John Coltrane Development

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John Coltrane: Development of a TenorSaxophonist, 1950–1954Carl WoideckPublished online: 21 Apr 2009.

To cite this article: Carl Woideck (2008) John Coltrane: Development of a Tenor Saxophonist,1950–1954, Jazz Perspectives, 2:2, 165-213, DOI: 10.1080/17494060802373390

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By contrast, Miles Davis, who was born in the same year as Coltrane, had by late1955 (i.e., the time of Coltrane’s joining Davis’s group) been a recording artist for ten years and had participated in over forty recording sessions for various labels. Thetrumpeter’s hours of recorded and credited improvised solos released by 1955document in detail his artistic evolution and technical progress. Of course, whenColtrane joined the Davis quintet, the saxophonist began to be recorded more often,and by 1957 he was one of the more frequently recorded musicians of jazz. From thenuntil his death in 1967, every major stage in Coltrane’s artistic evolution wasdocumented in authorized commercial recordings (and unauthorized, non-profes-sional ones).

Even though we have so few commercially-recorded Coltrane solos made beforehis tenure with Davis, much may be learned from certain non-commercially recorded, pre-Davis examples of Coltrane improvising. Most of these recordings havebeen issued without the artists’ permission on bootleg LPs and CDs. There alsoexist a few early Coltrane selections that remain unissued in any form and thesematerials have only circulated among scholars and collectors. Perhaps because thebootlegs and unissued material have never had the wide distribution of Coltrane’sauthorized recordings, those early Coltrane solos have not often been scrutinized by scholars or musicians and do not appear in books of Coltrane solo transcriptions.These noncommercial and unissued recordings are essential in helping us tounderstand how Coltrane initially developed as a saxophonist and as a jazzimproviser.

In this article, I will explore for the first time in detail Coltrane’s recorded

improvisational work on tenor saxophone from 1950 (the earliest of the possibleexamples known to scholars) through 1954 (the year of his last-known recordingsbefore joining Miles Davis). Through Coltrane’s own statements, I will first examineColtrane’s early saxophone influences before he adopted the tenor sax, and then I willdetail his influences while playing that instrument during the 1950–54 period. I willfurther discuss—in approximate chronological order—the recording sessions of theperiod in which Coltrane’s participation as soloist is either established, accepted by scholars, or at least possible on the basis of his known career and various musicalevidence. Through transcription and analysis, I shall discuss in detail thecharacteristics of his 1950–1954 tenor saxophone style(s) and, when in question,assess the likelihood of each recorded soloist being Coltrane. This latter assessmentwill involve in part cross-referencing between two or more recording sessions insearch of common phrases or characteristics that may indirectly suggest Coltrane’sparticipation. In this detailed examination of his early tenor saxophone recordings, Iwill additionally discuss a number of musical traits that are associated with his later,more-often-analyzed improvisational work. We will also see that Coltrane’s well-known, and highly-characteristic, steady turnover in musical vocabulary was already evident in this early period. Indeed, before he joined Miles Davis, Coltrane wasalready much more than ‘‘a mixture of Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and Sonny

Stitt.’’

166 John Coltrane: Development of a Tenor Saxophonist

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The Earliest Coltrane

In 1960, John Coltrane recalled, ‘‘Pres [Lester Young] was my first real influence, butthe first horn I got was an alto, not a tenor. I wanted a tenor, but some friends of my mother advised her to buy me an alto because it was a smaller horn and easier for a

youngster to handle. This was 1943.’’3

In the 1930s, Coleman Hawkins’s style was thestandard by which most tenor saxophonists were evaluated, but by the early 1940s,Lester Young’s style became equally influential among young jazz musicians.Certainly Young’s less theoretically grounded, stepwise, ‘‘horizontal’’ approach toimprovisation was easier for the young Coltrane to emulate than Hawkins’s morestudied, arpeggiated, ‘‘vertical’’ approach. Since he was playing the alto sax (ratherthan the tenor), Coltrane of course also listened to musicians who played thatinstrument. In 1960, Coltrane said, ‘‘Johnny Hodges became my first main influenceon alto, and he still kills me.’’ 4 Young’s and Hodges’s styles were not particularly similar,

but they shared a highly melodic and spontaneous approach to improvisation.No recordings exist of this earliest stage of Coltrane’s development. In any case, theYoung andHodges influenceswere supersededafter Coltrane first heard altosaxophonistCharlie ‘‘Bird’’ Parker in concert, when Parker was playing with John Birks ‘‘Dizzy’’Gillespie on June 5, 1945, at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Coltrane later said of Parker, ‘‘whenI had firstheard Bird,I wanted tobe identifiedwithhim … tobeconsumedby him.’’5 In important and compelling ways, Parker combined the spontaneousinvention and exuberant swing of Lester Young with a harmonic understanding (gleanedin part from Dizzy Gillespie) more comparable with Coleman Hawkins.

