JOHN COLTRANE:

The Development of the Modal Style Period

Tom Vincent

Thesis submission in partial fulfilment of the requirements

for the degree of Bachelor of Music (Honours)

October 1999

School of Music
Victorian College of the Arts
University of Melbourne

Statement of authenticity
This thesis is the original work of Tom Vincent. Where the research of
other authors has been discussed it has been referenced in the text.

Tom Vincent
October 1999

Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 2

Biography

Chapter 3

Literature Review

Chapter 4

Musical Influences

Chapter 5

Coltrane's Modal Period

Chapter 6

The Final Year of Coltrane's Modal Period,

Three Musical Examples:
"Acknowledgement"
"Brasilia"
"Transition"

Chapter 7

Conclusion

Appendix A

Transcriptions of Coltrane's Improvisations:

"Acknowledgement"
"Brazilia"
"Transition"

Appendix B

Chronology of the Recordings made of Coltrane

from December 1964 to November 1965

Bibliography
Discography

Foreword
"My goal is to live the truly religious life and express it in my music. If you
live it, when you play theres no problem because the music is just part of the
whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep.
My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith , my knowledge,
my being...When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do
something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups. I think music can make the world better and, if Im qualified, I want to
do it. Id like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that
transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.

"The true powers of music are still unknown. ... Im passionate about
understanding these forces. ... Its in that direction that I want to commit
myself and to go as far as possible."

JOHN COLTRANE

Chapter 1
1Lewis

Porter. John Coltrane, His Life and Music, University of Michigan Press, Ann

Arbor, 1998, 231

2Porter

213

Inroduction

"I was a waiter at the Village Vanguard in the early 1960s, and to me Coltrane
was like Bach; for me there's no one after either of them."

In common with Bach, Coltrane was a man of incredible musical maturity

with a prolific, consistently high quality output. Like Bach he was also a composer,
an improviser, and a deeply religious man.

This paper investigates Coltrane's

pioneering of modal jazz, with particular reference to three musical examples from
the final year of his modal period.
Two pivotal albums from 1959 that involved Coltrane were prominent jazz
trumpeter and band leader Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and Coltrane's ground breaking
Giant Steps. Through the early 1960s his output was profuse. In 1964 he recorded
only two albums, Crescent and A Love Supreme. The following year, the final year of
his modal period, there were sixteen recordings made of Coltrane.
Coltrane was a virtuoso saxophonist and a highly influential composer. A
relentless investigator of world musics, he became the forbear of modal jazz.
Through the 1960s, while Davis's music developed mostly with underlying chordal
concepts, Coltrane developed compositions with reduced harmonic rhythm. This
modal approach allowed Coltrane to produce music of a wide emotional range and of
exceptional energy and intensity.
The Classic Coltrane Quartet was Coltrane's band of the period from 1961 to
1965. It must be taken into account that there was a special chemistry between the
members of the Classic Coltrane Quartet, whose fertility enabled Coltrane to give
realisation to his concepts. Coltrane's influence on McCoy Tyner (piano) is widely
3J.C.

Thomas, Chasin' the Trane, Double Day, N.Y. 1976.p152 quote from Burt

Britton

evident in the music. The rapport between Elvin Jones (drums) and Coltrane is one
of the most fertile in jazz. Jimmy Garrison (bass) played with an equally original style
and sufficient humility to make the whole sound work so well. He followed Coltane's
improvised implied harmonic movements with seemingly psychic synchronicity.
In particular this paper examines three of Coltrane's improvisations. These
are "Acknowledgement" from A Love Supreme, recorded on 9 December 1964,
"Brasilia" from The John Coltrane Quartet Plays , recorded on 17 May 1965, and
"Transition" from Transition, recorded on 10 June 1965.

Chapter 2
Biography

John William Coltrane, an only child, was born on 23 September 1926 in

North Carolina. His father died when Coltrane was twelve. His mothers father, an
authoritative, patriachal figure, was a Methodist minister. At the age of twelve
Coltrane's grades at school declined as his interest in music took over. By the age of
seventeen, Coltrane was playing professionally, having moved from playing clarinet
to alto saxaphone.
After the second world war, Coltrane, in his early twenties, was playing tenor
saxaphone with Navy bands. The beauty of his melodic invention is apparent in
Coltrane's recordings from the late 1940s and early 1950s as well as in his early
compositions. The bebop revolution was in full swing and Coltrane was an active
participant.
By the mid 1950s he had joined the bebop band of Miles Davis and was
receiving international acclaim. His music was strong, but after years of heroin
addiction and alcoholism he had become unprofessional and was fired by Davis, a
former heroin addict himself who wanted Coltrane to give up the drug.

Later

Coltrane rejoined Davis but soon left to lead his own group - a loss that Davis always
regretted. His transition from sideman to band leader happened gradually over three
years.
In 1957 he made his first recording under his own name for the Prestige label.
Soon after this he recorded Blue Trane under his own name for the Blue Note label.
This recording consists mostly of original Coltrane compositions with a bebop
rhythm section whose swing feel is sluggish compared to that of the Classic Coltrane
Quartet (1961-1965).

Renowned jazz pianist Thelonious Monk had seen Davis punching Coltrane in
the band room after he had fired him in 1957. Monk took Coltrane on as a kind of
apprentice. He spent many days at Monk's house learning Monk's compositions by
ear. During this brief, under-recorded, but highly fruitful collaboration, Coltrane was
described by the critic, Ira Gitler, as playing "sheets of sound". This apt phrase
became generally associated with Coltrane's music from that time on. As Coltrane
remarked: "When I was with Miles [Davis], I didn't have anything to think about but
myself, so I stayed at the piano and chords! chords! chords! I ended up playing them
on my horn!"

According to the liner notes to A Love Supreme, released in 1965, Coltrane

made a pledge to God in 1957, vowing to lead a spiritually aware life and to bring
happiness to people through his music. His Muslim wife and Christian mother, with
whom he lived, were his inspiration and support when he went 'cold turkey', and won
his battle against heroin and alcohol.
The different religious faiths and practices in his family may have influenced
Coltrane's eclecticism in his spiritual and musical searches. The spiritual aspect of his
life impacted on his approach to music, and in turn affected his sound.
In the late 1950s and through the 1960s he listened to recordings of musics
from all over the world. He became thoroughly self-educated in many different
musical genres.
Ornette Coleman was an avant-garde alto saxophonist who came to
prominence at this time and whom Coltrane admired greatly. Coleman dispensed
with not only a chordal instrument in his band but also with the harmonic restrictions
that such an instrument easily imposes. Eric Dolphy was an equally distinctive avantgarde reed player from Los Angeles who became one of Coltrane's best friends,

4John

Coltrane, from Frank Kofsky's original liner notes to The John Coltrane Quartet Plays 1965".

