Clawing at the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever by Farah Jasmine Griffin & Salim Washington

Author:Farah Jasmine Griffin & Salim Washington [Griffin, Farah Jasmine & Washington, Salim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Music, Genres & Styles, Jazz, Biography, Autobiography, Davis, Miles, Coltrane, John, -- 1926-1967, Miles Davis Quintet, Miles Davis Sextet, Jazz -- History and criticism
ISBN: 9781466855298
Google: KZfWAAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2013-10-21T23:00:00+00:00

INTERLUDE

During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace. ALL PRAISE TO GOD.

—JOHN COLTRANE

THE PERIOD FOLLOWING COLTRANE’S DEPARTURE from the Miles Davis Quintet marked a phase of growth for both musicians that laid the foundation for the revolutionary musical innovations they would make individually and together during the final years of their collaboration. There was little public outcry at Trane’s departure. In fact, most critics seemed to have been pleased with the switch. Throughout his time in the band, Coltrane continued to be the subject of unfavorable comparisons with Sonny Rollins. In Down Beat (December 12, 1956), Nat Hentoff wrote that Coltrane “lacks Sonny’s compactness of impact.” Another Down Beat reviewer, Don Gold, wrote that the Davis “group’s solidarity is hampered by the angry young tenor of Coltrane. Backing himself into rhythmic corners on flurries of notes, Coltrane sounded like the personification of motion-without-progress in jazz.”1

Sometimes the comparisons weren’t necessarily because of Rollins’s superior musical gifts, but because both Trane and Philly Joe were prone to ignore professional etiquette and protocols: They often were disheveled—dressed in wrinkled suits—and were late for gigs. Some critics even made a point of mentioning the good decorum of the newly configured band after their departures: “The group is neat in appearance, and on the sets caught was quite businesslike, apparently absorbed in its work.”2

Given the group’s commercial and artistic success, today’s listeners might conclude that Coltrane would have done anything to continue working with Miles Davis’s quintet. He had established himself as a star voice on tenor sax and benefited enormously from the publicity that attended his presence in the quintet. However, throughout his tenure with the band, the critics remained divided over his artistry; it was a split that would remain the case for the rest of his career. The opposing camps became increasingly divided over time. There were those who found his style highly original and quirky in a positive sense. There were others who continued to think that his approach was not distinctive. Still others felt he was inept and suggested that Miles’s band would fare better musically with a different saxophonist. Regardless of the critics, Miles believed the two musicians that the critics lambasted most, Philly Joe and Trane, were primarily responsible for the group’s success. “Trane was blowing his ass off.… But as great as Trane was sounding, Philly Joe was the fire that was making a lot of shit happen.”3

Coltrane’s musical maturity began with the rapid development that he enjoyed in this setting, and other musicians certainly found his voice compelling. Although he made a few sides with Gillespie, his recording career began in earnest only after he joined the quintet. Starting in 1956, he began to appear as a sideman on several albums besides those he made with Miles.

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