This stage in Coltrane’s development is best documented in private (non-commercial) recordings made by Coltrane on July 17, 1946, in Hawaii while he wason duty with the U.S. Naval Reserve. These eight recordings were made strictly for themusicians’ own use and not intended for release to the public. 6 Scant Lester Younginfluence is discernible in part because Coltrane is playing alto, not tenor sax, andbecause Coltrane’s frequently awkward and sometimes disjunct solos have little incommon with Young’s grace and continuity. The influence of Hodges is heard inColtrane’s scooping of pitches, especially in the upper register. However, the Parkerinfluence is much more ascendant, as can be heard in Coltrane’s overall melodic,harmonic, and rhythmic language. More discussion of these Coltrane alto sax

recordings would be outside the scope of this paper.7

3 John Coltrane and Don DeMicheal, ‘‘Coltrane on Coltrane,’’ Down Beat , September 29, 1960, 26–27.Previous to 1943, while Coltrane played both clarinet and saxophone, he did not own a sax.4 Ibid.5 Ira Gitler, ‘‘Trane on the Track,’’ Down Beat , October 16, 1958, 16–17.6 Only one of Coltrane’s early alto sax recordings, the track ‘‘Hot House,’’ has been released to the publicin any form. This can be found on John Coltrane, The Last Giant , Rhino R2 71984, 1993, compact disc.The other selections were made available to the author by Lewis Porter with permission of NormanPoulshock, who was the pianist on these recordings.7 Readers can find a transcription and discussion of one Coltrane solo (‘‘Sweet Miss’’) from this 1946session in Lewis Porter, John Coltrane: His Life and Music (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press,2000), 46.

Jazz Perspectives 167

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Coltrane Moves to Tenor

John Coltrane first bought a tenor saxophone to play in alto saxophonist Eddie‘‘Cleanhead’’ Vinson’s band, which he joined in November 1948. Coltrane later saidof his switch to the tenor sax, ‘‘I found I was able to be more varied in my musical

interests. On alto, Bird had been my whole influence, but on tenor I found there wasno one man whose ideas were so dominant as Charlie’s were on alto. Therefore, Idrew from all the men I heard during this period.’’ 8

After the Vinson engagement ended, Coltrane continued to play alto sax whenrequired. For example, he joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in September 1949 as analto player. This group with Coltrane recorded twice for the Capitol label in 1949 and1950, with Jimmy Heath and Coltrane playing alto saxes, and with Paul Gonsalvesand Jessie Powell on tenors. Although there has been some question whetherColtrane ever soloed on tenor sax while in the Gillespie big band, 9 I have establishedthrough photographic evidence that Coltrane did indeed improvise on the tenor withthis band at least in performance. 10 Jan Evensmo conjectured that Coltrane may soloon tenor sax on the January 9, 1950, recordings of ‘‘Coast to Coast’’ (the first tenorsolo, for 12 measures) and ‘‘Ooh-La-La’’ (32 measures). 11 If these performances areindeed by Coltrane, these would be his earliest-known recorded tenor sax solos. Thesaxophonist in question on these recordings has a dark tone quality that—while notidentical to the positively identified Coltrane of the 1950s—is Dexter Gordon-influenced, in a manner quite similar to Coltrane on his 1951 Dizzy Gillespie smallgroup recordings. 12 The tone quality in these January 1950 recordings is also

8 Coltrane and DeMicheal, ‘‘Coltrane on Coltrane,’’ 26–27.9 Jimmy Heath is paraphrased as having said that ‘‘Coltrane would not have soloed on tenor in the band.’’TrumpeterWillieCook, also in theband at thesame time, is paraphrasedas sayingthat a Coltrane tenor solo‘‘is possible, since Coltrane did have his tenor around to practice.’’ Porter, John Coltrane , 84.10 Jazz (New York: Guernsey’s Auction House, 2005), 115. This is a collage of seven photos of Coltraneplaying in public with Gillespie’s big band. The upper two photos show Coltrane playing alto as part of the sax section. The remaining shots show him soloing on tenor in front of the band. (The length andangle of the saxophone neck, plus the length of the bell of the horn establish that this is a tenor.) No dateor location is evident in this auction catalog, but since Jimmy Heath and Paul Gonsalves are also visiblein the section, the photos are from the same period of the Capitol recordings in question.11 Porter, JohnColtrane , 83–84.Porter initiallyagreedwithEvensmo that thereis a tenor soloistpresent whoisneitherPowellnorGonsalves,but he nowthinks thatthe soloist isPaulGonsalves. TheJohn ColtraneReference ,

