John Coltrane · I know them well

Deep into Coltrane

For the listener who knows Coltrane well. This path runs roughly in order, from a saxophone section in 1954 to his last sessions in 1967, by way of sideman dates, odd pairings, live tapes and records that labels held back for years.

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In Johnny Hodges's saxophone section
Used To Be Duke Johnny Hodges And His Orchestra · Norgran MGN-1060 · 1956
From 1951 to 1955 Johnny Hodges left Duke Ellington to lead his own band, and in 1954 Coltrane sat in its saxophone section beside Ellington men like Harry Carney and Lawrence Brown. Hodges had been his first model on the instrument; Coltrane once called him the world's greatest saxophone player. This Norgran record, issued in 1956, comes from two sessions in July and August 1954. Coltrane is on the July 2 date; sources disagree about whether he is also on the August 5 one. It is the young Coltrane in an Ellington setting, years before anyone knew his name.
Start with
- On The Sunny Side Of The Street
- Sweet As Bear Meat
Both come from July 2, 1954. Listen for Hodges's alto above all: the pure tone, wide vibrato and slides between notes that Coltrane grew up admiring. Coltrane here is a section player, part of the blend, which is the point. This is the kind of band where he learned his trade.
In the band
Johnny Hodges · alto sax
Johnny Hodges joined Duke Ellington in 1928 and became his star soloist, the alto voice Ellington wrote for. He was known for his pure tone and gliding slurs, and Benny Goodman called him the greatest alto player he had heard. He went back to Ellington in 1955, just before the band's comeback at the 1956 Newport festival, and stayed until his death in 1970.
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The quintet's first record
Miles The New Miles Davis Quintet · Prestige PRLP 7014 · 1956
On November 16, 1955, Miles Davis took his new quintet to Van Gelder's in Hackensack for Prestige. It was the group's first record: Davis, Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. Davis had already arranged to move to Columbia, but Prestige still held these recordings and issued them in April 1956. Coltrane was 29 and almost unknown. This is the earliest look at the band that made his name, before the famous Prestige marathon days and the Columbia records.
Start with
- Stablemates
- Just Squeeze Me
- S'posin
Coltrane sits out "There Is No Greater Love," so start elsewhere. "Stablemates" is by Benny Golson, a young saxophonist from Coltrane's Philadelphia. "Just Squeeze Me" is an Ellington tune and "S'posin" an old pop song. This is the band near its start, before the repertoire set, playing mostly standards.
In the band
Paul Chambers · bass
Paul Chambers was 20, raised in Detroit and already in demand. He stayed with Davis until 1963 and played on a great many Coltrane records, including Blue Train and Giant Steps; Coltrane named "Mr. P.C." for him. He was one of the few bassists of his time to take bowed solos. He died of tuberculosis in 1969, aged 33.
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Tadd Dameron's tunes, Coltrane's voice
Mating Call Tadd Dameron With John Coltrane · Prestige PRLP 7070 · 1957
On November 30, 1956, Tadd Dameron, the composer behind bebop standards such as "Hot House" and "Lady Bird," made a quartet record of his own tunes at Van Gelder's in Hackensack. Coltrane is the only horn, with John Simmons on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Coltrane was still in Davis's band. The record came out early in 1957. It was one of Dameron's last dates before drug charges caught up with him, and one of its tunes, "Soultrane," later gave its name to a Coltrane album.
Start with
- Soultrane
- On A Misty Night
- Mating Call
All six tunes are Dameron's, so this is Coltrane as the interpreter of someone else's writing. "Soultrane" is a slow ballad, and with no other horn the melody is all his. "On A Misty Night" and the title tune show Dameron's gift for melody, with the composer himself at the piano.
In the band
Tadd Dameron · piano
Tadd Dameron, from Cleveland, was bebop's great melodist and arranger. He wrote for Dizzy Gillespie's big band and led groups with Fats Navarro in the late 1940s, and "Good Bait" was written for Count Basie. Drug arrests in 1957 and 1958 led to time in the federal prison hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1959 and 1960. After that he arranged for Milt Jackson, Sonny Stitt and Blue Mitchell. He died in 1965, aged 48.
