord Jazz

With Phil Lesh and Friends Live at the Warfield (2006) - With Dizzy Gillespie

Rhythmstick (1990)

With Harvie Swartz

In a Different Light (1990) - Blue Moon

'''With Tommy Smith:

Blue Smith (1999) - Linn Records

With Gary Thomas

By Any Means Necessary (1989) - JMT

With Mark Antony Turnage

Blood On The Floor (album) (1998) - Decca Records

With Bugge Wesseltoft

New Conception Of Jazz Live (2003) - Jazzland

With Lenny White

Present Tense (1995) - Hip Bop

With Jack DeJohnette

Music for the Fifth World (1992) - Capitol

With Keller Williams

Dream (2007) - SCI Fidelity Records

References

External links

Official site

Verve Records: John Scofield Bio

Video Interview (11/2004)

Interview (01/2003)

Interview (03/2002)

Interview (05/2000)

John Scofield guitar tab

Interview from honesttune.com

Category:American jazz guitarists Category:Jazz-funk guitarists Category:Jazz fusion guitarists Category:Post-bop guitarists Category:Lead guitarists Category:American jazz composers Category:Miles Davis Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:New York University faculty Category:People from Wilton, Connecticut Category:People from Connecticut Category:People from Dayton, Ohio Category:1951 births Category:Living people

Tom Harrell (born June 16, 1946) is a renowned American post-bop jazz trumpeter and composer.

Biography

Tom Harrell was born in Urbana, Illinois, and began playing the trumpet at age eight. He soon moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and was gigging with local bands by age thirteen. In 1969 he graduated from Stanford University with a music composition degree and joined Stan Kenton's orchestra, touring and recording with them throughout 1969.

After leaving Kenton, Harrell played with Woody Herman's big band (1970–1971), Azteca (1972), the Horace Silver Quintet (1973–1977), the Sam Jones big band, the Lee Konitz Nonet (1979–1981), George Russell, the Mel Lewis Orchestra (1981), and Charlie Haden's Liberation Orchestra. In addition, he recorded albums with Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Ronnie Cuber, Bob Brookmeyer, Lionel Hampton, Bob Berg, Bobby Shew, among others. From 1983-1989 he was a pivotal member of the Phil Woods Quintet, with whom he toured the world and made many recordings.

Since 1989 Harrell has led his own groups; usually quintets but occasionally expanded ensembles such as chamber orchestra with strings and big bands. He has appeared at virtually every major jazz club and festival, and recorded under his own name for such record labels as Pinnacle, Blackhawk, Criss Cross, SteepleChase, Contemporary Records, Chesky, and RCA and Highnote. He received a Grammy nomination for his big band album, Time's Mirror.

Harrell is a prolific arranger and composer. He arranged for Vince Guaraldi's work on Peanuts, Carlos Santana, Arturo O'Farrill, Metropole Orchestra, Danish Radio Big Band, and Elisabeth Kontomanou, among others.

Harrell is currently represented by Addeo Music International (AMI).

Harrell suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Despite this condition's usually paralyzing effects, Harrell has become an influential figure in as a jazz trumpeter and composer, and has made many recordings. Through music and medication, he is able to cope with his illness.

Discography

2010 : Roman Nights

2009 : Prana Dance

2007 : Light On

2007 : Humanity

2003 : Wise Children

2002 : Live at the Village Vanguard

2001 : Paradise

1999 : Time's Mirror

1998 : Art of Rhythm

1996 : Labyrinth

1994 : Upswing

1992 : Passages

1990 : Form

1989 : Sail Away

1988 : Stories

References

External links

Tom Harrell Official Website

Official MySpace Page

Tom Harrell Live at The Village Vanguard

Category:Mainstream jazz trumpeters Category:Post-bop trumpeters Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:People with schizophrenia Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:SteepleChase Records artists Category:Palo Alto Records artists Category:RCA Records artists Category:Contemporary Records artists Category:Criss Cross Jazz artists

Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
Name	John Coltrane
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	John William Coltrane
Alias	"Trane"
Born	September 23, 1926Hamlet, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	July 17, 1967Huntington, New York, U.S.
Genre	Jazz, avant-garde jazz, bebop, hard bop, post bop, modal jazz, free jazz
Occupation	Saxophonist, composer, bandleader
Instrument	Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone
Years active	1946–1967
Label	Prestige, Blue Note, Atlantic, Impulse!, Pablo
Associated acts	Miles Davis Quintet, Thelonious Monk
Url	johncoltrane.com

Name	Saint John William Coltrane
Birth date	September 23, 1926
Birth place	Hamlet, North Carolina, U.S.
Death date	July 17, 1967
Death place	Huntington, New York, U.S.
Venerated in	African Orthodox Church
Patronage	All Artists

John William Coltrane (also known as "Trane"; September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz. He was prolific, organizing at least fifty recording sessions as a leader during his recording career, and appeared as a sideman on many other albums, notably with trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk.

As his career progressed, Coltrane and his music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension. His second wife was pianist Alice Coltrane, and their son Ravi Coltrane is also a saxophonist. Coltrane influenced innumerable musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history. He received many posthumous awards and recognition, including canonization by the African Orthodox Church as Saint John William Coltrane. In 2007, Coltrane was awarded the Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for his "masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz."

Biography

Early life and career (1926–1954)

John Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina on September 23, 1926, and grew up in High Point, NC, attending William Penn High School (now Penn-Griffin School for the Arts). Beginning in December 1938 Coltrane's aunt, grandparents, and father all died within a few months of each other, leaving John to be raised by his mother and a close cousin. In June 1943 he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Navy in 1945, and played in the Navy jazz band once he was stationed in Hawaii. Coltrane returned to civilian life in 1946 and began jazz theory studies with Philadelphia guitarist and composer Dennis Sandole. Coltrane continued under Sandole's tutelage until the early 1950s. Originally an altoist, during this time Coltrane also began playing tenor saxophone with the Eddie Vinson Band. Coltrane later referred to this point in his life as a time when "a wider area of listening opened up for me. There were many things that people like Hawk, and Ben, and Tab Smith were doing in the '40s that I didn't understand, but that I felt emotionally."

An important moment in the progression of Coltrane's musical development occurred on June 5, 1945, when he saw Charlie Parker perform for the first time. In a DownBeat article in 1960 he recalled: "the first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes." An advantage to Coltrane recording with Impulse! was that it would enable him to work again with engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who had taped both his and Davis's Prestige sessions, as well as Blue Train. It was at Van Gelder's new studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey that Coltrane would record most of his records for the label.

By early 1961, bassist Davis had been replaced by Reggie Workman while Eric Dolphy joined the group as a second horn around the same time. The quintet had a celebrated (and extensively recorded) residency in November 1961 at the Village Vanguard, which demonstrated Coltrane's new direction. It featured the most experimental music he'd played up to this point, influenced by Indian ragas, the recent developments in modal jazz, and the burgeoning free jazz movement. John Gilmore, a longtime saxophonist with musician Sun Ra, was particularly influential; after hearing a Gilmore performance, Coltrane is reported to have said "He's got it! Gilmore's got the concept!" The most celebrated of the Vanguard tunes, the 15-minute blues, "Chasin' the 'Trane", was strongly inspired by Gilmore's music.

During this period, critics were fiercely divided in their estimation of Coltrane, who had radically altered his style. Audiences, too, were perplexed; in France he was famously booed during his final tour with Davis. In 1961, Down Beat magazine indicted Coltrane, along with Eric Dolphy, as players of "Anti-Jazz" in an article that bewildered and upset the musicians. Coltrane admitted some of his early solos were based mostly on technical ideas. Furthermore, Dolphy's angular, voice-like playing earned him a reputation as a figurehead of the "New Thing" (also known as "Free Jazz" and "Avant-Garde") movement led by Ornette Coleman, which was also denigrated by some jazz musicians (including Miles Davis) and critics. But as Coltrane's style further developed, he was determined to make each performance "a whole expression of one's being".

