welcome back to the deep dive today we are undertaking
a well a pretty substantial journey into the
life and sound of a towering figure yeah we are
just discussing a great musician we are examining
a phenomenon a relentless spiritual and musical
force named john coltrane indeed john william
coltrane or Train, as he's known, he stands,
you know, unquestionably among the most influential
and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz.
And not just jazz. Oh, not at all. Frankly, 20th
century music writ large. When you attempt to
grasp the scope of his career, I mean, the radical,
almost frantic evolution he went through, it's
astounding. It really is. Going from a hard bop
sideman battling addiction to the pioneering
architect of modal and free jazz. And to think
he accomplished all of this before his untimely
death at the age of 40. It's just, it's breathtaking.
The word influence doesn't quite capture it,
does it? His legacy is so profound that it...
It sort of transcends music charts or technical
analysis. His life's work became something iconic.
It did. So how did he become such a powerful
cultural and really a spiritual figure? How did
his legacy earn this unprecedented, almost mythical
recognition? That recognition is exactly where
we have to start. Let's just talk about the honors
for a second. In 2007, he received a posthumous
special Pulitzer Prize. Which is immense. It's
immense. And the citation mentioned his iconic
centrality to the history of jazz. But, you know,
beyond the secular awards, his impact went straight
to the spiritual realm. You're talking about
the canonization. In 1982, yes. He was formally
canonized by the African Orthodox Church. So
his veneration literally moved past musical critique
and into the realm of spiritual inspiration.
That is an incredible starting point. So for
you, the learner joining us today, our mission
is to unpack this extraordinary, almost impossibly
fast journey. We want to understand the relentless
pace of Coltrane's evolution. How did he transform
from a disciplined bebop player struggling with
these profound personal demons to the spiritual
pioneer who continually shattered and rebuilt
his own sound until the very end? And we've drawn
from some really rich source material covering
everything. The precise details of his biography,
the technical architecture of his artistry, the
nuances of his spiritual quest, and the massive
legacy he left behind. So our goal here is to
extract those essential nuggets of knowledge,
the specific stories, the technical secrets,
the personal motivations that truly explain why
Coltrane's music continues to define aspiration
for musicians and listeners alike. That's the
mission. Okay, let's unpack this journey by starting
where any great story must begin. His origins.
Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina in
1926 and grew up in High Point. But his childhood
was tragically marked by loss and upheaval. It
was a brutal stretch. I mean, his formative years
were punctuated by the severe personal tragedy
starting in December 1938. And it all happened
so quickly. In a devastatingly short period of
just a few months, he lost his father, his aunt
and both his maternal and paternal grandparents.
Wow. That level of loss. I mean, these are the
anchors of your young life. It must have profoundly
shaped his outlook. You have to think it installed
a deep seriousness in him, right? Maybe a relentless
search for some kind of stability or meaning.
A search that later became channeled directly
into his music. There's almost no other way to
see it. Losing four family members in quick succession,
right as he was entering his teen years and finding
music, it puts that early discipline of his into
a whole new context. It really does. So what
were those initial musical steps before the saxophone
really took hold? Well, he started on instruments
that are, you know, quite far removed from the
powerful tenor saxophone we all know him for.
While in high school, he played the clarinet
and the alto horn. In a community band. In a
community band, yeah. The shift to the saxophone
came later, but his early listening was classic.
He was profoundly influenced by the smooth lyrical
tenor sound of Lester Young and the alto virtuosity
of Johnny Hodges. Then he relocates to the North
in 1943. Right, that's a big move. A huge move.
In June 1943, Coltrane and his family moved to
Philadelphia, which was, at the time, a vital
hub for developing modern jazz. A real center
of the universe for that kind of music. Absolutely.
He initially took a job at a sugar refinery,
but music quickly took priority. And that September,
for his 17th birthday, his mother bought him
his first saxophone and alto. And this leads
us to the moment that, I mean, every Coltrane
biographer highlights this as the definitive
aha moment. It's the moment he witnessed the
architect of Bebop, Charlie Parker, perform live.