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Three tenors at Van Gelder's
A Blowing Session Johnny Griffin · Blue Note BLP 1559 · 1957
On April 6, 1957, Johnny Griffin, the fast Chicago tenor then with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, led a blowing date for Blue Note at Van Gelder's in Hackensack. Blakey was on drums, with Lee Morgan, Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers, and two more tenors: Hank Mobley and Coltrane. Ira Gitler, in the original notes, called Coltrane the most unconventional of the three. It is a friendly contest, and the clearest way to hear what set Coltrane's sound apart from the other tenors of his day. Five months later he was back at the same studio for Blue Note with his own band.
Start with
- The Way You Look Tonight
- Ball Bearing
- Smokestack
"The Way You Look Tonight" is Jerome Kern at a breakneck tempo: Griffin plays the melody, then Morgan, Mobley and Coltrane solo before Griffin and Blakey trade. On Griffin's "Ball Bearing," Coltrane goes first. On the closing blues, Mobley takes eight choruses and Coltrane seven. Gitler heard Mobley as round and even, Griffin as rapid fire.
In the band
Johnny Griffin · tenor sax
Johnny Griffin came from Chicago and was called the Little Giant, small in build and one of the fastest players of his time. He joined Blakey at the drummer's urging and came to New York with the Messengers. In 1958 he played with Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot, and he later co-led a two-tenor band with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. In 1963 he moved to Europe, where he lived until his death in 2008.
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Monk's septet, with Coleman Hawkins
Monk's Music Thelonious Monk Septet · Riverside RLP 12-242 · 1957
In late June 1957, at Reeves Studio in New York, Thelonious Monk recorded a septet for Riverside with two tenors from different generations: Coleman Hawkins, who had made the tenor a solo instrument, and Coltrane, newly out of Davis's band and about to begin his long run in Monk's quartet. Gigi Gryce on alto and Ray Copeland on trumpet completed the horns, with Wilbur Ware on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Most of the tunes were Monk's older pieces; "Crepuscule With Nellie" was new on record. It came out that November.
Start with
- Well, You Needn't
- Abide With Me
- Epistrophy
"Abide With Me" is a hymn by William Henry Monk, played by the horns alone in under a minute. On "Well, You Needn't," listen for Monk calling out "Coltrane! Coltrane!" to cue the first horn solo. "Epistrophy," a theme Monk wrote with Kenny Clarke in the early 1940s, puts all seven together.
In the band
Coleman Hawkins · tenor sax
Coleman Hawkins, born in 1904, did more than anyone to make the tenor saxophone a solo voice in jazz, and his 1939 "Body And Soul" was a hit every later tenor player knew. Unlike many of his generation, he welcomed bebop, and he gave Monk one of his first recording jobs in 1944. Here he is the elder beside Coltrane, 22 years younger. He died in 1969.
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Tenor and guitar, mostly Detroit
Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane Kenny Burrell Quintet With John Coltrane · New Jazz NJLP 8276 · 1962
On March 7, 1958, during his second spell with Davis, Coltrane met the guitarist Kenny Burrell at Van Gelder's in Hackensack. Most of the band came out of Detroit: Burrell, Tommy Flanagan on piano and Paul Chambers on bass, with Jimmy Cobb on drums. Flanagan wrote two of the tunes and Burrell one. Prestige held the tapes for five years and issued them in April 1963 on its New Jazz label, by which time Coltrane was famous. It is one of the most relaxed records from his busy Prestige years, and it holds a rarity: a duo for tenor and guitar.
Start with
- Freight Trane
- Why Was I Born?
- Lyresto
"Freight Trane," Flanagan's tune, puns on Coltrane's name. "Why Was I Born?" is a Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein song from 1929, played by Coltrane and Burrell alone, with no rhythm section. "Lyresto" is Burrell's. Listen to how the guitar's lighter sound changes the way Coltrane plays a ballad.
