MoJoRaven Wrote:Coletrane is a bit beyond me. I own A Love Supreme and I have given it several listens. Afterwards, I always have this sort of sneaky, embarrassed feeling because I come away from it wondering what exactly it is that I just cannot get hold of. I keep coming back to it (and suppose I will continue to do so) because I remember (quite some time ago) someone whose musical taste and wisdom I held in high esteem spoke of Coletrane with a reverence that could not be ignored.

B.B. King (whom I adore) is attributed with this pronouncement: "Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy's playing blues like we play, he's in high school. When he starts playing jazz it's like going on to college, to a school of higher learning."

I think this quip comes closest to capturing what eludes me; when it comes to Jazz, I have the ears of a high school kid.

centermez Wrote:I'm a saxophone player, and I know that there are more John Coltrane emulators out there than any other Jazz Master. But for a good reason xD he's soooo good. I agree with SteveO, definitely check out Giant Steps. I transcribed that a while ago, and it's definitely one of my favorite pieces by him

One of Coltrane's biggest steps in pioneering new and interesting Jazz Harmony was the interpolation of chords. Instead of using the standard ii-V-I progression (which is the most frequently occurring progression in jazz due to it's solo-bility) he would substitute chords over the ii-V-I, ending on the 'wrong' chord. But it sounded awesome... There's an entire world of jazz theory that he developed. If you're interested in further reading, you should check out Coltrane Changes.