And it wasn't just a concert for him. No, it
was an epiphany. This pivotal moment happened
specifically on June 5, 1945. Coltrane recalled
in a 1960 downbeat interview that seeing Parker
perform, hit me right between the eyes. That
just says it all. That one moment cemented his
path toward bebop, and more specifically, towards
the incredible technical dexterity required to
execute it. He started taking serious lessons
immediately after that, studying with Mike Guerra
at the Ornstein School of Music. And he manages
to transition almost immediately into professional
playing, even as he's facing military service
obligations. Yeah, he enlisted in the Navy on
August 6th, 1945, which is incredibly the very
day the U .S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
He did it to avoid the army draft. Primarily,
yes. He trained in New York before being shipped
to Pearl Harbor, where he was stationed at the
Manana Barracks. And that was notably the largest
posting of African -American servicemen globally
at the time. And this is where we find a really
surprising detail that just speaks volumes about
the segregated reality of the time, even within
the military. He joined the bass swing band,
the Melody Masters. But with. A strange caveat.
Exactly. What's fascinating here is the social
engineering required. The Melody Masters was
an established all -white band. So to avoid issues
with superior officers over integration, Coltrane
was recognized for his immense musical talent.
But he could only participate as a guest performer.
So he couldn't be a formal member of the band.
Couldn't be a formal member. When he wasn't playing
with them, he still had to perform his regular
duties like kitchen and security details. But
by the time he was discharged in August 1946,
he had actually risen to assume a leadership
role within that very band. And the sources confirm
we actually have evidence of his playing from
this period. We do. His first recordings were
from an informal session in Hawaii in July 1946
with fellow Navy musicians. Still on alto sax.
Still on alto sax, yeah. Running through standards
and bebop tunes. He was discharged as a seaman
first class. And he returned home with a GI Bill.
So back in Philadelphia, he uses those funds
to really immerse himself in formal musical study.
And this just defines the dedicated nature of
his early career. He enrolled at the Granoff
School of Music, studying theory with Dennis
Sandol, who was a renowned guitarist and composer,
and taking saxophone lessons with Matthew Rustelli.
And this dedication lasted several years. It
did. And it's an important detail that this formal
education was halted, not because he mastered
the curriculum, but because his GI Bill. funds
ran out. He was always hungry for more knowledge.
So during this post -war period, he's playing
with important figures like King Kollax and Jimmy
Heath, and it's with Eddie Vincent's band in
1947 that he makes the single most pivotal instrumental
choice of his entire career. That's the moment.
He permanently switched to the tenor saxophone.
He noted that moving to the tenor opened up a
wider area of listening for him. A wider area?
What did that mean for him? It meant that suddenly
he was diving deep into the sounds of the older
titans of the tenor. Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster,
Tab Smith. He began to understand the instrument's
emotional depth and tonal breadth in a way he
just hadn't before on the alto. So if the switch
to tenor defined his voice, the defining characteristic
of this entire formative era was his discipline.
We hear anecdotes about his practice routine
that just, they border on the mythical. The legendary
fanatical practice ethic. I mean. We are talking
about a monastic level of devotion. Jimmy Heath
famously claimed that Coltrane practiced 25 hours
a day. Which is just a brilliant way to put it.
It's an intentional exaggeration to illustrate
the sheer volume of his work. Think about this.
The incident in a San Francisco hotel where,
after a complaint about the noise, he sat there
and practiced fingerings silently for a full
hour. Just for the muscle memory. Just to internalize
the muscle memory without disturbing anyone.
He wasn't just practicing repertoire. He was
seeking perfect mastery of the instrument itself.
So he viewed the horn not just as a tool. But
as an extension of his body and his mind. There
were reports of him falling asleep with the mouthpiece
still in his mouth or focusing on practicing
a single note's tone and timbre for hours on
end, just searching for that, that supreme sound.
And this relentless search for technical perfection
and absolute command is the engine that drives
everything that follows. It's what prepares him
for the creative explosion he was about to experience.
Precisely. That engine of discipline drives him
directly into 1955 and the call that would change
everything. The invitation for Miles Davis to
join his group. The timing was critical, really,
for both men. Davis was ready for a professional
renaissance after dealing with his own substance
abuse issues. So he forms the first great quintet.