ed. Lewis Porter (New York: Routledge, 2007), 273. The tenor sax solo on ‘‘Tally-Ho’’ (recorded by theGillespie big band on November 21, 1949) closely matches in timbre, swing, and melodic line the solos byGonsalves that were made before his stint with Gillespie (with Count Basie for Victor on December 8 and 9,1947) and immediately after (with Duke Ellington for Columbia on December 19, 1950). But the tenor saxsoloist in question on ‘‘Coast to Coast’’ and ‘‘Oo-La-La’’ does not resemble in those respects Gonsalves on‘‘Tally-Ho’’(orGonsalvesontheaforementionedBasieandEllingtonrecordings).Thefirstsoloiston‘‘CoasttoCoast’’ andthesoloist on ‘‘Ooh-La-La’’ is neither Jessie Powell norPaul Gonsalves, andmaywell beColtrane.12 The tenor saxophonist in question on ‘‘Coast to Coast’’ and ‘‘Oo-La-La’’ has a tone quality that ismore open and throaty than most Coltrane recordings of the 1950s. However, on his first session withMiles Davis (October 26, 1955, for the Columbia label), Coltrane displays an uncharacteristically opensound. It may be that his approximately 1950–1955 mouthpiece/reed combination and approach toembouchure produced a more open sound as compared with his more compact sound as heard in hislater-1950s work. That Coltrane could, and probably did, change his tone quality at times is discussed inregard to the Billy Valentine sides later in this article.


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strikingly similarto theColtrane-likesoloist heardon thecirca 1952 GayCrosse/ChristineKittrell sides. (These 1951–1952 sessions will both be discussed later in this article.)

The most lengthy passage that resembles the later, positively identified Coltranecomes in ‘‘Coast to Coast’’ in which the first tenor sax soloist begins with a preparedfive-note motive (a) and related four-note motive (a’) that are presented sequentially a total of four times, thereby paralleling the chromatic chord progression played by the bassist. (See Example 1.) In the next two measures, the saxophonist superimposesover a single chord (without a corresponding bass line) a new four-note motive (b)that is presented sequentially four times as it descends. As will be seen below (in adiscussion of the 1951 Dizzy Gillespie broadcasts and the 1954 Johnny Hodges liverecording), such sequencing of short motivic units was already present in Coltrane’ssolos in the early 1950s; such techniques would of course become even morecommon in his later work.

(Note that all transcriptions are in concert key and sound one octave lower thanwritten. Measure numbers are counted from the beginning of the first chorus inwhich the saxophonist in question solos. If a solo is more than one chorus in length,chorus numbers are identified in boxes. Score example timings count the minutesand seconds from the beginning of the overall musical performance.)

The last two measures of the above example are largely repeated by the secondsoloist (in a different key) later in the recording:

This occurrence leads to the question: Is it possible that the first and second soloistare the same person? This hypothesis undercuts the premise that there is anunidentified saxophonist present on the Gillespie big band recordings. That said, they

Example 1.

Example 2.


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are probably not the same person, because the second soloist employs a differenttimbre, a more prominent vibrato on longer notes, and a more sure rhythmicexecution that distinguish him (Gillespie did not have any female members in thisband) from the first soloist. As I will later demonstrate, the presence of a similar shortpassage in two different solos can be a key initial tool in identifying a soloist, but wemust then examine every other factor applicable to the music and musician inquestion to build a more complete case study.

In ‘‘Ooh-La-La,’’ the saxophonist shows his awareness of modern jazz harmonicpractice by playing a line that first rises to the 13th of the D7 chord and then descendsto the # 11 (marked in m. 27 in Example 3). (This device will be discussed inconnection with the later Crosse/Kittrell and Hodges sessions below.) To this author,the passage from mm. 26–29 seems rhythmically and harmonically awkward. Thisbegins with the jerky sixteenth-eighth-sixteenth moment in m. 26 that seems todisplace what follows by one beat, thus creating an odd rhythmic feel and setting upthe clashing major thirds (F # ) against the D-minor harmony on beats one and threein m. 29. Although one cannot say for certain if the harmonic effect is accidental orintentional, eliminating the sixteenth-eighth-sixteenth unit places the phrase one beatearlier in time and creates a passage that would have harmonically matched theprevailing chord progression.

