The Stacks: John Coltrane’s Mighty Musical Quest by Nat Hentoff

[HuckleB]

The tenor saxophonist was one of the most imaginatively restless artists to ever work a bandstand. Nat Hentoff explains why we're still playing catch up with this musical genius.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/18/the-stacks-john-coltrane-s-mighty-musical-quest.html

"Coltrane, a man of almost unbelievable gentleness made human to us lesser mortals by his very occasional rages. Coltrane, an authentically spiritual man, but not innocent of carnal imperatives. Or perhaps more accurately, a man, in his last years, especially but not exclusively consumed by affairs of the spirit. That is, having constructed a personal world view (or view of the cosmos) on a residue of Christianity and an infusion of Eastern meditative practices and concerns, Coltrane became a theosophist of jazz. The music was a way of self-purgation so that he could learn more about himself to the end of making himself and his music part of the unity of all being. He truly believed this, and in this respect, as well as musically, he has been a powerful influence on many musicians since. He considered music to be a healing art, an “uplifting” art.

Yet through most of his most relatively short career (he died at forty), Coltrane divided jazz listeners, creating furiously negative reactions to his work among some. (“Antijazz” was one of the epithets frequently cast at him in print.) He was hurt and somewhat bewildered by this reaction, but with monumental stubbornness went on exploring and creating what to many seemed at first to be chaos--self-indulgent, long-winded noise. Some still think that's what it was.

Others believed Coltrane to be a prophet, a musical prophet, heralding an enormous expansion of what it might now be possible to say on an instrument. Consider Art Davis. He is a startlingly brilliant bassist, as accomplished in classical music as in jazz. (Because Davis is black, he has been denied employment by those symphony orchestras to which he has applied, and so he has challenged them to pit him against any classical bassist of their choice. The challenge has gone unanswered.) Anyway, Davis, whom I've known for years, is a rationalist, a keen analyzer of music and of life. He is not given, so far as I have ever known, to giant or even small leaps into faith. Davis requires a sound scaffolding of fact and proof for his enthusiasms.

But here is Art Davis, who played for a time with Coltrane, as quoted in the Fall 1972 issue of the periodical Black Creation [Institute of Afro-American Affairs at New York University]: “John Coltrane would play for hours a set. One tune would be like an hour or two hours, and he would not repeat himself, and it would not be boring…. People would just be shouting, like you go to church, a holy roller church or something like that. This would get into their brains, would penetrate. John had that spirit--he was after the spiritual thing…. You could hear people screaming … despite the critics who tried to put him down. Black people made him because they stuck together and they saw--look what's going down--let's get some of this. You know all the hard times that John had at the beginning, even when he was with Miles. And when he left Miles, starting out, everybody tried to discourage him. But I'd be there and the brothers and sisters would be there and they supported him…. John had this power of communication, that power so rare it was like genius--I'll call him a prophet because he did this.”


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A good read, indeed.

[chapdrum]

1. Thanks Huckle

Always well-received by this DU'er.

Such unearthly talent the man had.

Like all great music, his doesn't age.

Though I do admit to liking some more than others, one of my
favorites is the live "My Favorite Things," recorded at Newport in July 1963
(the one with Haynes subbing for Jones). Utterly galvanic.

And then there are the ballads...

[HuckleB]

2. It's hard to go wrong with his output.

He has something for every mood.

I do love that version of "My Favorite Things," too. The Vanguard LP was what I first heard as a teenager, so my ears often draw me back to it, though it's not his best.

[Blue_Tires]

3. When did a nut like Hentoff start writing for the Daily Beast??

It's still a decent piece regardless, but I've never been a fan of Hentoff...

[HuckleB]

4. He made a few bad stands, but his jazz criticism is impeccable.