spending hundreds of hours practising with him . Dolphy joined the Coltrane Quartet
5

regularly for concerts and recordings through the early 1960s. Each had a strong
influence on the other's music.
The albums Kind of Blue and Giant Steps, recorded in 1959, were major
turning points in the direction of jazz. These albums are discussed in Chapter 5. The
recording of the Miles Davis Sextet's Kind of Blue, featuring Coltrane, is a
breakthrough into modal jazz, using a simplified, open framework with fewer chords.
Coltrane's Giant Steps, with its dense and complex formulaic harmonic structure,
represents a final outreach of the bebop development.
In 1960, Coltrane became very famous with the release of his album My
Favorite Things. The first track is the title track of the album, which is followed by
"Every Time We Say Goodbye", "Summertime", and "But Not For Me". All of these
songs were already familiar with the general public. However, he by no means
sacrifices his artistic integrity to popular taste. "But Not For Me" uses some of his
"Giant Steps" style chord changes and "My Favorite Things" is a window into
forthcoming modal avenues.
His Coltrane Plays the Blues album was also released in 1960. It is a blues
concept of all original material. When he played the blues, Coltrane usually played
the original, basic chord progression rather than the stylised blues of the beboppers.
The first two tracks on the album use this simple progression and are dedicated to
Sidney Bechet and Elvin Jones respectively. The next four tracks are in the blues
form with chord changes unlike any blues played before.
Sidney Bechet was the first jazz exponent of the soprano saxophone which
Coltrane had just started playing himself, using it on the album My Favourite Things.
Elvin Jones is considered to be one of the world's greatest jazz drummers. Coltrane
first heard Jones while still with Davis when Jones replaced the regular drummer,
5Dolphy

played bass clarinet, alto saxophone, and flute.

Philly Joe Jones on one engagement. When Coltrane was putting his own group
together, Elvin Jones was his drummer of choice.
Jones and Tyner joined Coltranes group in 1960. Coltrane had known Tyner
from when they both lived in Philadelphia. Tyner had worked on the Giant Steps
chord changes with Coltrane well before the "Giant Steps" album was recorded.
Neither Tyner nor Jones were available when Coltrane put his first group together,
but as soon as they were able, they joined Coltrane and made several classic
recordings with bass player Steve Davis.
In 1961 Garrison was the final member to join Coltrane to create what
became known as the Classic Coltrane Quartet. This group was together until the
end of 1965, by which time Coltrane had added another tenor saxophonist, Pharaoh
Sanders, and another drummer, Rashied Ali. Tyner and Jones left, while Garrison
stayed until Coltrane died in May 1967.
The synergy that resulted from his collaborations was no doubt due to not
only his choice of musicians but also to his tact. He was not a man to tell his
musicians how to play although he knew what sound he wanted to hear.
By the end of the 1950s Coltrane had acquired self confidence from his
success as a band leader. During the next several years his recorded output was
prolific and ranged widely. For his live performances, however, he concentrated on a
small staple repertoire. The vehicles for these improvisations were "Impressions",
"My Favorite Things", "Chasin' the trane", "Bessies Blues", "Mr PC", "Naima", and
"I Want To Talk About You". The innovations and variations within this staple
repertoire were prodigious. In an interview in Paris on 1 November 1963, Coltrane
said he needed to get away from playing the same tunes over and over.

Coltrane's originality made him impervious to assumptions about conventional

format. An example of this occurred in 1963 when he recorded his composition
6Porter

231

"Alabama" His phrasing on the piece is inspired by a speech by Martin Luther King
Jr. The composition is dedicated to the young black girls who were killed in a Klu
Klux Klan church bombing in Alabama. Half way through this sombre piece Coltrane
suddenly tells his sidemen to stop and then continues unaccompanied.
During 1963 Coltrane had trouble with his saxophone mouth piece. His
recorded output that year was technically less demanding. It included a ballads
album, an album with Duke Ellington, and an album with an obscure ballad singer,
Johnny Hartman; They surprised and delighted most jazz critics.
The conservatism of these recordings contrasted with his live performances,
which continued to push the boundaries of music. Some fans, expecting to hear what
they had at home on record, were disappointed when they went to hear the ever
searching Coltrane live. His live performances were not only ahead of his recordings
from previous years but they were also ahead of his concurrent recordings.
This was not the first time that Coltrane lost fans. After being with Miles
Davis for years he wanted to leave and lead his own group. What held him back was
first, the uncertainty about his popularity and second, he was happy with the financial
security of playing with the world's highest paid jazz musician. The Miles Davis
group played pretty show tunes in which Coltanes solos were increasing in length,
harmonic language, and emotional intensity. Like many great innovators he was
faced with the isolation entailed in the breaking of new ground. As musicologist,
Gerhard Putschgl, points out: "one can perceive in the course of his development
an increasingly uncompromising stance, which regarded itself as obligated primarily
toward his own personal development."

Regardless of whether or not Coltrane was playing bebop, he was always

playing in his own style and emerged with such distinctive concepts that he stands out
even beyond the world of jazz, influencing many avant garde western art composers.
7Putschgl

319

10

Coltrane was indefatigable. Every year from as early as the Miles Davis
years, Coltrane toured Europe. In 1966 he toured Japan with his final quartet which
included his wife, Alice Coltrane, on piano.

This band, of the last and most

iconoclastic period of Coltrane's career, rarely directly stated a pulse. The music was
a radical, yet logical, development from his modal period.
The "flower power" revolution of the 1960s and other consciousness raising
movements - the sexual revolution, the antiwar movement, the black civil rights
movement, the rise of improvisation and spontaneity of the avant-garde in the arts
world from the 1940s and 1950s, and the free jazz movement with its general
rejection of Euro-centric aesthetics - all contributed to the social environment in
which Coltrane was working. They would naturally, if only indirectly, have had their
influences. It was, however, the climate of his musical genre, a time of explorative
ferment in the jazz world, that made Coltrane a man for, and ultimately well ahead of,
his time.
Coltranes music is very dense. Its profundity evolved through relentless daily
study and development. He was religious in a personal way and all of his music was
embued with this sanctity. There was nothing trivial about Coltranes approach to
music.
Nat Hentoff puts it well in his CD liner notes for New Thing at Newport
(1965): Coltrane has already made it in the sense that he has a sizeable international
audience. By his own stern criteria, he will never entirely make it in terms of what
he wants to say because the essence of Coltrane is an infinity of searching.

8CD

liner notes to "New Thing at Newport" Nat Hentoff p9.

11

Chapter 3
Liturature Review

The most important works on Coltrane available today are: John Coltrane,
His Life and Music by Lewis Porter , John Coltrane: A Discography and Musical
9

Biography by Yasuhiro Fujioka , John Coltrane and the Afro American Oral
10

Tradition by Gerhard Putschgl , and the transcriptions of Coltrane's solos by

11

Andrew White .
12

Lewis Porter, a jazz saxophonist and pianist himself, is a great admirer of

Coltrane. His in-depth and thorough account of Coltrane's life and music opens up
dimensions of understanding for a heightened appreciation of Coltrane's achievement.
It is the first major publication to acknowledge the full significance of Coltrane's
great contribution, not only to the field of jazz, but also to other fields of popular and
classical music. Porter goes so far as to give him the title of "first world musician".
Of particular interest in respect to this paper is his chapter on A Love Supreme with
its clear analysis of the first movement of this suite, "Acknowledgement".