This awkward rhythmic moment and another in ‘‘Coast to Coast’’ (m. 7; at 0:52)may indicate that the saxophonist was still learning his craft at the time. 13 Whetherthe saxophonist on ‘‘Ooh-La-La’’ and ‘‘Coast to Coast’’ is Coltrane or another player,

13 These execution problems could also be the effect of alcohol or another drug.

Example 3.


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his rhythmic execution and swing are generally more solid than Coltrane had been onhis first amateur recordings on alto sax (from 1946; see above).

A brief but significant similarity between the Gillespie saxophonist in question and asoloist on the 1952 Crosse/Kittrell sessions comes in ‘‘Ooh-La-La,’’ as the saxophonesoloist scoops slightly into the circled G (the fifth degree of the operative key of C) atthe top of the staff on Example 4, drops to the G an octave below and then rises a wholestep to the sixth of the key (the triplet in m. 25 is ornamental). This fragment,admittedly brief, is echoed—both in melodic contour and tone quality—by thesaxophonist in the Gay Crosse recording of ‘‘No Better for You,’’ to be discussed below.

In assessing the likelihood that this tenor saxophonist on the Gillespie big bandrecordings is Coltrane, we can note the following: the melodic-harmonic style of thissaxophonist most resembles the Coltrane of the later 1950s in his use of sequencedpatternson‘‘Coast toCoast.’’Overall, histonequality is similarto thepositively identifiedColtrane solos on the 1951 Dizzy Gillespie small group recordings. That tone quality, theuse of the 13th to # 11th descent, and the octave/whole-step device (discussed above), allresemble that of the unidentified saxophonist of the 1952 Crosse/Kittrell sides yet to bediscussed. The saxophone solos on those two sets of recordings reinforce each other’s

likelihoodof being by JohnColtrane.Given the aboveevidence, and the fact that Coltranedefinitely soloed on tenor in performance with the Gillespie big band, there is a distinctpossibility that this 1950 Gillespie big band tenor saxophonist is Coltrane.

The Valentine Recordings

During the period that Coltrane was playing alto sax with the Gillespie big band, hemay have been recorded playing tenor sax with singer-pianist Billy Valentine.Valentine was an early rhythm and blues (R&B) singer whose smooth voice and easy-going delivery were similar to Charles Brown’s. (Indeed, Valentine replaced Brown in

Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers in 1949.) Valentine favored the twelve-bar blues formand often used jazz musicians in his band. Coltrane was not in Valentine’s workingband, but tenor saxophonist George ‘‘Big Nick’’ Nicholas reportedly said thatColtrane had recorded with Valentine around this time. 14

14 Phil Schaap, in a telephone conversation with the author, September, 2001. Nicholas was a friend of Coltrane’s and also recorded with Valentine for Mercury Records in New York on a session around April,1950, and was thus in a good position to know the activities of Coltrane andValentine during this period. SeeMichel Ruppli andEd Novitsky, The MercuryLabels: A Discography , vol. 1 (Westport, CT: GreenwoodPress,1993), 191. Schaap played one or more of these recordings for Nicholas who said that he is not thesaxophonist inquestion. (Asstated byPhilSchaap, WKCR-FMbroadcast,September 23,1997.) Indeed, thestyleof theplayer inquestiondoesnot even superficially resemble that of Big NickNicholasof theearly 1950s.

Example 4.


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The tenor saxophonist in question solos on three Valentine titles: ‘‘I Ain’t GonnaCry No More’’; ‘‘I Want You to Love Me’’; and ‘‘Beer Drinking Baby.’’15 (The fourthtitle from the session is ‘‘How Long, How Long Blues,’’ without a saxophone solo.)These recordings were issued at the time on 78-rpm records by the Mercury label; anunissued and complete alternate take of each title featuring the saxophonist wasrecorded and is present on the acetate disc or discs discovered by jazz scholar PhilSchaap. The take numbers referred to below are based on the engineer’s ‘‘slates’’ atend of each full attempt. (Note that only compete takes were assigned take numbers.)

