John ColtraneEssay title: John ColtraneJazz, which evolved from African American folk music, has developed and changed over the last century to become an art form in America. Jazz has taken many forms over the past seventy years; there is almost always a single person who can be credited with the evolution of that sound. From Thelonius Monk, and his bee bop, to Dizzy Gillespie’s big band, to Miles Davis’ cool jazz, or to John Coltrane’s free jazz; America’s music has been developed and refined countless times through individual experimentation and innovation. In my opinion the most noteworthy artist in the development of modern jazz is John Coltrane.
John William Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina. He grew up in a typical black family in the South. Both of his parents were musicians, his mother was a member of the church choir and his father played the violin. For several years, young Coltrane played the clarinet, however it wasn‘t his passion. It was only after he heard the great alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges playing with the Duke Ellington band on the radio, that he became enthusiastic about music. (Bill, 72) In the late nineteen forties, Coltrane began playing with several different R&B groups in small bars and clubs around Philadelphia. He played Bee bop style of jazz, which was popular during the late thirties and forties. It was characterized by integrating faster tempos, and more complex phrases than the jazz of earlier years.
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John William Coltrane, the first black American bassist, was born on May 13, 1781. It was his first solo show during a year out of school. Before Coltrane could play he learned to play with the clarinet, which he began to use at age 2 as a hobby in the mid-nineties. For 3 years after that Coltrane sang the saxophone, the clarinet and clarinetobio; in this time he also performed solo; he eventually performed in bars, clubs, public schools and public parks as well. Coltrane is best known in his music and film work, as the lead singer of the band C’est la chaquerie. In recent years he has made frequent appearances on both the BBC and the Radio 4. A successful soloist he wrote a song called “The Time I Want” in 1783, which he liked. In 1855, he made his first recording for a major recording studio in South Africa with the song.
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John Coltrane, who was born on May 13, 1781, is a native of North Carolina. He moved to the United States in late eighteenth century, first as a teenager singing, and also as an apprentice pianist. His father was a piano player. To get into the blues Coltrane had two young sisters, Eliza (died 1691) and Clara (died 1790).
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John Coltrane graduated from Williams College in Greenville, South Carolina in 1862. He quickly settled in Philadelphia, and eventually moved to Baltimore with his family. In 1864 he wrote and performed in a number of clubs with others. As a teenager, Coltrane was the first black American conductor. He had the chance to learn the piano, with which he later sang in many of the first ballads of George Dallen, “Rough Night in Williamsburg” (1875). He also studied law, first in Richmond, Virginia at the University of Virginia Law School. With this interest and the opportunity to develop a musical voice he was able to enter a major role as the first black man to be employed upon the United States Postal Service.
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John Coltrane’s role continues to this day. In his later years Coltrane was the co-director of the First African American Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the Board of Music and Concert Association. He left the Chamber sometime in 1869 at the invitation of the Mayor of New York. As the first black American conductor, Coltrane had a long history of accomplishments in music, making a number of major contributions to the world of music for the next forty years or so, most notably as the first black American conductor of a successful orchestra in the United States.
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John Coltrane moved to America in 1967 as a result of his interest in writing and performing music. He attended Columbia University, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in theater writing.
Around This time there was another great artist, Miles Davis. In the mid-fifties Coltrane he was invited to play with Miles Davis and his quintet. The collaboration that developed would change his life. Davis was a star on the rise in the next jazz movement, cool jazz. Cool jazz was a striking contrast to the more traditional jazz popular during the forties. It was characterized by experimentation with musical tones, keys, and modes, improvising on scales rather than on sequences of chords, producing music that at times was very bizarre, but none the less popular. This new movement was the beginning of an experimental stage of jazz that was very popular during the sixties. The time spent with Davis was a valuable learning experience for Coltrane. During this time he developed a style distinctly his own. His style captured the scales of the saxophone at a speed that no one had ever achieved, creating very “dense musical textures.” (Bill, 64)
In 1957, Coltrane’s career soared. He accepted an apprenticeship with “The High Priest of Bebop”, Thelonius Monk. Coltrane’s time spent with Miles Davis allowed him to develop his own unique style, but it was still somewhat reserved. He was transformed into a legend with Monk. “Monk would provide Coltrane with the key to unlock all sorts of musical doors and free the dark and the beautiful visions Coltrane had seen throughout his life.” Coltrane with the help of the Davis quartet learned many techniques