9Lewis

Porter. John Coltrane, His Life and Music, University of Michigan Press, Ann

Arbor 1998.
10Yasuhiro

Fujioka. John Coltrane a Discography and Musical Biography ,

Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, 1995.

11Gerhard

Putschgl. John Coltrane Und Die Afroamericanische Oraltradition,

Jazz Forschung 25 (1993), Graz, Austria.

12Andrew

White, Andrew's Music,Washington

12

Porter has researched Coltrane's childhood and family circumstances with

academic rigour, unearthing factual information and revealing a broad picture of his
heritage and the social environment in which Coltrane was raised.
Numerous rare photographs and interviews are shared with the reader as well
as accounts of Coltrane's teenage years and the time he spent in Navy bands. Recent
interviews with jazz saxophonist, Jimmy Heath, who spent many years with Coltrane,
reveal intricacies of Coltrane's musical and emotional development. These interviews
cover the late 1940s and early 1950s, which he spent touring America with blues
bands and later playing with jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
Porter's writing on Coltrane's time with Monk is penetrative in disclosure and
unequalled by other researchers. Quotations from Coltrane tell how unsettled he felt
at first when Monk would leave the bandstand for extended periods, leaving Coltrane
to continue his improvisation with just the bassist and drummer. This is interesting
because later, during his years with the Classic Coltrane Quartet, Coltrane would
often have Tyner cease playing for periods. This time gave Coltrane huge harmonic
freedom in which to improvise.
Porter makes a detailed coverage of Coltrane's modal period, his final two
years, his study of foreign musics, his eclectic spiritual study, his relationships with
his two wives and mistress, and his death.
Gerhard Putschgl's doctoral thesis, John Coltrane and the Afro American
Oral Tradition, includes excellent analyses of Coltrane improvisations from his modal
period on. Chapter 6 of this paper refers to his analysis of "Transition". Putshgl
makes obvious the similarity of Coltrane's phrasing and improvisation development to
that of black Baptist preachers. He points out that although Coltrane was raised a
Methodist, over time he developed his own inner world-religion and at times used the
black preacher style in communicating his feelings.

13

Both Putschgl's and Porter's coverage of Coltrane's modal period are

discussed in Chapter 5.
Andrew White's transcriptions are a reliable documentation of Coltrane's
recorded improvisations and a most valuable resource for the analysis of Coltrane's
music.

His transcriptions of the three recordings under discussion have been

transposed into concert pitch in order to give easy access to investigation on piano.
They are appended to this paper.
Fujioka's concise Discography and Musical Biography reveals the amazing
amount of music Coltrane produced both in the studio and in concerts around the
world. In terms of output alone, Coltrane's achievement is impressive.
Another publication that uses Coltrane as a central figure is Black
Nationalism and the Revolution in Music by Frank Kofsky.

13

In the work, in an

interview with Coltrane, Kofsky attempts to endow him with a certain political
stance, asking Coltrane questions which try to corner him into agreement with
Kofsy's political agenda.

It is understandable that attempts have been made to

associate Coltrane with the black cultural struggle given the intensity and the
expressive power of his music and his break with Euro-centric structural methods.
There were certainly some political dimensions to the free-jazz movement of the
time, but Coltrane himself has made it clear, on other occasions, that what motivated
his endeavours was a deeply felt spiritual impulse that transcended politics.
Lastly, Chasin' the Trane, subtitled, "The Music and Mystique of John
Coltrane", by J.C.Thomas, should be mentioned.

14

This biography of Coltrane is

romantic and somewhat anecdotal compared with Porter's rigorous research and
today the scholarly world does not rely on it. Nevertheless, its existence is an
indication of the cult status that Coltrane had acquired.
13Frank
14J.C.

Kofsky. Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music

Thomas, Chasin' the Trane, Double Day, N.Y. 1976.

14

The public was fascinated by Coltrane and his monumental output from 1955
until his death just twelve years later in 1967. Many critics found his early bebop
improvisations with the Miles Davis Quintet less than masterly. Without the orienting
signposts of rhymically consistent, resolving harmonic chord changes, some critics to
the present day have found little to appreciate in Coltrane's modal creations. The
following two quotations serve to demonstrate:
Personally I find these very boring tracks, varying from 10 to 17
minutes, interminably boring, particularly when they are all taken at similar
medium up tempi. Allied to Coltranes ugly, strangulated sound, the result is
like a lost soul in torment. The one exception to this is "Niama", which
makes a pleasant contrast in that it is a ballad, and of course a delightful tune
as well, and it only lasts seven minutes!
In retrospect, this could be considered a fairly straight performance,
but at the time it represented a radical step. Coltrane was introducing
elements of post-Coleman tonality into a musical world that, for all its
emotional intensity, was ruled by strict and very different rules.
15

16

The radical nature of Coltrane's music tended to elicit extreme responses.

The rapidity of his extraordinary development, combined with the evident way in
which his spiritual commitment increasingly flavoured his sound, ultimately resulted
in a massive wave of popular response that virtually amounted to cult worship. This
often had more to do with the feelings that his music evoked than it had to do with
intellectual appreciation of the coherence of his complex and radical constructs.
Writing in 1998, Charles D. Gerard reflects on this phenomenon;
John Coltrane was acknowledged by his followers as such an
exemplary figure. His music revealed to them an individual who had reached
an elevated state of consciousness. For several decades the jazz community
had ascribed special importance to altered states of consciousness, either
drug-induced or musically inspired. Coltrane showed that religious mysticism
15Mike
16Jazz

Shera Live in Antibes, 1965 Jazz J Int 47:22 Oct 1994.

Journal International, 1992 March p26 John Coltrane/Archie Shepp New Thing at

Newport 1965 review by Barry McRae.

15

could lead someone to such a state without intoxicants. In this respect he

was a role model for young musicians who wanted to join the jazz community
without becoming alcoholics or drug users. Shortly after his death it was
common to see jugs of water on stage, in what was sometimes a pointed
display of the performers sobriety.
Coltranes spiritual awakening had a profound effect on his music.
While he was undergoing it he had musical dreams in which he heard sounds
that he spent the rest of his life trying to recapture. In one dream Charlie
Parker told him to keep working on his new approach to harmony. After his
religious awakening Coltranes music grew to become monumentally intense,
seemingly created in a state of mystical enthrallment.
17

Jazz historian Dan Morgenstern recalls a typical evening at the Half Note
around 1964 or 1965:
The intensity that was generated was absolutely unbelievable. I can
still feel it, and it was unlike any other feeling within the music we call
jazz ....It carried you away. If you let yourself be carried by it, it was an
absolutely ecstatic feeling. And I think that kind of ecstasy was something
that Coltrane was looking for in his music.
18

Outside the West, Coltrane's music elicited strong responses of a distinctly

divided nature also:
I was much disturbed by his music. Here was a creative person who
had become a vegetarian, who was studying yoga and reading the BhagavadGita, yet in whose music I still heard much turmoil. I could not understand
it.
19

When I heard Coltrane on record, there was tranquillity and serenity

in his music. I do not recall the kind of restlessness in Coltranes music as I
have heard in other types of music and from other musicians.
20

17Gerard,
18Porter

Charles D. P80 Jazz in Black and White Westport: Praeger 1998.

