John Coltrane BLUE TRAIN

( ) Despite a relatively short career, only living to the age of forty, Coltrane remains one of the most influential jazz musicians. His pieces have become standards in the realm of jazz performance, and his experimentation with the elements of structure pushed the boundaries modern musical analysis. John “Trane” Coltrane

Watch this on YouTube: Watch this on YouTube: “Lazy Bird”“Blue Train” Along with his strong background in performance, Coltrane was and avid composer. Four of the five tracks on his praised Blue Train album were his original compositions.

Coltrane was made famous by his performances in the ensembles of other Jazz greats, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Earl Bostic and Thelonious Monk. He worked freelance in the Philadelphia area, often able to gig with artists that he had long idolized, like Charlie Parker. Working with such varied musicians aided in the evolution of Coltrane’s technique and style. He would later describe this time as when "a wider area of listening opened up for me. There were many things that people like Hawk [Coleman Hawkins], and Ben [Webster], and Tab Smith were doing in the '40s that I didn't understand, but that I felt emotionally.”*

Bebop or bop is a style of jazz characterized by a fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and sometimes references to the melody. Bebop This style of music was different from the popular swing tunes of the day. It was meant as listening music as opposed to dance music and allowed the musicians to play at much faster tempos.

Modal Jazz/ New Jazz “Giant Steps was to become a standard “test piece” for musicians, but from 1960 onward Coltrane consistently referred to it as part of a passing phase of chordal obsession and something he’d grown out of. In his own groups, and in his composing, modal pieces henceforth predominated. ” – Oxford Music Online Coltrane began to step away from the famous styles of bebop and hard bop and his music began to be influenced by the use of modal scales. He envisioned music without the use of chord progressions.

Criticism Coltrane was known for his virtuosic speed and mastery, playing “blinding flurries of notes, far faster than the given tempo,” that Ira Gitler called “sheets of sound.” Though, his style was certainly not accepted and adored by all. A loud minority of critics were very vocal about their lack of support for his solo playing and modal experimentation. On his first European tour, some English critics wrote scathing reviews including John Tynan, who spoke of “musical nonsense” and “a growing anti-jazz trend.”

The test of time has proven successful for Coltrane. His musicianship remains revered and emulated to this day. He was posthumously canonized by the African Orthodox Church as Saint John William Coltrane, and was also awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his lifetime of innovated and influential work. Recognition

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