Coltrane as Ballad Master: "My One and Only Love"
You may have noticed the many articles and features assessing and celebrating the art of John Coltrane on the centennial of the birth. ‘Trane is one of the key figures in the ultimate pantheon of jazz. I’d place him as a “top five”-type figure. Like Michael Jordan is to basketball. In terms of influence on the playing style of those who followed him I would say that only Charlie Parker is his equal. Whole generations of tenor players have internalized ‘Trane’s searching, maximalist, out-there style as perhaps the only “real” way that a tenor should sound. In other words, unless they consciously try to not sound like Coltrane, they will by default. It is this fiery, exploratory side of ‘Trane that most writers focused on in their centennial tributes. After all, this was the aesthetic he introduced that was truly revolutionary. His forays into Interstellar Space, as the title of one of his seminal records phrased it, and other realms of consciousness, truly brought the avant-garde into ...
