John Coltrane and Black America's Quest for Freedom: Spirituality and the Music

In other words, Coltrane is profoundly shaped by his generational location and his class position.

“All of us would have perished long ago” clearly refers to Coltrane’s knowledge of the history of the black American experience.

The relationship was further compounded by the fact that, historically, jazz musicians, regardless of skin color, had been seen primarily as entertainers, not artists.

Coltrane’s musicianship and reputation grew stronger and led to his being invited, in the late 1940s, to become a member of traveling bands including those led by Joe Webb, King Kolax, and Eddie Vinson. All these men were accomplished musicians leading black bands that played across the Midwest and South to predominantly black audiences in mostly s

For example, Gerald Early claims that the point of the search for freedom was simply the expression of greater freedom.

his work is primarily arranged into three discernible periods—his early or harmonic period, his middle or modal period, his late or experimental period—to distinguish and weigh the significance of each.

We know that he was a modest man, that he practiced incessantly, that he was generous to younger musicians, and that he loved working in the studio as much as performing

for some he is a threat, for others he is musically illegible and therefore beyond comprehension. For still others, this is the Coltrane of pure sincerity—of pulse, energy, and sound.

That’s what music is to me—it’s just another way of saying this is a big, beautiful universe we live in, that’s been given to us, and here’s an example of just how magnificent it is.