Two pairs of dates and locations for this session have been suggested: November 7,1949, in Los Angeles,16 or March 1, 1950, in New York City.17 Considerablecircumstantial evidence suggests the latter date and location. The acetate disc of therecording session has the date March 1, 1950, written on it. According to Schaap, theengineer’s voice heard on the disc is that of one of the engineers who worked at BobFine’s New York recording studio. 18 Mercury Records bought an advertisement inThe Billboard magazine’s March 25, 1950, issue to present Valentine to the musicindustry and to announce his first single for the company, ‘‘How Long, How LongBlues’’ and ‘‘Beer Drinking Baby,’’ both from the session in question. 19 Valentine isknown to have recorded for the Mercury label in New York in the first half of 1950. 20

Before examining the solos for Coltrane’s stylistic traits, it is important todetermine whether Coltrane could have been in Los Angeles or New York on either of the dates in question. Coltrane’s whereabouts on the November 11, 1949, date areunknown; he had possibly joined Gillespie’s big band in September of that year. 21

Neither Porter nor Vail list any dates for the band in the western United States

around this time.22

The Gillespie big band was far from Los Angeles ten days later(November 21, 1949) when they recorded in New York for Capitol Records. Turningto the other possibility, Coltrane was definitely in New York on the March 1, 1950,session date; that night, the Dizzy Gillespie big band (with Coltrane on alto sax)ended an engagement at New York’s Bop City nightclub. 23 Given the date written

15 The last title was also known as ‘‘Beer Drinkin’ Baby.’’16 This date is based on research published in Ruppli and Ed Novitsky’s The Mercury Labels , 180. Therecording session’s matrix numbers (3188 through 3191) support the early date.17 Phil Schaap, telephone conversation, September 2001.18

Schaap does not know the engineer’s name, but recognizes the voice from other Fine recording studiosessions. Telephone conversation with the author, September 2001.19 ‘‘Mercury Records present America’s No. 1 Rhythm and Blues Star Billy Valentine with His OwnGroup FIRST RELEASE’’ (uppercase in original), The Billboard , March 25, 1950, 38. The first singlewas reviewed by the magazine in the April 15, 1950, issue (p. 122); the second single from the session (‘‘IWant You to Love Me’’ and ‘‘Ain’t Gonna Cry No More’’) was reviewed by the magazine in the May 13,1950, issue (p. 139).20 The May 27, 1950, issue of The Billboard (p. 35) reports on the Spring 1950 New York recordingactivities of members of Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers: ‘‘Featured members of the group, Oscar Mooreand Billy Valentine, recorded on their own for the Columbia and Mercury labels respectively.’’21 John Coltrane Reference , 35.22 Ibid., and Ken Vail, Dizzy Gillespie: The Bebop Years 1937–1952 (Cottonham, UK: Vail Publishing,2000), 79.23 John Coltrane Reference , 46.


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on the acetate, the New York engineer’s voice on that disc—and, to a lesserdegree, the definite placing of the Gillespie group with Coltrane at the properdate and city—the March 1, 1950, New York City date and location areentirely possible for this session. This tentative date will be used for matters of chronology.

Upon first listening, the saxophonist’s improvisational solos on the Valentinerecordings do not strongly resemble that of other, conclusively identified, Coltranesolos of the early 1950s. For example, the saxophonist’s tone quality seems modestin size, light and airy, without the large and solid sound of either the unidentifiedplayer on ‘‘Coast to Coast’’ and ‘‘Oo-La-La’’ or the positively identified Coltraneon the 1951 Dizzy Gillespie broadcasts, yet to be discussed. The melodic lines andharmonic vocabulary exhibited by this player are often more consistent with thoseof Lester Young than with a player who is influenced by Charlie Parker andmodern jazz. These traits do not eliminate Coltrane from consideration, however.Years later, Coltrane said that during this journeyman period of his career, he oftenadapted his style as the bandleader required: ‘‘You see, I stayed in obscurity for along time, because I just played what the others expected from me, without tryingto add anything original. I saw so many guys get fired from a band because they tried to be innovative that I got a little discouraged from trying anythingdifferent!’’24

One factor that makes this saxophonist’s tone quality seem airy or diffuse is thatthe player seldom blows forcefully and tends to stay in the mezzo piano to mezzo forte range. In the few cases in which he uses more force (the second takes of ‘‘Beer

Drinking Baby’’ and ‘‘I Want You to Love Me’’), his tone quality indeed resemblesColtrane. Another factor that affected the saxophonist’s apparent timbre here is thatmuch of the time he was evidently not playing close to the microphone. Increaseddistance from a microphone tends to diffuse a saxophonist’s tone quality. Finally, if this is indeed Coltrane, it is possible that some of the diffuse tone quality here may come from a temporary change in mouthpiece and/or the type of reed used for thisrecording. (Coltrane was known to be a career-long collector of saxophonemouthpieces.)