216.

19Thomas,

Ravi Shankar 199.

20Thomas,

Swamisatchidananda 199.

16

Much has been said about Coltrane over the last forty years. Interestingly
enough, it is only now in the last thirteen years that, through the work of people such
as Porter and Putschgl, a deeper understanding of what Coltrane was actually doing
has been revealed.

Chapter 4
Musical Influences

17

Coltrane was raised in an all black neighbourhood of a small southern town in

North Carolina, where the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Quakers
exerted a strong influence. In the Afro-oral tradition, religious ritual was saturated
with music and glossilalia was known to bubble up.

21

Spirituals and the blues were a

natural heritage.
His earliest saxophonist role models were Hodges, Webster, and Young of the
swing era, and then Parker, when he came to prominence in the late 1940s.
Hodges's renditions of the blues and ballads are characterised by rich
sensuous tones and an abundance of varied expressive nuances; a melodic
soulfulness. Parker's style, in contrast, emphasises drive, pitch, and rhythm.
Hodges's influence can be surmised in Coltrane's slow, rubato compositions
and his beautiful renditions of ballads. Coltrane's use of false fingering techniques
was pioneered by Young among others. Coltrane took the dynamic intensity of
Parker's style to previously unexplored territory. There were no precursers in jazz for
his expressive range of timbre, his style of motivic development, and the rich
rhythmic texture of his groups' sound.
The jazz world of Coltrane's time was a lively environment.

He was

surrounded by the outstanding working jazz musicians of the period. Jazz, due to its
improvisational nature, depends crucially on the collective energy of the players; their
interaction and communication. The exceptional vitality around him, and the cross
fertilisation that was occurring all the time, nurtured the essence of his own creativity.
However, the originality of his concepts is evident from 1957 and became
increasingly distinctive and radical up until his untimely death a decade later.
Davis played minimally and was the perfect foil for Coltrane's style. Monk
was the first to show Coltrane how to produce two different notes on the saxophone
at the same time.
21the

word glossilalia is a term employed to describe speaking in tongues.

18

Coleman's freely melodic polytonality had an influence on Coltrane which is

not obvious due to their radically different styles, but was important in Coltrane's
development. Coltrane said of him:
I love him. Im following his lead. Hes done a lot to open my eyes
to what can be done....I feel indebted to him, myself. Because, actually, when
he came along, I was so far in this thing [Giant Steps chords], I didnt know
where I was going to go next. And I dont know if I would have thought
about just abandoning the chord system or not. I probably wouldnt have
thought of that at all. And he came along doing it, and I heard it, I said,
Well, that must be the answer. ...Since I have a piano, we have to consider
it, and that accounts for the modes that we play, but...after a while, thats
going to get a little monotonous to do it on every song, so there probably will
be some songs in the future that were going to play, just as Ornette does,
with no accompaniment from the piano at all - except on maybe the melody,
but as far as the solo, no accompaniment.
22

Coltrane greatly admired Dolphy, whose quirky style was in stark contrast to
the style of Davis. Dolphy toured Europe and recorded regularly with the Coltrane
Quartet in the early 1960s. Distinct qualities of Dolphy's sound are his use of
extreme intervalic melodic leaps, quarter tones, speech like phrases, original timbres,
and his unique melodic and harmonic conception.
The world-music influences in Coltrane's work are many. Porter points out
that in most cases Coltrane's licks are not traceable to the influences that helped
create them. He goes on to say:
"One way that Coltrane developed this unique sound world is by
bringing into his music - and through his influence, into all of jazz and beyond
- an eclectic collection of method books, exercises, and scales from around
the world. The eclecticism gave his style originality - the more widespread
ones sources, the less one sounds like any one of them.
23

22

Porter 203.

23Porter

216.

19

From western music he endorsed, by thorough use, the Slominsky Thesaurus

of Melodic Patterns and Scales, written in 1947.
Porter points out that Coltrane's broader mission was to discover the
universalities in music. His interest covered scales and modes from India, Algeria,
China, Japan, and the Middle East. He was very much influenced by African and
Indian music, using drones and pedal point passages in a large portion of his work.
He studied folkloric African recordings and recordings of Michael Babatunde
Olatunji, the Nigerian drummer. This influence can be heard in his use of ostinatos,
whereby each instrument is given its own rhythm.
Dom Cerulli, in the notes to Africa/Brass (1961), described the way he
prepared for these sessions:
He listened to many African records for rhythmic inspiration, One had
a bass line like a chant, and the group used it, working it into different tunes.
In Los Angeles, John hit on using African rhythms instead of [swing style]
4/4, and the work began to take shape. He wanted to concentrate more on
melody, and the rhythm was often his starting point. So Coltrane looked for
ways to thicken the rhythmic texture of his music even as he simplified its
harmonic motion by keeping to a repeated pedal point. He said in 1964, I
feel that since we have used fewer chordal progressions, we need more
rhythm, and I want to experiment.
I have an African record at home and theyre singing these rhythms,
some of their native rhythms, so I took part of it and gave it to the bass. And
Elvin plays a part and McCoy managed to find something to play, some kind
of chords. I didnt tell him what chords, I said, Im through with it. And so
hes on his own, and Im going on my own, see?...Still no melody, though.
[Laughs] I had to make the melody as I went along. But at least Im trying
to think of a melody; Im not referring to the chords to get the melody.
24

Porter mentions that "...African structural concepts may have influenced him
too - West African drumming groups will repeat one section until the leader gives a

24Porter

213.

20

cue to go onto the next, much as Coltrane does in "My Favorite Things" [October
1960]".

25

The influence of Indian music is clear in pieces such as "India" (1961), a chant
that remains constantly on G pedal point. Porter posits the influence of the North
Indian style of sitar improvisation, also "...perhaps in the way he likes to repeat and
develop short motives in his improvisations."

26

This is arguable.

Since the

publication of Porter's work, Putschgl has made an analysis of the stylistic

characteristics of the American Afro-oral tradition.

Since the appearance of

Putschgl's work, it seems likely that Coltrane's typical forms of repetition and
development of short motives in his improvisations are as much a result of his own
Afro-oral cultural heritage as they are a result of influence from other ethnic sources.
Coltrane acknowledged the influence of Indian music on his work, but it was
the spirit of the music that he emphasised:
I like Ravi Shankar very much. When I hear his music, I want to
copy it - not note for note of course, but in his spirit. What brings me closest
to Ravi is the modal aspect of his art. Currently, at the particular stage I find
myself in, I seem to be going through a modal phase....Theres a lot of modal
music that is played every day throughout the world. Its particularly evident
in Africa, but if you look at Spain or Scotland, India or China, youll discover
this again in each case. If you want to look beyond the differences in style,
you will confirm that there is a common base. Thats very important.
Certainly, the popular music of England is not that of South America, but take
away their purely ethnic characteristics - that is, their folkloric aspect - and
youll discover the presence of the same pentatonic sonority. Its this
universal aspect of music that interests me and attracts me; thats what Im
aiming for."
27

28

25Porter

213.

