Eight Miles High

The Influence of John Coltrane, Jazz Saxophonist John Coltrane

John Coltrane Influences  Brought extended improvisation into the grasp of rock musicians for the first time.  Created endless variations over a single chord or ostinato patterns derived from Arabic and Indian influences (rock groups subsequently used drone ostinato patterns to improvise over).

John Coltrane Influences (cont.)  Significantly influenced guitarists to improvise on modal scales rather than chord-based approaches.  Some of rock’s greatest guitarists, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Roger McGuin, and Duane Allman, were John Coltrane disciples.

Psychedelic Movement  13 th Floor Elevators were the first group to openly initiate the psychedelic movement in 1966 with reverb-drenched R&B in their first album “The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13 th Floor Elevators”.  First psychedelic rock hit “Eight Miles High”, released by the Byrds in 1966, as a direct tribute to Coltrane’s saxophone and compositional style.

Psychedelic Movement (cont.)  The Beatles release, “Tomorrow Never Knows”, loaded with unprecedented studio experimentation, exemplifies the musical impact of the psychedelic experience on rock.

Psychedelic Movement (cont.)  San Francisco groups exemplified live vs. studio psychedelic rock experimentation: The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company with Janis Joplin. Much of the material they produced in the studio was sloppy and directionless, but they were influential among subsequent generations of rockers like Santana, Quick Silver Messenger Service, and Moby Grape.

Psychedelic Movement (cont.)  Pink Floyd is the reigning master of the psychedelic movement.

Psychedelic Movement (cont.)  Huge numbers of rock musicians over- dosing on drugs led to a serious sobering effect, returning rock to traditional blues, folk, and country roots in the 70’s.  Ultimately, psychedelia’s destructive formlessness is rejected.