He forms the first great quintet, a lineup of,
I mean, just giants. Coltrane, Red Garland on
piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones
on drums. What was the dynamic in that room?
Why did those marathon sessions for prestige
become so foundational that, you know, critics
still pour over them today? Well, the dynamic
was explosive. And it was driven by contrast.
Miles was the cool, spacious, minimalist, you
know, prioritizing silence and lyricism. And
Coltrane was the opposite. Coltrane was the maximalist,
pouring out notes in a torrent. Those famous
1956 marathon sessions for prestige, they were
essentially a contractual obligation. Right,
they had to knock out a bunch of albums fast.
And they did, resulting in four of them, Cookin',
Relaxin', Workin' and Steamin'. And these records
just beautifully captured the tension and the
synergy between Miles' space and Coltrane's burgeoning
density. But even with this breakthrough success,
that period was marked by his personal struggle
that you called the dark period. Yeah, despite
the musical brilliance, Coltrane was battling
a severe heroin addiction and alcoholism, a struggle
he'd been wrestling with since 1948. And this
volatility was a major factor in the quintet's
initial dissolution in 1957. It's such a dark
reality that this immense creative outpouring
was happening under the shadow of a crippling
addiction. It really is. When that door closed
though, another one opened almost immediately
with Thelonious Monk. And many people view this
brief collaboration as the single most transformative
intellectual period of Coltrane's entire career.
I think that's a crucial insight. In the latter
half of 1957, Coltrane joined Monk's quartet,
and they played a lengthy residency at the Five
Spot Cafe in New York. And Monk was a different
kind of leader than Miles. A totally different
kind. Monk was the ultimate conceptual mentor.
He forced Coltrane to navigate these incredibly
complex angular harmonies in real time. This
collaboration was intellectually foundational.
It pushed Coltrane to organize that creative
flood of notes he had. But due to just... awful
contractual conflicts. Coltrane was still technically
contracted to Prestige. They only managed one
official studio recording session together at
the time. That's one of the great tragedies of
jazz history. However, the reputation of that
group was validated years later by a stroke of
pure luck. The lost tape. A high -quality tape
of a 1957 concert recorded by the Voice of America
was discovered and released in 2005 as Thelonious
Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall.
And it confirmed everything people had been saying
about them. It confirmed the powerful, intense
connection between Coltrane and Monk's idiosyncratic
harmonies. It was all real. And at this time,
Coltrane was already beginning to record under
his own name, showing his compositional muscle.
Absolutely. His sole date as a leader for Blue
Note, Blue Train from 1958, is often considered
his definitive hard bop statement. Four of the
five tracks were his own compositions. Exactly.
Demonstrating his rapidly developing command.
Tracks like Moments Notice remain at central
jazz standards to this day. So by late 1957,
he's overcome his addiction. He's had a major
spiritual awakening, which we'll definitely discuss
later. A huge one. And he's clean and ready to
rejoin Miles Davis, bringing a completely new
level of technical complexity to the group. His
return to Davis in December 1957 coincided with
him perfecting this new, highly compressed style.
And this is when the legendary critic Ira Gittler
coined that famous descriptive term. Sheets of
sound. Sheets of sound. In October of 1957, it
describes that astonishing sound. Just rapid,
cascading runs of notes delivered with an almost
overwhelming density. This wasn't chaos, though.
And I love that Coltrane himself gave a technical
explanation for this seemingly impossible style.
It was a mathematical solution to a musical problem.
That's what's so fascinating here. The mechanics
behind the perceived madness. Coltrane explained
that to fit all his surging musical ideas into
the quickly shifting chord progressions of a
bebop or hardbop tune. There wasn't enough time.
Right. He found he couldn't stick to conventional
rhythms like even eighth notes or sixteenth notes.
So he had to use these unnatural groupings. Exactly.
He was forced to use uneven note groups. It's
like having too many things to say and you have
to speak in this strange rhythm just to get it
all out. That was the sheets of sound. A pragmatic
technical solution to an enormous creative outpouring.
It sounds like his technical solution laid the
groundwork for his most monumental collaboration
and the conceptual leap into modal jazz. Tell
us about his essential role in the albums Milestones
and Kinda Blue. He was absolutely instrumental.