26Porter

213.

27North

Indian sitar virtuoso.

28Porter

211.

21

Coltrane was searching for no less than the elements that constitute a
transforming power in music.
Ive already been looking into those approaches to music - as in India
- in which particular sounds and scales are intended to produce specific
emotional meanings... 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, Id like to play a certain
song and he will be cured; when hed be broke, Id bring out a different song
and immediately hed receive all the money he needed. But what are these
pieces and what is the road to travel to attain a knowledge of them, that I
dont know.
29

Throughout Coltrane's modal period, the underlining melodic and harmonic

structure of his music is that of fourth based motives. This contrasts with most jazz
and Western music in general, which builds on a basic structure of major and minor
chords. Porter observes that "This gives his music a serious, rather abstract sound
and ... it probably contributes to the spiritual element in his music."

30

This pentatonic

sonority, which Coltrane detected as the common base beneath the ethnic differences
of much folk music world-wide, can also be found in the Afro-christian chanted
sermon. Fourths are also, of course, a basis of the blues. As Porter says: "That
mixture of intense blues and spiritual fervour gives his music astounding power"

31

Porter goes on to make a key observation, which was later to be taken up and
explored so valuably by Putschgl: "The way he builds his solos by developing short
ideas at length, repeating them in different registers and building up to higher and
higher notes, makes him a preacher on the saxophone."

32

Coltrane's music has been influenced by an exceptional number of sources.

Particularly striking is the connection between characteristics of Coltrane's modal
29Porter

213.

30Porter

217.

31Porter

217.

32Porter

217.

22

music and those of the American black preaching formulae, with roots in the Afrooral tradition. It is perhaps because Coltrane's improvisational inspiration is derived
in essence from folk roots that his sound has such enduring vitality.

Chapter 5
Coltrane's Music from 1959 to 1964

There are three periods in Coltrane's music. The bebop period from 1954 to
1959 was followed by his modal period, from around 1959-60 until 1965. His last

23

brief period from the end of 1965 until his death in 1967 has been less rerearched. It
is termed 'post modal' in this paper for the sake of convenience, but the term is not
necessarily definitive.
Two major corner stones of jazz were recorded two months apart at the
beginning of 1959. They were Kind of Blue and Giant Steps.
In February, Davis recorded Kind Of Blue. Davis arrived at the recording
session with little motivic sketches of compositions with simplified melodies and
chord progressions. (This was a fresh approach which influenced Coltrane's later
recording sessions with his own groups). The three horn players approached this
recording differently. Cannonball Adderly, on alto saxophone, soloed in his "hardbop" melodic style, at times implying bebop chord changes that were not being
played by the rhythm section. Davis had his refined, dry, tone and melodic phrasing.
Coltrane played his sheets of sound with dominating conviction of execution. His
playing had hard-driving swing with a solidity unlike the bounciness of Cannonball.
His melodic direction was unshakeable with occasional, cute, raspy notes from
alternate fingerings, usually on an off beat towards the end of a phrase.

Like

Cannonball, Coltrane would imply chord changes but in a different way; in more of a
late bop vernacular.
In April 1959 Coltrane recorded Giant Steps. He had developed a chord
sequence pattern which he used in different ways and in varying degrees of intensity.
The title track, Giant Steps, is a jazz student's study legacy. It embodied Coltranes
chordal ferris wheel, moving quickly through three different equidistant tonal centres:
B, G, and Eb. This is an interesting way of winding back harmonic resolution. B
major, D dominant 7 /G manor, B flat dominant 7 /Eb.../A minor 7, D dominant 7 /G
major 7, B flat dominant 7 /Eb major, F sharp dominant 7 /B major...
Porter gives us Coltrane's words on the subject:

24

"At first I wasn't sure, because I was delving into sequences, and I felt
that I should have the rhythm section play the sequences right along with me,
and we all go down this winding road. But after several tries and failures at
this, it seemed better to have them go free - as free as possible. And then you
superimpose whatever sequences you want to over them."
33

His rhythm section played modally, through which he would sometimes imply
Giant Steps chord changes in his improvisations.
Kind of Blue was the first prominent modal jazz album. Giant Steps could be
characterised as the final development of bebop.
Coltranes most famous modal composition is Impressions which was first
recorded in 1960. It is based on the same 32 bar form as So What from the album,
Kind of Blue: AABA. The A section is in D minor and the B section is in Eb minor.
This is a basic concept of modal jazz; using one chord/scale, usually of a minor
tonality, for whole sections of music. Bebop had chords changing every bar or two
and usually twice in one bar. Melodic navigation through the ever changing chord
related scales of bebop requires of the improviser a very different conceptual
approach from that required by modal jazz.
These two contrasting tonal approaches fuelled Coltrane's development
through the early 1960s: The quickly changing harmonic structure like that of Giant
Steps which he used in his melodic lines, and the slowly changing harmonic
structure such as he used inImpressions.
The range of his repertoire from this period, both live and recorded, is
discussed in Chapter 2. Songs from a variety of genres were revitalised by Coltrane's
treatment. Through Putschgl's deconstruction of the final recordings of "Mr PC"
and "Traning In" from October and November of 1963, he demonstrates the striking
variety of innovative ways in which Coltrane's modal style of playing revitalised the
blues form.

33Porter

The blues voice-sequence becomes a central principle of melodic

167.

25

stucture in Coltrane's modal treatments, and he returned the blues from the
characteristic major-chord implications of the bebop style to its modal origins in
reanimated form.
Modal jazz was a radical new departure in that the motivic formula replaced
the chord sequence as the major structural device. Within this new open modal style
of playing Coltrane used identifiable structural techniques both in the overall form of
his solos and also in the actual melodic phrases.
thoroughly analysed by Putschgl and Porter.

These techniques have been

They observe that throughout

Coltrane's modal period, although he was always exploring new changes and
variations, his style did not alter in any radical sense. His astonishing development of
that time of his most influential music took place within the basic stylistic confines of
formulaic improvisation, however far it may have traveled from the formulae of
bebop.
Putschgl usefully analyses the characteristics of Coltrane's structurally
innovative melodic lines of this period, and the way in which his permutations of
pentatonic scales created new melodic combinations of intervals. In this expanded
system of pentatonics can be heard the distinctive non-western melodic influences
discussed in the previous Chapter. Coltrane incorporated the tripartite division of the
octave, as used in "Giant Steps", with pentatonics, to create winding paths of melodic
chromatacism. The rhythm section was free to wander modally while the third cycle
vocabulary expanded melodically.
Putschgl coined the phrase "formulaic units" to describe the episodic
patterns that characterise the structure of Coltrane's modal music. These units are
formulaic in that they are defined by conventional chorus or eight bar parameters.
They are usually either binary or ternary; the binary consisting of contrasting
sections, and the ternary consisting of two contrasting sections and then a resolution
or climax.