Classic Quartet period (1962–1965)

In 1962, Dolphy departed and Jimmy Garrison replaced Workman as bassist. From then on, the "Classic Quartet", as it came to be known, with Tyner, Garrison, and Jones, produced searching, spiritually driven work. Coltrane was moving toward a more harmonically static style that allowed him to expand his improvisations rhythmically, melodically, and motivically. Harmonically complex music was still present, but on stage Coltrane heavily favored continually reworking his "standards": "Impressions", "My Favorite Things", and "I Want to Talk about You."

The criticism of the quintet with Dolphy may have had an impact on Coltrane. In contrast to the radicalism of Trane's 1961 recordings at the Village Vanguard, his studio albums in 1962 and 1963 (with the exception of Coltrane, which featured a blistering version of Harold Arlen's "Out of This World") were much more conservative and accessible. He recorded an album of ballads and participated in collaborations with Duke Ellington on the album Duke Ellington and John Coltrane and with deep-voiced ballad singer Johnny Hartman on an eponymous co-credited album. The Impulse compilation Coltrane for Lovers is largely drawn from these three albums. The album Ballads is emblematic of Coltrane's versatility, as the quartet shed new light on old-fashioned standards such as "It's Easy to Remember". Despite a more polished approach in the studio, in concert the quartet continued to balance "standard" and its own more exploratory and challenging music, as can be seen on the Impressions album (two extended jams including the title track along with "Dear Old Stockholm", "After the Rain" and a blues), Coltrane at Newport (where he plays "My Favorite Things") and Live at Birdland both from 1963. Coltrane later said he enjoyed having a "balanced catalogue."

The Classic Quartet produced their most famous record, A Love Supreme, in December 1964. It is reported that Coltrane, who struggled with repeated drug addiction, derived inspiration for "A Love Supreme" through a near overdose in 1957 which galvanized him to spirituality. A culmination of much of Coltrane's work up to this point, this four-part suite is an ode to his faith in and love for God. These spiritual concerns would characterize much of Coltrane's composing and playing from this point onwards, as can be seen from album titles such as Ascension, Om and Meditations. The fourth movement of A Love Supreme, "Psalm", is, in fact, a musical setting for an original poem to God written by Coltrane, and printed in the album's liner notes. Coltrane plays almost exactly one note for each syllable of the poem, and bases his phrasing on the words. Despite its challenging musical content, the album was a commercial success by jazz standards, encapsulating both the internal and external energy of the quartet of Coltrane, Tyner, Jones and Garrison. Indeed the previous album Crescent recorded only a few months before already shows the adventurousness and rapport between these musicians. The album was composed at Coltrane's home in Dix Hills on Long Island.

The quartet only played A Love Supreme live once—in July 1965 at a concert in Antibes, France. By then, Coltrane's music had grown even more adventurous, and the performance provides an interesting contrast to the original.

Avant-garde jazz and the second quartet (1965–1967)

In his late period, Coltrane showed an increasing interest in avant-garde jazz, purveyed by Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra and others. In developing his late style, Coltrane was especially influenced by the dissonance of Ayler's trio with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray, a rhythm section honed with Cecil Taylor as leader. Coltrane championed many younger free jazz musicians, (notably Archie Shepp), and under his influence Impulse! became a leading free jazz record label.

After A Love Supreme was recorded, Ayler's apocalyptic style became more prominent in Coltrane's music. A series of recordings with the Classic Quartet in the first half of 1965 show Coltrane's playing becoming increasingly abstract, with greater incorporation of devices like multiphonics, utilization of overtones, and playing in the altissimo register, as well as a mutated return to Coltrane's sheets of sound. In the studio, he all but abandoned his soprano to concentrate on the tenor saxophone. In addition, the quartet responded to the leader by playing with increasing freedom. The group's evolution can be traced through the recordings The John Coltrane Quartet Plays, Living Space, Transition (both June 1965), New Thing at Newport (July 1965), Sun Ship (August 1965), and First Meditations (September 1965).