He stayed with Davis until 1960. And while Miles
was the intellectual driver, Coltrane's presence
was essential on Milestones, and of course the
monumental modal jazz blueprint, Kinda Blue.
A profound conceptual shift. It was. Instead
of improvising over harmony that shifted every
beat, modal jazz, which is based on scales and
modes, offered this wide open space and relative
harmonic stillness. So instead of a rapidly shifting
harmonic foundation, he suddenly had all this
room to breathe. What effect did that have on
his saxophone playing? It was completely liberating.
It gave him endless time to explore melodic cells
and rhythmic variations without the pressure
of having to constantly conform to a quickly
moving chord structure. So he used that space.
He used that newfound space to deepen his rhythmic
and tonal exploration rather than just filling
it with more rapid runs. It was a new depth of
searching for him. And as his time with Davis
ended, he recorded his first released album as
a leader for Atlantic consisting only of his
own compositions. And that album, Giant Steps,
fundamentally changed jazz harmony forever. Giant
Steps from 1960 is his powerful statement of
self. The title track contains one of the most
difficult and influential chord progressions
widely played in jazz, known now simply as Cool
Train Changes. And they are harmonically dizzying.
They are. These cycles often switch keys incredibly
fast in patterns based on major thirds. They
just push the limits of improvised melody, challenging
every single musician who encountered them. So
if Sheets of Sound was about speed, Giant Steps
was about complexity and structure. What enabled
that next radical shift, the formation of his
own quartet? Well, in 1960, he formed his first
stable group. It quickly settled into the core
of what we now call the classic quartet, featuring
McCoy Tyner on piano and Elvin Jones on drums.
He knew Tyner from Philadelphia. He did, but
he waited until the pianist was ready to handle
the conceptual demands. Tyner brought this dense
block chord harmonic approach, while Jones brought
a multi -layered polyrhythmic drumming style.
A perfect rhythmic foil for Coltrane's soaring
lines. The perfect foil. And their first album,
introduced an instrument back into modern jazz
that had mostly been forgotten. The soprano sax.
That was my favorite things in 1961. It was the
launch of Coltrane's serious use of the soprano
saxophone. The instrument had largely been associated
with early jazz, but Trane began practicing it
secretly while he was still with Miles Davis.
This was a very unconventional move at the time.
It was, and the outlier demonstrated that he
was willing to draw on any resource past or future
in his relentless search for sound. This quartet.
This was the group that laid the indispensable
foundation for the spiritual explosion that followed.
The early 1960s saw Coltrane find his artistic
home at Impulse Records, and this move was clearly
necessary for the kind of boundary -pushing work
he was pursuing. The move to Impulse in 1961
was crucial. It provided him with the freedom,
the financial stability, and the collaborative
environment he needed. And crucially, it reunited
him with the legendary engineer Rudy Van Gelder.
Who recorded almost all... of his impulse output
at his New Jersey studio. That's right. And this
is where we see the band briefly expand, adding
Reggie Workman on bass and Eric Dolphy as a second
horn, which led to that highly documented Village
Vanguard residency. Yes. The recordings released
as live at the Village Vanguard in 1962 are just
monumental documents of this transitional phase.
They are. They reveal Coltrane's rapid absorption
of new forms. deep modal exploration, influences
from Indian ragas, and full -blown elements of
free jazz. What's fascinating is that Coltrane
wasn't working in a vacuum. He was actively listening
to the cutting edge of jazz. Oh, absolutely.
His deep dive into this new, expansive sound
was heavily influenced by saxophonist John Gilmore,
who played with Sunrise Orchestra. And Coltrane
had a famous quote about him. He reportedly said
after hearing him, Gilmore's got the concept.
And the celebrated 15 -minute improvised blues
on that Vanguard album, Chasing the Train, was
directly inspired by Gilmour's approach. Coltrane
was also experimenting with rhythmic layering
that went far beyond the standard quartet setup.
Specifically, he was using two basses to create
this unique textural sound. This is one of the
most intriguing aspects of his mid -career sound.
He frequently paired his regular bassists, like
Reggie Workman or Jimmy Garrison, with a second
bassist, such as Art Davis or Donald Garrett.