26

Putschgl's work is rich in its detailing of the analogous nature of Coltrane's

structural methods and expressive effects to that of the African oral tradition. First:
He describes the black sermon principle of variation and permutation of a basic motif
or idea, where aesthetic value is placed on the skill and variety of circumlocution.
This principle, which stands in contrast to the Western linear method of
communication, is clearly evident as a means of melodic organisation in Coltrane's
modal development.
Second: He outlines a principle of controlled dynamic and dramatic increase,
a form of "ecstaticisation", designed to stimulate the growing emotional involvement
of the listener. Techniques include what Putschgl has termed "running-note stalling"
(the breaking up of long notes into repeated or alternating notes, as Porter describes
it), "glossilalia" (speaking in tongues or "false fingering" in Porter's terminology), and
"screaming", "honking", and "zooning" at the extremes of register. Intensity of
expressive gesture and extreme sonic variation are hallmarks of Coltrane's voice.
The modal style of jazz with its reduced use of chordal progressions allowed
complex rhymic texture to take a more predominant role in the music. Putschgl
aptly acknowledges the importance of Jones, particularly the strong dynamic
significance and expressive power of his characteristic ternary groupings within his
asymetrical forms of movement. This style of drumming gave Coltrane maximum
flexibility and support. In an interview in 1963, Coltrane comments on the dynamics
of the rhythm section:
It is necessary to have a firm beat going, (but) it's not necessary to
have everyone playing 4/4, I mean rigidly. Between the three man or the two
man [pianoless] rhythm section, there should be enough interplay to give you
at every point of the song the same solidarity that you get in 4/4, but it will be
implied sometimes instead of actually played. Now this thing, it can be done
and sometimes it is done but it has to be the right combination of individuals
playing. They have to really feel this way, and they have to have very good
sounds. They have to be able to produce good quality sound on the
instrument so when they do play, what they play will sustain and thus create

27

this level [of sameness] underneath, although it will be broken actually as it's
played.
34

Chapter 6
The FinalYear of Coltrane's Modal Period,
Three Musical Examples:
"Acknowledgement"
"Brazilia"
"Transition"

34Porter

214.

28

This chapter investigates Coltrane's modal style in its final phase, from
November 1964 to December 1965. This is done through the analysis of three
examples. The chronology of the large number of recordings made of Coltrane
during the period can be found in Appendix B.

"Acknowledgement"
The first piece of music to be discussed is "Acknowledgement", recorded on
9 December 1964. It is the first part of the four part suit, A Love Supreme, which is
Coltrane's most famous album and has sold over a million copies. Many non jazz
fans bought the album because of its strong spiritual statement.
Coltrane wrote the liner notes for the album and decided on the visual lay out,
selecting serious images of himself. Of special note is the prayer he wrote which is
included on the inside of the folding cover. It is a prayer of praise to God.
Both Porter and Putschgl comment on the similarities between the idioms of
the black American preacher tradition and that of Coltrane's 'sermonesque' cries on
his saxophone. Listening to "Psalm", one can read Coltrane's prayer along with his
improvisation. It seems clear that Coltrane's conscious intention was to sing this
prayer on his instrument. It is interesting to note, however, that in an interview, Elvin
Jones remarked that at the time of the performance, he (Jones) was unaware of this.
Did Coltrane tell the quartet of his intentions? If not, why not? The poem may have
been written after the performance but regardless of whether the poem or the suite
was conceived first, both are Coltrane's compositions.

He made it clear, by

publishing the poem inside the cover of the album, that both are intended to express
the same message.

29

In order to nurture spontaneity, Coltrane gave very little information to his

group. He introduced them to the music at the recording session where they played
it for the first time.
Porter observes that

"The four sections of A Love Supreme,

Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance, and Psalm, suggest a kind of

pilgrims progress, in which the pilgrim acknowledges the divine, resolves to pursue
it, searches, and , eventually, celebrates what has been attained in song."

35

The metrically free flowing structure of "Psalm" indicates the direction of his
later development.

The other movements' metric orientation is similar to the

established Coltrane sound.

The beautiful evolution of the suite grows from a strong and simple musical
cell.
B E F#

cell a

Coltrane starts the suite with a relatively brief fanfare in which he uses only
the three notes of this cell. After this it is Garrison who is the first to set a pulse. He
plays:
F Ab (F) Bb

cell b

The intervallic relationship of F Ab Bb is a logical development from the

intervalic relationship of B E F#. After opening up a tone from the second note to
the third, it now folds in a tone (from the third note to the second)
F Bb C

F Ab Bb

(the intervallic relationships have been transposed to a common key, F, for clarity)

35Porter

236

30

The intervals in the fanfare cell delineate neither major nor minor tonality. By
swinging its smallest interval in mirror fashion as explained above, there is now a
minor tonality. Tyner's improvised addition of G# in his accompaniment to the
fanfare creates the only major tonality in the entire suite.
This cell is exceedingly fertile as it gives way to infinite natural developments.
In its second inversion it is simply a voicing of two fourths. The whole modal
concept of harmony is based on fourths and is referred to as quartal harmony. Tyner
pioneered this approach on piano.
After Garrison starts the "Acknowledgment" ostinato, Jones joins the pulse
with his evocative Afro-Latin drum feel. This is soon followed by bare Tyner quartal
accompaniment . After sixteen bars Coltrane comes in with the melody:
C G F

The first two phrases use cell a starting on C and then F. Cell a and cell b are
combined in the third phrase, creating the first run of three whole tones in the piece.
The fourth phrase, a response to the first three phrases, uses cell b starting on C and
then F which adds Eb to the development and thus completes the blues scale. On the
twelfth bar of Coltrane's solo Garrison climbs up to a repeated quaver Eb figure in an
empathetic cry.
There is no set chord progression used in "Acknowledgment". Garrison and
Tyner follow Coltrane as he moves into different tonal areas a quarter of the way
through his solo. The overall tonal centre of F minor, however, remains throughout.
Porter has it that Coltrane said that the first part is not composed of a fixed number
of measures. After the first sixteen bars of Coltrane's solo, the strictness of eight or
36

sixteen bar sounding sections dissipates. Immediately before Coltrane enters, Jones
starts to use semi quavers which propel the music with their syncopation and
36Porter

237.

31

continue throughout Coltrane's solo. Jones, often joined by Tyner, accents the first
beat of every bar, grounding the music.
In the 35th bar of his solo Coltrane starts transposing cell b into different
keys, keeping it in its basic form. By the 60th bar he has played the cell in eleven
keys. At bar 61 Coltrane plays cell b in its final transposition, repeating it five times.
Although Porter observes Coltrane's final modulation of the cell into the twelve keys,
he does not mention this first "pan-tonal" development.
In between the developing cell fragments Coltrane plays many sweeping,
swelling flurries, thirteen of which are semi quaver quintuplets. At bar 112 Coltrane
uses D natural for the first time as part of the F minor tonality. This lift from aeolian
to dorian occurs just before Coltrane's final cell b ostinato.
At the 119th bar of his solo Coltrane plays the cell b ostinato figure in its
original key, in unison with Garrison. For the next 36 bars until the end of his
improvisation, Coltrane repeats cell b every bar in the same rhythm, playing it in
every key. He ends by repeating the cell in unison with Garrison eight times. It is at
this point that the chant, "A Love Supreme", begins, sung by Coltrane and another,
possibly Garrison. Coltrane's structural method now becomes clear.
"We realise that this was the goal toward which Coltrane directed his solo.
He brilliantly executed a reverse development, saving the exposition ... for the end.
Hes telling us that God is everywhere - in every register, in every key - and hes
showing us that you have to discover religious belief ...(that) the listener has to
experience the process and then the listener is ready to hear the chant. As we listen
to the music, its meaning unfolds for us."