In June 1965, he went into Van Gelder's studio with ten other musicians (including Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, Marion Brown, and John Tchicai) to record Ascension, a 40-minute long piece that included adventurous solos by the young avant-garde musicians (as well as Coltrane), and was controversial primarily for the collective improvisation sections that separated the solos. After recording with the quartet over the next few months, Coltrane invited Pharoah Sanders to join the band in September 1965.

By any measure, Sanders was one of the most abrasive, virtuosic saxophonists then playing. While Coltrane used over-blowing frequently as an emotional exclamation-point, Sanders would opt to overblow his entire solo, resulting in a constant screaming and screeching in the altissimo range of the instrument. The more Coltrane played with Sanders, the more he gravitated to Sanders' unique sound.

Adding to the quartet

By late 1965, Coltrane was regularly augmenting his group with Sanders and other free jazz musicians. Rashied Ali joined the group as a second drummer. This was the end of the quartet; claiming he was unable to hear himself over the two drummers, Tyner left the band shortly after the recording of Meditations. Jones left in early 1966, dissatisfied by sharing drumming duties with Ali. Both Tyner and Jones subsequently expressed displeasure in interviews, after Coltrane's death, with the music's new direction, while incorporating some of the free-jazz form's intensity into their own solo projects.

There are speculations that in 1965 Coltrane may have begun using LSD - informing the sublime, "cosmic" transcendence of his late period. After Jones's and Tyner's departures, Coltrane led a quintet with Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone, his second wife Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums. Coltrane and Sanders were described by Nat Hentoff as "speaking in tongues". When touring, the group was known for playing very lengthy versions of their repertoire, many stretching beyond 30 minutes and sometimes even being an hour long. Concert solos for band members regularly extended beyond fifteen minutes in duration.

Despite the radicalism of the horns, the rhythm section with Ali and Alice Coltrane had a more relaxed, random but meditative feel than with Jones and Tyner. The group can be heard on several live recordings from 1966, including Live at the Village Vanguard Again! and Live in Japan. In 1967, Coltrane entered the studio several times; though pieces with Sanders have surfaced (the unusual "To Be", which features both men on flutes), most of the recordings were either with the quartet minus Sanders (Expression and Stellar Regions) or as a duo with Ali. The latter duo produced six performances which appear on the album Interstellar Space.

Death and funeral

Coltrane died from liver cancer at Huntington Hospital on Long Island on July 17, 1967, at the age of 40. His funeral was held on Friday, July 21 at St. Peters Lutheran Church in New York City. The Albert Ayler Quartet and The Ornette Coleman Quartet respectively opened and closed the service. He is buried at Pinelawn Cemetery in Farmingdale, N.Y.

Biographer Lewis Porter has suggested, somewhat controversially, that the cause of Coltrane's illness was hepatitis, although he also attributed the disease to Coltrane's heroin use. In a 1968 interview Albert Ayler claimed that Coltrane was consulting a Hindu meditative healer for his illness instead of Western medicine, though Alice Coltrane later denied this.

His death surprised many in the musical community who were not aware of his condition. Miles Davis commented: "Coltrane's death shocked everyone, took everyone by surprise. I knew he hadn't looked too good... But I didn't know he was that sick—or even sick at all."

The Coltrane family reportedly remains in possession of much more as-yet-unreleased music, mostly mono reference tapes made for the saxophonist and, as with the 1995 release Stellar Regions, master tapes that were checked out of the studio and never returned. The parent company of Impulse!, from 1965 to 1979 known as ABC Records, purged much of its unreleased material in the 1970s. Lewis Porter has stated that Alice Coltrane, who died in 2007, intended to release this music, but over a long period of time; her son Ravi Coltrane, responsible for reviewing the material, is also pursuing his own career.