And Garrett recalled playing a tape for Coltrane.
Yes, a tape where the two basses were performing
these complex rhythmic patterns, and Coltrane
just loved the resulting texture. And Coltrane
connected this sound explicitly to global traditions,
correct? He did. He told people he liked the
dual bass sound because it was akin to the East
Indian water drum, which has this distinct, multi
-textured rhythm. He even explained the roles
of the two basses. He did. One bass would remain
in the lower register, acting as the foundation,
what he called the stabilizing thing, while the
second bass was freed up to improvise and fill
in the spaces, much like the right hand on the
drum. He was seeking a multi -directional rhythmic
foundation, almost overwhelming you with the
pulse. This experimental phase was incredibly
polarizing for the jazz establishment, and it
led to direct, painful public criticism. It was
extremely divisive. In 1961, Downbeat magazine
published an article that notoriously labeled
Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, his second horn player,
as players of anti -jazz. Anti -jazz? That must
have stung. bewildered and genuinely upset both
musicians. Coltrane, who was striving to make
every performance a whole expression of one's
being, felt deeply misunderstood. So how did
he respond to that critical hostility? Did he
pivot immediately? Coltrane was intensely sensitive
and acutely aware of his audience, so he made
a strategic decision. Shortly after that backlash,
Dolphy left, and Jimmy Garrison replaced Reggie
Workman on bass. Solidifying the lineup we now
call the Classic Quartet. That's it. Tyner, Garrison,
Jones, and Coltrane. And the subsequent two years
were marked by a period of commercial and artistic
balance. That balance is clearly reflected in
his studio catalog from 1962 to 1964. He was
managing two musical personalities. The live
performances remain deeply exploratory, reworking
his standards like Impressions and My Favorite
Things into these challenging modal epics. But
his studio albums became more approachable. Exactly.
They showcased his versatility as a master of
melody and tone. We got Ballads, the extraordinary
collaboration with Duke Ellington, and the deeply
moving album with baritone singer Johnny Hartman.
The Ballads album in particular showed that he
could take a polished, straightforward approach
to standards like It's Easy to Remember. and
just infuse it with emotional depth without sacrificing
any of his technical mastery. It cemented his
reputation with a wider audience while still
challenging himself artistically. He recognized
the value of having this balanced catalog. He
knew the public needed access points even as
he was preparing for his next conceptual leap.
Speaking of recordings, there's an unbelievable
anecdote about a session from this period that
highlights how much music we almost lost entirely.
Okay, here's where it gets really interesting
and, frankly, frustrating for music historians.
On March 6, 1963, the quartet recorded a studio
session that was completely lost for decades.
And the source material confirms the master tape
was deliberately destroyed. Deliberately destroyed
by the label, Impulse Records. Purely to save
storage space. Destroyed to save space. That's
sacrilege. It is shocking given the stature of
the material. Fortunately, a spare copy was saved.
A tape Coltrane had given to his wife. And this
session was finally released in 2018. As both
directions at once. The Lost Album. It contains
seven tracks, including some originals that had
never been heard before, proving that even during
his more conservative studio phase, they were
generating boundary -pushing material. All of
this work, the technical search, the balancing
act, the spiritual exploration, it all culminates
in the album that became his spiritual pinnacle,
A Love Supreme. A Love Supreme, recorded in December
1964, is the spiritual culmination of the classic
quartet. It wasn't just another album. It was
a deeply personal statement composed at his home
in Dix Hills, Long Island. A four -part suite.
A four -part suite acknowledgement, resolution,
pursuance, and psalm. And it is a profound, explicit
ode to his faith and his love for God. The level
of dedication to that faith is clear even in
the composition structure, particularly in that
final movement, psalm. That movement is a direct
musical setting. of an original, deeply personal
poem Coltrane wrote to God, which is printed
in the album's liner notes. And the technical
detail here is staggering. He's playing the ball.
He's playing the poem. Coltrane plays almost
exactly one note for each syllable of the poem,
basing his phrasing and melody directly on the
structure of the words themselves. The music
is the prayer. This wasn't merely inspiration.
The spiritual concerns were now completely integrated
into the physical structure of his musical composition.
