Coltrane John William, *23 September 1926 Hamlet, North Carolina, †17 July 1967 Huntington, New York, American tenor and soprano saxophonist and jazz composer. He studied music in Philadelphia at Granoff Studios and the Ornstein School of Music. Among others, he played with J. Webb’s rhythm and blues band (1947), Dizzy Gillespie (1949–51), E. Bostic (1952–53), and J. Hodges (1953–54). From 1955 to 1960, he collaborated with The Miles Davis Quintet and later the sextet. In 1960, he formed his own quartet with pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer E. Jones, and double bassist Steve Davis, who was later replaced in turn by Art Davis, R. Workman, and J. Garrison. In 1965, McCoy Tyner was replaced by Coltrane’s wife, Alice, and E. Jones was replaced by drummer Rashied Ali. For his recordings, Coltrane often expanded the band’s lineup, using, for example, two double bassists and two drummers. After Ch. Parker, Coltrane was the most powerful and arguably the most creative individual among jazz saxophonists. The language of 1960s jazz owes him more than was once commonly believed, and the influence of his music remains alive and relevant to this day. Coltrane’s music, guided by the motto “all means serve expression,” is characterized by immense dynamism, spontaneity, and a virtually magnetic power of expression. In his saxophone playing – especially in his early period – one can discern a certain influence from the styles of D. Gordon, Sonny Rollins, and above all Ch. Parker, whose ideals were closest to his own and, in many respects, similar.
Among the small group of outstanding jazz innovators of the 1960s, Coltrane was the musician most strongly rooted in tradition. Despite his far-reaching musical radicalism and the free, pantonal organization of his sound material, he was never an advocate of the total concept of free jazz. And yet, it is precisely in his music that one can find many elements related to both performance technique and the musical layer that have become important components of free jazz as well as some of the most characteristic features of jazz music in recent years, e.g. maximum intensity of expression without moments of relaxation, achieved through the increased density of musical motion and the abandonment of contrasts and dynamic nuances; the abandonment of identical harmonic and formal parameters for the individual instrumental parts, which gave these instruments unprecedented independence and freedom of playing; a break with the previous practice of limiting jazz improvisation to a specific time limit (the musician plays for as long as, in his own opinion his creativity dictates), the use of very simple melodic structures as themes, often limited to just a few notes, contrasting with the mobility and density of the improvisation, a turn toward mystical and religious elements in music (A Love Supreme 1964, Meditation). In terms of harmony, Coltrane essentially does not go beyond tonal relationships, though he treats them in a highly specific way through elaborate arrangements of “passing chords” and his own technical categories, and even develops – within the framework of extended tonality – a sort of distinct a system based on seconds and fourths. He developed the modal technique he adopted from M. Davis, expanded with oriental scales, initiating the process of combining jazz with elements of exotic music, so fashionable in the late 1960s, (influences of Indian music, e.g., in Impressions 1963, or Arabic music in Africa Brass 1961).
Coltrane’s influence among contemporary jazz saxophonists is immense. He influenced many of today’s most prominent saxophonists, including W. Shorter, A. Shepp, J. Henderson, and, in Poland, above all, Z. Namysłowski. He was the first modern jazz musician to play the soprano saxophone.
Literature: C.O. Simpkins Coltrane. A Biography, New York 1975; J.C. Thomas Chasin’ the Trane. The Musie and Mystique of J. Coltrane, Garden City, New York 1975; D. Baker The Jazz Style of J. Coltrane. A Musical and History Perspective, Lebanon, Indiana 1980; B. Priestley J. Coltrane, London 1987 (includes a discography); J. Coltrane. A Discography and Musical Biography, complied by Y. Fujioka, L. Porter, Y.-I. Hamada, «Studies in Jazz» XX, New York 1995; F. Kofsky J. Coltrane and the Jazz Revolution of the 1960s, New York 1997; L. Porter J. Coltrane. His Life and Music, Ann Arbor 1998.