Instruments

Coltrane played the clarinet and the alto horn in a community band before taking up the alto saxophone during high school. In 1947, when he joined King Kolax's band, Coltrane switched to tenor saxophone, the instrument he became known for playing primarily.

In the early 1960s, during his engagement with Atlantic Records, he increasingly played soprano saxophone as well. The cover of his album My Favorite Things features Coltrane playing soprano. in High Point, North Carolina, and John's paternal grandfather, Reverend William H. Coltrane, was an A.M.E. Zion minister in Hamlet, North Carolina.

In 1955, Coltrane married Juanita Naima Grubbs, a Muslim convert, (for whom he later wrote the piece "Naima"), and came into contact with Islam. Coltrane explored Hinduism, the Kabbalah, Jiddu Krishnamurti, African history, and the philosophical teachings of Plato and Aristotle. Coltrane also became interested in Zen Buddhism and, later in his career, visited Buddhist temples during his 1966 tour of Japan.

Since 1948, Coltrane had struggled with heroin addiction as well as alcoholism. In the liner notes of A Love Supreme (released in 1965) Coltrane states "[d]uring the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music." In his 1965 album Meditations, Coltrane wrote about uplifting people, "...To inspire them to realize more and more of their capacities for living meaningful lives. Because there certainly is meaning to life."

John and Naima Coltrane had no children together and were separated by the summer of 1963, and not long after that John met pianist Alice McLeod (who soon became Alice Coltrane). John and Alice moved in together and had two sons before he was "officially divorced from Naima in 1966, at which time John and Alice were immediately married." However, in Lewis Porter's book John Coltrane: His Life and Music (2000), on page 242, he describes the lyrics this way: "Coltrane and another voice—probably himself overdubbed—chant the words 'a love supreme' in unison with the bass ostinato". In Peter Lavezzoli's book The Dawn of Indian Music in the West: Bhairavi (2006), on page 283, he says, "Certainly in his opening solo in "Acknowledgment," with his constant modulations of the same phrase in different keys, Coltrane assumes the role of the preacher. After stating the theme in every possible key, Coltrane concludes his solo and quietly begins to chant, "A love supreme … a love supreme," singing the same four notes played by Garrison on the bass. After chanting "A love supreme" sixteen times, Coltrane and the band shift from F minor down to E flat minor, and the chant slowly tapers off." Whatever the case may be, the liner notes to A Love Supreme appear to mention God in a Universalist sense, and do not advocate one religion over another. Further evidence of this universal view regarding spirituality can be found in the liner notes of Meditations (1965), in which Coltrane declares, "I believe in all religions."

Lavezzoli points out that "After A Love Supreme, most of Coltrane's song and album titles had spiritual implications: Ascension, Om, Selflessness, Meditations, "Amen," "Ascent," "Attaining," "Dear Lord," "Prayer and Meditation Suite," and the opening movement of Meditations, "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost," the most obvious Christian reference in any of Coltrane's work."

In October 1965, Coltrane recorded Om, referring to the sacred syllable in Hinduism, which symbolizes the infinite or the entire Universe. Coltrane described Om as the "first syllable, the primal word, the word of power". The 29-minute recording contains chants from the Bhagavad-Gita, a Hindu holy book, as well as Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders chanting from a Buddhist text, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and reciting a passage describing the primal verbalization "om" as a cosmic/spiritual common denominator in all things.

Coltrane's spiritual journey was interwoven with his investigation into world music. He believed not only in a universal musical structure which transcended ethnic distinctions, but in being able to harness the mystical language of music itself. Coltrane's study of Indian music led him to believe that certain sounds and scales could "produce specific emotional meanings." According to Coltrane, the goal of a musician was to understand these forces, control them, and elicit a response from the audience. Coltrane said: "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."