37

Jazz improvisation in music is analogous to the experiential rather than the

doctrinal approach in religion. Perhaps this was part of the reason why Coltrane did

37Porter

242.

32

not tell his band about the underlying inspiration of the suite's conception. He was
preparing a space of receptivity in the hearts of his sidemen and listeners alike.

"Brazilia"
"Brazilia" is the longest track on the album, "The John Coltrane Quartet
Plays. It was recorded on 17 May 1965, five months after the recording of A Love
Supreme. Coltrane's style developed considerably during these intervening months.
In "Brazilia" we find the beginnings of Coltrane's move into his post-modal
period. There is continuing development of modal vocabulary and this is marked by
increased motivic and paraphrastic variation. The improvisatory settings are less
delineated by harmonic preconceptions. At this crossover point between Coltrane's
modal and post-modal periods, the eight bar or start-of-chorus sign-posts appear to
dissolve.
"Brazilia" combines the use of metrically free sections with quarter time, four
beat swing feel.

It develops further the loose adherence to a minor tonality

foundation that can be heard in "Acknowledgment". The theme, an ABA form, is

based on two different twelve-tone passages. The work incorporates pentatonics,
whole tone scales and derivations of Coltrane's "Giant Steps" vocabulary.
Only the theme and the coda are played in free meter, in what Putschgl calls
the "cantillation" style. The devolopment of this free style is a basic departure from
the formal rhythmic conventions of jazz. Putschgl locates its origin in the black
Gospel solo conventions. The body of the work, which is more conventionally
modal, consists of improvisations in quarter time.
"Brazilia" starts with a rubato duet between Coltrane and Jones in which
Coltrane plays the theme. As there is no harmonic accompaniment, Coltrane is free
to play the theme as he feels, shaping the twelve-tone rows with connecting notes
which disguise these skeletel structures.

33

It has a structure which could be loosely described as ternary within ternary

within ternary. The overall form consists of a saxophone solo followed by a piano
solo followed by another saxophone solo. Each twelve-tone row of the theme is
comprised of three four-note cells.
Within the juxtaposition of the two twelve-tone rows, the motion is contrary
for the first seven pitches, parallel for the next three, and contrary for the last:
diagram

Coltrane adds an extra final note to the final cell (cell M, the third cell of the
second twelve-tone row B), which creates a five note cell consisting of the four
smallest intervals in our Western scale. As a final cell, it has an apt quality of closure
brought about by the use of smaller and smaller intervals. This is a very subtle
construct.

There was an increasing degree of abstraction in the structuring of

Coltrane's melody as his modal work developed. This tendency may not have been
deliberate, but as Coltane says, "You have to do a lot of work consciously, then you
can leave the rest to your subconscious later on.

38

On the other hand, perhaps these intricate relationships were a conscious

aspect of Coltrane's composition. In the liner notes to "Transition", the next piece to
be discussed, Alice Coltrane is quoted as saying "He was doing a lot of writing, even
more writing than practicing, and you know how much time he spent practicing."

39

When the improvisations in "Brazilia" are analysed, although relationships are less
clearly evident than they are in his modal work of previous years, there is too much

38

Porter 205.

39Nat

Hentoff 1970liner notes to Transition CD.

34

coherence of structure at all levels for the piece to have been composed
spontaneously.
The theme of Coltrane's composition "Miles' Mode", recorded in 1961, uses
a strict twelve-tone row immediately followed by its retrograde, followed by
improvisations based on the tonality of C minor. In the improvisations in "Brazilia",
the twelve tone system appears to have been abandoned again. The improvisations
are loosely based in Eb minor. When asked about improvising in the twelve tone
method he said "Damn the rules, its the feeling that counts [during improvisation].
You play all 12 notes in your solo anyway."

40

There are traceable elements from

Slominsky's Thesaurus in the coda. The lengthy build up to the conclusion of the
coda alludes again to the Gospel solo tradition.

"Transition"
Of the three pieces discussed in this paper, "Transition" best illustrates
Coltrane's use of the declamation style of the black preacher idiom., where "dynamic
intensification is invoked by the use of paraphrastic repetition."

41

Putschgl argues persuasively that "some of the most convincing and

systematically constructed forms of reappropriation and transfomation of black oral
culture can be found in the music of John Coltrane."

42

He maintains that "the most

authentic forms of significant creative and expressive features of Afro-American

performative culture can be found in the structural sequence of religious rituals."

43

He adds that "the 'chanted sermon' represents the most systematic construction and

40Porter

231.

41Putschgl

332.

42Putschgl

334.

43Putschgl

334.

35

the most intense forms of expressive and communicative elements...[of these

rituals]."

44

Putschgl refers to the key organising device of the chanted sermon as

"paraphrase variation":

"the most applied creative mode in the whole black

world..." and an art form basically alien to traditional Euro-centric aesthetics. He

45

describes it as "a varying-repetitive-circling around a tonal, rhythmic or textual 'basic

formula'."

46

It is, without doubt, a most highly regarded artistic abiliy within the

culture.
The declamation form of sermon line is a linear shape where recitation stays
mainly on one note. The technique of "paraphrase variation" groups these lines into
larger sections.

These groups develop through the use of dynamics.

Dynamic

increase occurs both within a number of periods in the sermon and also, these periods
themselves build in increasing intensity to the highly charged climax. This technique
stimulates the full emotional participation of the congregation.
"Transition" has a continuous metrical basis throughout and the theme at the
start and finish is in the phrygian mode. In parts of his improvisations Coltrane uses
the a wholetone scale to create sections which imply an ascending melodic minor
scale with a flat second. He uses a great variety of melodic fragments in related
groups throughout both of his improvisations. This is one of the recording's most
noticeable features.

The piece is based on a single scale tonal foundation but

coherence is achieved through the use of episodic sections. The other noticeable
feature of the piece is the series of wailing climaxes, similar to a black sermon. The
note g (two octaves above middle c), at the peak of these climaxes is sustained and
emphatic. The structure of his improvisations is built around this note.

44Putschgl

336.

45Putschgl

336.

46Putschgl

336.

36

There are many peaks within "Transition" where Coltrane builds up to

screaming altissimo phrases. Coltrane plays the first improvisation, and then Tyner,
and then Coltrane takes a second, longer solo where three extended climaxes take
place.
Chants of black sermons use a modal scale and "Transition" is rooted in a D
minor tonality. Coltrane emphasises fundamental notes from this tonality, creating
strong structural frameworks which are interspersed with dense chromatic runs and
glossalalic expression.