And for an album that is now so revered, it's
amazing that he performed it so rarely. He played
it live only three times in its entirety. Recordings
exist of two of those performances, one in Antibes,
France in July 1965, and a recently discovered
amateur recording from a concert in Seattle in
October 1965. The scarcity of those live documents
just makes them invaluable. Invaluable. And they
show the group's transition into the next. even
more radical phase following a love supreme coltrane
just he dropped the pretense of balance and threw
himself completely into the avant -garde The
final two years of his life were characterized
by radical, unrelenting musical acceleration.
What's fascinating here is that he wasn't just
creating a new genre. He was embracing the dissonance
and raw energy of free jazz pioneers like Albert
Ehler and Ornette Coleman. And he was profoundly
influenced by Sun Ra. Profoundly. He used his
immense stature to champion the younger generation,
turning Impulse into a leading label for free
jazz, especially supporting musicians like Archie
Shep. And his playing style became intensely
abstract at this point. It was a return to that
high -density sound, but in a much wilder, less
structured way. Yes. His music in 1965 became
highly abstract and textural. He began employing
techniques like multifonics, where he would force
the horn to scream multiple notes simultaneously,
along with heavy use of overtones and playing
aggressively in the altissimo register. A mutated
return of the sheets of sound. That's a great
way to put it. Only now it was far more chaotic,
vocal and emotionally charged. He focused almost
solely on the tenor saxophone in the studio,
abandoning the comparatively melodic soprano.
And this experimentation culminated in the legendary
and still highly controversial album Ascension.
Ascension, recorded in June 1965, is a seminal
piece of collective improvisation. It's a 38
-minute sonic explosion featuring Coltrane alongside
10 other musicians, including Shep and Pharoah
Sanders. And the controversy really stemmed...
from the collective parts. The intense simultaneous
collective improvisation sections that separated
the individual solos, it just sounded like a
cacophony to many established critics and fans
at the time. So after Ascension, Coltrane brought
Pharaoh Sanders and a second drummer, Rashid
Ali, into the fold. This change completely fractured
the foundational unity of the classic quartet.
The expansion began in late 1965, and Sanders'
sound was shocking. The critic Gary Giddens noted
that Sanders' appeared to have little contact
with earth expanding the horn's vocabulary drastically
with growling screeching and what we might call
human cry and shriek squeals this intense sonic
explosion and this multi -directional rhythmic
complexity it was clearly too much for his longtime
bandmates tyner and jones it signaled the end
of the classic quartet McCoy Tyner, who built
his sound on harmonic clarity and powerful block
chords, left shortly after recording Meditations.
He literally couldn't hear himself over the sheer
volume and the two drummers. And Elvin Jones,
who was arguably the greatest jazz drummer of
his generation, also departed due to dissatisfaction
with the musical direction. That must have created
immense tension. It did. Jones followed in early
1966. He famously remarked that Coltrane's late
music was so abstract and spiritual that Only
poets can understand it. The tension was palpable.
You could feel it. Jones wanted to swing. Coltrane
wanted transcendence. Yet both musicians consistently
voiced this profound, genuine respect for the
man and his vision, even as they couldn't follow
his musical path. And that's the measure of Coltrane's
genius and his character. Jones later compared
Coltrane to Einstein. He said, you wouldn't expect
Einstein to be playing jacks, would you? That's
incredible. Tyner recalled that Coltrane was
always searching like a scientist in a lab, looking
for something new, a different direction. He
kept hearing these sounds in his head. They left
the music, but they never left the man. The second
quartet was thus formed, defining his final rapid
artistic period. The new core lineup featured
Coltrane, his second wife Alice Coltrane on piano
and harp, Jimmy Garrison still anchoring the
bass, and Rashid Ali on drums. And Coltrane said
he needed that new rhythm. He strongly affirmed
it, feeling the urgent need for more rhythm all
around me. He wanted the rhythm to feel less
linear and more multi -directional. That deep
affinity for percussion resulted in one of his
final, most unique collaborations. The duo album
Interstellar Space from 1967, which featured
only Coltrane and Ali. It was the purest realization
of his rhythmic exploration. It's a stunning
conversation between saxophone and drums. And
his live shows became legendary for their length.
