Jazz fan Natalie Weiner launched a blog called The 1959 Project with day-to-day looks at the genre’s most famous year. When researching for my final year dissertation, Ted Gioia’s The History of Jazz was a valuable tome and it helped (I got a First for the dissertation). Jazz history is fascinating and enriching when you travel through every decade of progression. But one year stands out…
During the December of 1964, one of the most iconic jazz albums was recorded, acting as a three-way crossroads for old and upcoming styles. We celebrate 50 years of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Kind Of Blue is often perceived as the omega of jazz thanks to the mainstream media’s depiction of the genre. This of course is nonsense as jazz just moved into new…
Poetry in motion encapsulates this video showing John Coltrane’s poem for “Psalm”, the fourth movement of his iconic album “A Love Supreme” in tandem with the music. Hidden codes within music add flavour and character. Donuts is littered with secret meanings, Dark Side Of The Moon is infamous for the rumoured parallels between the album and The Wizard of Oz. In 1965, John Coltrane and his…
It would have been John Coltrane’s 87th birthday yesterday so for that, we’re looking at five samples of the late jazz master’s work. They say the good die young and in John Coltrane’s case, that might well be accurate. The jazz saxophonist, born in North Carolina, passed away at the relatively young age of 40 due to liver cancer. In his somewhat brief career, he…