Legacy

The influence Coltrane has had on music spans many different genres and musicians. Coltrane's massive influence on jazz, both mainstream and avant-garde, began during his lifetime and continued to grow after his death. He is one of the most dominant influences on post-1960 jazz saxophonists and has inspired an entire generation of jazz musicians. In 1965, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1972, A Love Supreme was certified gold by the RIAA for selling over half a million copies in Japan. This album, as well as My Favorite Things, was certified gold in the United States in 2001. In 1982 Coltrane was awarded a posthumous Grammy for "Best Jazz Solo Performance" on the album Bye Bye Blackbird, and in 1997, was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Coltrane's tenor (Selmer Mark VI, serial number 125571, dated 1965) and soprano (Selmer Mark VI, serial number 99626, dated 1962) saxophones were auctioned on February 20, 2005 to raise money for the John Coltrane Foundation. The soprano raised $70,800 but the tenor remained unsold.

Sainthood

The African Orthodox Church canonized Coltrane in 1982. However, the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, San Francisco, which is fondly known as "the Coltrane church", is the only African Orthodox Church whose services incorporate Coltrane's music and use his lyrics as prayers in their liturgy. A documentary on Coltrane, featuring this San Francisco branch of the Church and presented by Alan Yentob, was produced for the BBC in 2004. Samuel G. Freedman writes in his New York Times article "Sunday Religion Inspired By Saturday Nights", December 1, 2007, "... the Coltrane church is not a gimmick or a forced alloy of nightclub music and ethereal faith. Its message of deliverance through divine sound is actually quite consistent with Coltrane’s own experience and message." In the same article, he comments on John Coltrane's place in the canon of American music. "In both implicit and explicit ways, Coltrane also functioned as a religious figure. Addicted to heroin in the 1950s, he quit cold turkey, and later explained that he had heard the voice of God during his anguishing withdrawal. In 1964, he recorded A Love Supreme, an album of original praise music in a free-jazz mode... In 1966, an interviewer in Japan asked Coltrane what he hoped to be in five years, and Coltrane replied, 'A saint.'"

John Coltrane is depicted as one of the ninety saints in the monumental Dancing Saints icon of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. The Dancing Saints icon is a painting rendered in the Byzantine iconographic style that wraps around the entire church rotunda. The icon was executed by iconographer Mark Dukes, an ordained deacon at the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, who has painted other icons of Coltrane for the Coltrane Church. Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey included Coltrane on their list of historical black saints and even made a "case for sainthood" for him in an article on their former website.

Discography

Prestige and Blue Note Records

Coltrane (debut solo LP) (1957)

Blue Train (1957)

John Coltrane with The Red Garland Trio (1957)

Soultrane (1958)

Lush Life (1958)

Atlantic Records

Giant Steps (first album entirely of Coltrane compositions) (1960)

Coltrane Jazz (first appearance by McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones) (1961)

My Favorite Things (1961)

Olé Coltrane (features Eric Dolphy, compositions by Coltrane and Tyner) (1961)

Coltrane Plays the Blues (1962)

Coltrane's Sound (1964)

Impulse! Records

Africa/Brass (brass arranged by Tyner and Dolphy) (1961)

Live! at the Village Vanguard (features Dolphy, first appearance by Jimmy Garrison) (1962)

Coltrane (first album to solely feature the "classic quartet") (1962)

Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (1963)

Ballads (1963)

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)

Impressions (1963)

Live at Birdland (1963)

Crescent (1964)

A Love Supreme (1965)

The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (1965)

Ascension (1965)

New Thing at Newport (live with Archie Shepp) (1965)

Kulu Se Mama (1966)

Meditations (quartet plus Pharoah Sanders and Rashied Ali) (1966)

Live at the Village Vanguard Again! (featuring Alice Coltrane, as well as Sanders and Ali) (1966)

Expression (posthumous and final Coltrane-approved release; one track features Coltrane on flute) (1967)

References

Sources

External links

Official Website

Coltrane Church Website

1957 Carnegie Hall Performance in Transcription and Analysis

Infography about John Coltrane

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