In the band
Kenny Burrell · guitar
Kenny Burrell, born in Detroit in 1931, had worked with Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson before settling in New York in 1956. His warm, blues-rooted guitar made him a fixture on Blue Note and Prestige sessions, and his own Midnight Blue, from 1963, became a favorite. He later taught at UCLA, where he directed jazz studies for many years.
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Sheets of sound at full speed
Settin' The Pace John Coltrane · Prestige PRLP 7213 · 1961
On March 26, 1958, Coltrane went back to Van Gelder's with the quartet he used most on Prestige: Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor. He was back with Davis and playing in the style the critic Ira Gitler had named sheets of sound: runs so fast and dense they seem to sound whole chords at once. There are four tunes, three standards and one by Jackie McLean. Prestige kept the session on the shelf and issued it in December 1961, when Coltrane was already on Impulse! and playing very differently.
Start with
- Little Melonae
- I See Your Face Before Me
- Rise And Shine
"Little Melonae," Jackie McLean's tune, is the track most often pointed to for the sheets of sound. "I See Your Face Before Me" is a ballad by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, a chance to hear him slow down. "Rise And Shine" is an old Vincent Youmans song.
In the band
Art Taylor · drums
Art Taylor grew up in Harlem's Sugar Hill and drummed for Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis, more than 300 sessions in all, including most of Giant Steps. He led his own band, Taylor's Wailers, from 1956. In 1963 he moved to Europe for about 17 years, and there he taped interviews with other musicians that became the book Notes and Tones. He died in 1995.
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Newport 1958, the sextet live
Miles & Monk At Newport Miles Davis Sextet · Columbia CL 2178 · 1964
Side one is the Davis sextet at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 3, 1958: Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Side two is a Monk set from 1963; despite the title, the two never play together. Columbia paired them in 1964. The Davis side, taped in mono, is a rare live record of the sextet in the months when Evans was in the band, and an expanded version later came out as Miles & Coltrane.
Start with
- Ah-Leu-Cha
- Straight, No Chaser
- Two Bass Hit
"Ah-Leu-Cha" is Charlie Parker's tune, a reminder of Davis's start in Parker's band. "Straight, No Chaser" is Monk's blues. "Two Bass Hit," by Dizzy Gillespie and John Lewis, was one the band had recorded in the studio that spring. Listen to three horns crowding a festival stage.
In the band
Jimmy Cobb · drums
Jimmy Cobb, from Washington, D.C., had toured with Earl Bostic and played behind Dinah Washington before joining Davis in 1958 on Cannonball Adderley's recommendation. He played on Kind of Blue the next year and outlived everyone else from those sessions. Later he worked with Sarah Vaughan and the Great Jazz Trio. He died in 2020, aged 91.
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Ornette's music, Ornette's drummer
The Avant-Garde John Coltrane & Don Cherry · Atlantic LP 1451 · 1967
On June 28 and July 8, 1960, Coltrane went into Atlantic Studios with players from Ornette Coleman's circle: Don Cherry on cornet and Ed Blackwell on drums, with Charlie Haden on bass on some tracks and the MJQ's Percy Heath on the rest. Coltrane had studied with Coleman and often played with him, but the two never made a record together; this is the nearest it came. Three of the five tunes are Coleman's. Atlantic held the tapes until April 1966, by which time Coltrane had gone further out on his own.
Start with
- The Blessing
- Cherryco
- Bemsha Swing
"The Blessing" is Coleman's tune, and it is the first recording of Coltrane on soprano. "Cherryco" is Don Cherry's. "Bemsha Swing," by Monk and Denzil Best, shows how this band handles an older modern-jazz theme. There is no piano, so listen to the open space Blackwell and the bass leave around the horns.
In the band
Don Cherry · cornet
Don Cherry was born in Oklahoma City in 1936 and grew up in Watts, Los Angeles. He came to notice in 1958 beside Ornette Coleman, playing a small pocket cornet. Later he became a pioneer of world fusion, drawing on African, Middle Eastern and Indian music, lived for about ten years in Sweden with his wife Moki, and led the group Codona. He died in 1995.