The theme consists of a triple invocation and response

common to liturgy, based on the form of a 16-measure, modal, Blues (AAAB)

without harmonic progression, commonly called the "Baptist Blues".
"Transition" is a long piece (15:28) for a studio recording. At this stage in his
career, Coltrane was welcomed by his record company, Impulse!, to take his band
into the recording studio as often as he wished. Artistically, he was in a position to
play whatever he wanted to play. Without being familiar with Coltrane's development
up to this time, it can be hard to appreciate his complex concepts. Once observed,
the orienting sermon analogy provides a key to realising the maturity and originality
of Coltrane's artistry, both in his reappropriation of this creative form and in the sheer
beauty of his phrasing.

Chapter 7
Conclusion

In review, there are several general points to be made:

37

Firstly, what can be heard to emerge most distinctly from the development of
Coltrane's modal style between 1960 and 1965 is a comprehensive use of traditional
Afro-oral creative conventions; as thoroughly elucidated by Putschgl.
These are not merely surface similarities. Closer and closer scrutiny reveals
more and more that these conventions were appropriated and developed upon in a
fully conscious, consistent, and disciplined manner; both on the macro and micro
structural levels. Examination of the dynamic elements of the works also reveals a
strikingly consistent adherence to the Afro-oral conventions. The expressive force of
the works and the synergy created by the collaboration of the group have perhaps
become more significant than the formal structure as vehicles for creative cohesion.
Episodic sections relate to each other through a controlled and conscious use of the
dynamic ecstaticisation process.
.

Secondly, it is remarkable that, through his modal approach, Coltrane was

able to incorporate a new and sacred element into jazz. In 1965 Coltrane's output
was dominated by spiritual themes. Half of the albums recorded in this period had
spiritual titles. As this spiritual aspect became more evident, Coltrane's style became
more radical and was moving futher from conventional jazz. He had developed a
whole new concept for playing music.
By the end of 1965 Jones and Tyner left the band to continue playing
metrically oriented music. Today they are still alive, playing jazz. Coltrane went on
to explore freer and freer forms until his death in 1967.
Thirdly, was it because he had researched so much of the worlds music; had
delved into the base roots of the popular music of many different cultures, and
assimilated their essential elements so completely into his conceptual repertoire, that
his music has such power and vitality? His improvisations reveal a new type of
episodic manner for creating structure in jazz.

His genius is revealed in the

innovation and sheer variety of his melodic lines and his mastery of the paraphrastic

38

art. Coltrane himself stressed the importance of the common modal base beneath the
ethnic characteristics of music. It was the universal aspect of music that interested
him and what he was aiming for. Coltrane has said of his music: "I would like to
arrive at the point where I am able to grasp the essence of a certain place and time,
compose the work and play it on the spot naturally."

47

He may not have achieved his

ambition, but ultimately he transcended all styles to invent a new music.

Apendix A
The chronology of recordings made of John Coltrane during the period from
December 1964 to November 1965.
A Love Supreme

Dec 9 64

First Meditations

Feb

The John Coltrane Quartet Plays

Feb 17-18, May 17 '65

47Porterp248.

39

65

Impulse! 77
Impulse! GRP 11182
Impulse! 85

Transitions

June

65

Impulse! 9196

Ascension

June 28 65

Impulse! 95

New Thing At New Port

July 2 65

Impulse! 94

Live In Paris

July

65

Charley 1137

Antibes

July 26 65

Charley 1146

Antibes - A Love Supreme

July27 65

Charley 1149

Comblain La Tour

Aug 1 65

Charley 1160

Sun Ship

Aug 26 65

Impulse! 9211

Infinity

Sept 22

Impulse! 9225

Live In Seattle

Sep 30

Impulse! 9202-2

Om

Oct 1

Impulse! 9140

Kulu Se Mama

Oct 14

Impulse! 9106

Meditations

Nov 23

Impulse! 9110

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Porter, Lewis. John Coltrane, His Life and Music. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, c1998.
Fujioka, Yasuhiro, Lewis Porter, and Yoh-ichi Hamada.

John Coltrane: A

Discography and Musical Biography. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1995.

Thomas, J.,C. Chasin' the Trane. Garden City: Doubleday, 1975.

40

Kofsky, Frank.

Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music.

New York:

Pathfinder Press, 1970.

Gerard, Charles, D. Jazz in Black and White: race, culture, and identity in the jazz
community. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998
Weinstein, Norman C. A Night in Tunisia: imagings of Africa in jazz. New York:
Limelight, 1993.
Rosenthal, David H. Hard Bop: jazz and Black music, 1955-1965 New York:
Oxford University Press, 1992.
Litweiler, John. The Freedom Principle: jazz after 1958. New York: W. Morrow,
1984
Davis, Miles, and Quincy Troupe. Miles: the Autobiography. New York: Simon
and Schuster, 1989.
Berliner, Paul.

Thinking in Jazz; the Infinite Art of Improvisation.

Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1994.

Priestly, Brian. John Coltrane. London: Apollo, 1987.
Gerhard Putschgl, John Coltrane Und Die Afroamericanische Oraltradition, Jazz
Forschung 25 (1993), Graz, Austria.
TRANSCIPTIONS
Andrew White's transcriptions of Coltrane solos.

Andrew's Music, 4830 South

Dakota Avenue, N.E. Washington D.C. 20017

Discography
Coltrane, John. Blue Train. Blue Note, 1957.
Davis, Miles. Kind of Blue. Columbia, 1959.
Coltrane, John. Giant Steps. Atlantic, 1959.
Coltrane, John. Coltrane's Sound. Atlantic, 1960.
Coltrane, John. My Favorite Things. Atlantic, 1960.
Coltrane, John. Coltrane Plays the Blues. Atlantic, 1960.
Coltrane, John. The Avant-Garde. Atlantic, 1960.
Coltrane, John. Afric/Brass. Impulse, 1961.
Coltrane, John. Live at the Village Vanguard. Impulse, 1961.
Coltrane, John. The European Tour. Pablo Live, 1962.
Coltrane, John. Duke Ellington and John Coltrane. Impulse, 1962.
Coltrane, John. John Coltrane with Johnny Hartman. Impluse, 1962.
Coltrane, John. Impressions. Impulse, 1963.

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Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.
Coltrane, John.

Crescent. Impulse, 1964.

A Love Supreme. Impulse, 1964.
First Meditations. Impulse, 1965.
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays. Impulse, 1965.
Transition. Impulse, 1965.
Ascension. Impulse, 1965.
New Thing At New Port. Impulse, 1965.
Live In Paris. Charley, 1965.
Antibes. Charley, 1965.
Antibes - A Love Supreme. Charley, 1965.
Comblain La Tour. Charley, 1965.
Sun Ship. Impulse, 1965.
Infinity. Impulse, 1965.
Live In Seattle. Impulse, 1965.
Om. Impulse, 1965.
Kulu Se Mama. Impulse, 1965.
Meditations. Impulse, 1965.

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