During his final touring years, this group was
known for playing extremely long versions of
their repertoire, often stretching beyond 30
minutes, with individual solos lasting over 15
minutes. It's hard to imagine that level of relentless
searching and physical exertion was happening
while he was secretly battling such a serious
illness. This intense journey came to a sudden,
unexpected end in 1967. It was a shock to everyone.
Coltrane died of liver cancer at the age of 40
on July 17, 1967 at Huntington Hospital on Long
Island. Miles Davis didn't even know he was sick.
Miles, who knew Coltrane so intimately, admitted
he didn't know he was that sick or even sick
at all. And biographers have offered speculation
linking this illness back to his earlier struggles
with addiction. And that link just adds a layer
of immense tragedy. It does. Biographers Lewis
Porter and Frederick J. Spencer noted that the
ultimate cause was likely chronic hepatitis and
cirrhosis. And Spencer explicitly linked this
back to the contaminated needles he may have
used during his prior addiction days. Saying
the seeds of his cancer were sown back then.
Right, despite his remarkable 1957 spiritual
recovery. The intensity never ceased, though.
He was performing right up until the end. He
continued touring up until two months before
his death. His final recorded performance was
a radio broadcast for the Olatunji Center for
African Culture in New York City. And his funeral
was a landmark event for the music he championed.
It was. Held at St. Peter's Lutheran Church,
the service was started by the Albert Ehler Quartet
and finished by the Ornette Coleman Quartet,
a testament to his role as both a pioneer and
a champion of the avant -garde. While the music
was always challenging, the engine driving Coltrane's
later career was intensely spiritual. It was
a search for meaning rooted in that 1957 awakening
that saved his life. That experience was transformative.
It's what allowed him to overcome the heroin
and alcohol addiction he'd battled for almost
a decade. He documented the experience directly
in the liner notes for A Love Supreme. What did
he say? He stated he experienced, by the grace
of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead
me to a richer, fuller, more productive life.
And he immediately connected that grace to his
profession. What did he ask for in return for
this new life? He asked for the privilege to
make others happy through music. And this aspiration
really defined his mission for the next decade.
Importantly, his belief system was entirely universal
and non -denominational. I believe in all religions.
He stated that openly in the liner notes for
his album Meditations in 1965. His personal life
reflected this spiritual openness. His first
wife, Juanita Naima Grubbs, heavily influenced
his early spirituality, being a Muslim convert.
Naima was a central figure. She inspired his
famous love ballad, Naima, which he always considered
his favorite composition. And they remained close
even after they divorced. Very close. In 1964,
he called her to say that 90 % of his playing
would now be prayer. After their divorce, he
married Alice McLeod, who brought stability and
shared his intellectual curiosity. Alice, who
was a professional musician and his second quartet,
pianist -arpist, shared his deeply rooted spiritual
beliefs, especially an intense interest in Indian
philosophy. They had three sons, John Jr., Ravi,
and Iran. And she really understood his intellectual
drive, which led to his deep dive into world
spirituality. What was Coltrane reading and studying
that fueled this intense musical search? His
personal library was massive and extremely eclectic.
It contained the Quran, the Bible, the Kabbalah.
And a lot of Eastern texts. A lot. Texts that
were incredibly popular in the 60s, like the
Bhagavad Gita and Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography
of a Yogi. He wasn't just skimming. He was actively
searching through Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, Jiddu,
Krishnamurti, and even foundational Western philosophy
like Plato and Aristotle. And this research directly
manifested in his music. Can you hear these specific
influences? He absolutely can. I mean, the album
titles themselves are direct reflections. Ascension,
Meditations, Aum. The recording Aum from October
1965 refers to the sacred Hindu syllable symbolizing
the infinite. And that piece contains explicit
chants. It does. From the Hindu Bhagavad Gita
and the Buddhist Tibetan Book of the Dead, he
believed specific sounds, scales, and modal structures
could produce specific emotional meanings, aligning
his work with the ancient traditions of musical
healing. This is truly astonishing. And it leads
us to the most profound and almost unbelievable
insight into Coltrane's ultimate goal as a musician.