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Ascension: eleven players, one piece
Ascension, Edition I John Coltrane · Impulse! A-95 · 1965
On June 28, 1965, Coltrane brought ten other musicians to Van Gelder's in Englewood Cliffs, handed out lead sheets and recorded, without rehearsal, a single piece of about 40 minutes. With the quartet were two trumpets, two altos, two more tenors, Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, and a second bass. It drew on Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz and was taken as Coltrane's step into the avant-garde; some longtime fans walked away. Two takes were made. This pressing, Edition I, used the second; Coltrane later said he preferred the first, which became Edition II.
Start with
- Ascension, Edition I: Part I
- Ascension, Edition I: Part II
Don't listen for tunes. Listen for the alternation: dense passages where everyone plays at once, built on a series of modes, then a soloist with the rhythm section, then the crowd again. Solos and ensemble take about equal time. Each soloist has a distinct voice, from Freddie Hubbard's trumpet to the tenors of Shepp and Sanders. Elvin Jones solos on this edition but not the other.
In the band
Archie Shepp · tenor sax
Archie Shepp, born in 1937 in Fort Lauderdale and raised in Philadelphia, had played with Cecil Taylor and co-led the New York Contemporary Five. Coltrane admired him and helped bring him to Impulse!, where he began with Four for Trane in 1964. His records of the later 1960s, such as Fire Music, carried his politics into the music. From 1971 he taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for about 30 years.
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Two tenors, two drummers
Meditations John Coltrane · Impulse! A-9110 · 1966
By late 1965 Coltrane had added Pharoah Sanders on tenor and Rashied Ali as a second drummer beside Elvin Jones. On November 23, at Van Gelder's, the sextet recorded this work in five parts, heard as a spiritual follow-up to the suite of the year before. The quartet alone had recorded versions of four of the parts that September, issued in 1977 as First Meditations. This was the last Coltrane record with Tyner and Jones, who were both gone by early 1966. It came out that September.
Start with
- The Father And The Son And The Holy Ghost
- Compassion
- Serenity
Use the stereo. Coltrane and Ali are on the left, Sanders and Jones on the right, so you can follow each tenor and each drummer through the storm. "The Father And The Son And The Holy Ghost" opens at full force; "Compassion" follows on the same side. "Serenity" closes the record in under four minutes.
In the band
Pharoah Sanders · tenor sax
Pharoah Sanders was born Ferrell Sanders in Little Rock in 1940 and took the name Pharoah when he joined the New York musicians' union. Coltrane brought him into the band in 1965, and he played in it to the end. In 1969 his own Karma, with the half-hour "The Creator Has A Master Plan," made him a leading voice of spiritual jazz. He died in 2022.
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Expression: the last he approved
Expression John Coltrane · Impulse! A-9120 · 1967
Coltrane's last band was a quartet with his wife, Alice, on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Rashied Ali on drums, with Pharoah Sanders added at times. This record comes from sessions at Van Gelder's in February and March 1967, plus one undated that spring. On July 14, 1967, three days before he died of liver cancer at 40, Coltrane met Bob Thiele to finish plans for it and suggested the title. It came out that September, the last album he approved himself.
Start with
- Ogunde
- Offering
- To Be
"Ogunde" opens the record, from March 7. "Offering" is from February 15, a session issued complete decades later as Stellar Regions. On "To Be," Coltrane plays flute and Sanders flute and piccolo. Listen to Ali's drumming, which moves around the pulse rather than marking it, and to Alice Coltrane's piano underneath.
In the band
Alice Coltrane · piano
Alice Coltrane, born Alice McLeod in Detroit, studied with Bud Powell in Paris and played with Terry Gibbs, in whose band she met Coltrane in 1963. They married in 1965, and in January 1966 she replaced McCoy Tyner. After his death she made her own records, such as Journey in Satchidananda, often on harp, and later founded an ashram in California. She died in 2007.
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