He didn't just want to inspire. He wanted tangible,
measurable results. This is the absolute core
nugget of knowledge that elevates Coltrane above
almost any other artist. His ultimate aspiration
was not simply musical mastery, but discovering
a musical method. a perfect frequency, a perfect
song that could manifest positive physical and
material outcomes in the real world. That is
an astonishingly high bar. Was this secret ambition
known to his bandmates? How did he balance that
mystical hope with the practical demands of composing
and performing? He was certainly known to those
closest to him, especially in his later years,
and it fueled the incredible intensity of his
practice. Listen to what he said, and I quote.
If one of my friends is ill, I'd like to play
a certain song and he will be cured. When he'd
be broke, I'd bring out a different song and
immediately he'd receive all the money he needed.
He viewed his music as a literal form of applied
mysticism, a direct vehicle for change and healing.
The intensity of his search now makes perfect
sense. His practice wasn't about fame. He was
searching for the universal musical structure
that transcended ethnic distinctions and held
the mystical language of change. That level of
fanatical focus becomes understandable when you
realize he believed implicitly that he was working
toward the ultimate curative and unifying sound.
This profound belief in the power of his sound
led directly to his posthumous veneration and
eventually sainthood. Tell us more about the
Church of St. John Coltrane. The story begins
in San Francisco. A congregation originally called
the Yardbird Temple, equating Charlie Parker
to John the Baptist, began worshiping Coltrane
as God incarnate after his death. The power of
his music just resonated that deeply. It did.
The group later affiliated with the African Orthodox
Church, which, recognizing the depth of his impact,
formally canonized him in 1982, changing his
status from a God So this is an official religious
recognition where his compositions are actually
used in the service. Correct. The resultant St.
John Coltrane African Orthodox Church uses his
music, including compositions like A Love Supreme
and his lyrics as prayers in its liturgy. It's
consistent with his own late life aspiration.
It really is. In 1966, he told an interviewer
in Japan that he hoped to be a saint in five
years. He achieved that goal in less than two
decades posthumously. A phenomenal conclusion
to a phenomenal life. And besides the spiritual
accolades, his legacy has continued to grow in
the cultural sphere. Absolutely. Beyond the 1965
induction into the Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame
and the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award,
that 2007 Special Pulitzer Prize recognizes his
enduring and iconic centrality to the history
of jazz. And his homes are now historic landmarks.
His former home in Philadelphia and his last
home in Dix Hills, Long Island, are both official.
recognized as national historic landmarks. What
an incredible journey from the tragic early years
through the pain of addiction, the technical
breakthrough of the sheets of sound, and culminating
in a relentless spiritual quest for a universal
musical language that he believed could literally
heal the sick. Coltrane's life was defined by
that unrelenting Discipline search. He sought
technical mastery with giant steps, achieved
spiritual and physical renewal with his 1957
awakening and a love supreme, and pushed toward
a universal language using world music and the
avant -garde in his final years. He never stopped
moving, driven by those sounds in his head and
the hope that they could change the world. So
what does this all mean? We discussed his ultimate,
almost impossible goal. to discover a song that
could literally cure illness or bring immediate
material wealth. Given the enduring profound
impact of his sound on millions of people decades
later, did John Coltrane achieve his mission
of bringing happiness and a form of spiritual
cure to the world? I think he certainly achieved
it in a much broader enduring sense than perhaps
the immediate tangible cure he imagined. His
music provides an enduring template for self
-discovery, for spiritual expression, and for
a relentless pursuit of truth through art. His
sound has served as comfort, inspiration, and
a gateway to higher thought for generations.
If you, the learner, are looking to truly understand
the relentless pace and abstract nature of his
final search, we encourage you to go beyond the
comfortable classics like Love Supreme and explore
the challenging later works we discussed. Yeah,
listen to the collective, explosive improvisation
of Ascension and the pure rhythmic spiritual
dialogue of the duo album Interstellar Space.
When you hear those albums. You realize that
Coltrane was not just documenting his journey,
he was using his instrument as a tool for translation.
searching for the sound that could change reality
itself. And that search, that devotion to the
potential of music, is why he remains revered.
Thank you for joining us for the deep dive on
John Coltrane. Until next time.