The Lester Young influence is not limited to timbre; Young is also the mostprevalent influence upon this saxophonist’s melodic line. Looking back in 1960 onhis own tenor sax style of the mid-1940s (before the time of this recording), Coltranesaid: ‘‘The reason I liked Lester so was that I could feel that line, that simplicity. My phrasing was very much in Lester’s vein at this time.’’ 25 A Young-like simplicity of melodic line is evident in the saxophonist’s solo on the first take of the blues ‘‘I WantYou to Love Me.’’ His first measure and a half is parallel to (or is a quote of) Young’s1939 composition ‘‘Lester Leaps In,’’ and the slurred articulation and timbre arereminiscent of Young:

25 Coltrane and DeMicheal, ‘‘Coltrane on Coltrane,’’ 26–27.

24 François Postif, trans. Porter (with consultation of Postif), in Porter, John Coltrane, 88.


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The unidentified saxophonist’s melodic language on the Valentine recordings islargely consistent with Young’s, a mix of stepwise and simple arpeggiated motionwith few larger leaps. Most of the scale language is diatonic, with some so-calledminor pentatonic scales included in the tradition of the blues.

Another aspect of Young’s style that the saxophonist borrowed from Young for theBilly Valentine recording date was the use of alternate fingerings to produce voice-like timbral and pitch variations on one note, a technique that is sometimes called‘‘worrying’’ a note. Coltrane’s friend, the saxophonist Jimmy Heath, stated that he

and Coltrane used to observe Young ‘‘because Lester Young [was] … one of theleading innovators in saxophone fingering.’’ 26 One can hear this technique clearly inthe opening of Young’s 1937 solo on Count Basie’s ‘‘One O’Clock Jump,’’ which isshown in Example 6. (The alternate fingerings are marked with a ‘‘ + ’’.)

This technique is also found in the beginning of the sax solo on the second take of Billy Valentine’s ‘‘Ain’t Gonna Cry No More’’:

Example 5.

26 Douglas Henry Daniels, Lester Leaps In: The Life and Times of Lester ‘‘Pres’’ Young (Boston: BeaconPress, 2002), 320. Brackets, ellipsis, and italics in the original.

Example 6.

Example 7.


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Coltrane used a closely related type of Young-derived alternate timbral fingeringson his June 20, 1951, recording of ‘‘A Night in Tunisia’’ with Dizzy Gillespie (seebelow), making this technique a clear similarity between the Billy Valentine-sessiontenor player and a known Coltrane solo of the period. In the late 1950s and especially the 1960s, Coltrane built on this Lester Young technique by actively developing anextensive repertoire of alternate saxophone fingerings, many of which manipulatedtimbre and pitch.

Neither the saxophonist nor the band utilize many substitute chord changes, nordo they employ many chord alterations. Of course, bebop-derived harmonic deviceswere not usually called for in such an easy-going, light R&B setting. In fact, a reviewerof the time felt that the conservative accompaniment on ‘‘Ain’t Gonna Cry No More’’was too jazzy: ‘‘Disking loses some commercial effect with use of too legitimate jazzsupport.’’ 27 The stylistic expectations of early R&B meant that any modern jazz-oriented saxophonist would have to improvise somewhat atypically on this session.This situation obviously makes it more difficult to identify the player in question.Nevertheless, there are some significant moments that show that the saxophonist hasmore modern jazz knowledge than is apparent at first, and these passages aregenerally consistent with early Coltrane. For example, on the second complete take of ‘‘I Want You to Love Me,’’ the player ends his solo with some decidedly boppishdouble-timing in mm. 11 and 12:

And between vocal phrases during the second vocal chorus of the second completetake, the saxophonist comfortably tosses in a similarly bop-influenced fill that (inconjunction with the bassist) creates a tritone substitution (A7) leading into thesubdominant (Ab13) in m. 5:

Example 8.

27 The Billboard , May 13, 1950, 139.

Example 9.


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Among thesesaxophone solos,only a fewphrasesdirectlyderivefrom Charlie Parker’svocabulary; one is the arpeggio-based figure seen in Example 10, which is found in thefirst take of ‘‘Ain’t Gonna Cry No More.’’ Parker scholar Thomas Owens labels it Parkerfigure 1B, and he found that in the 1950s, Coltrane used a figure similar to it. 28

Overall, the soloist’s occasional displays of comparatively modern approaches tomelodic line and harmony show that he has more skills and knowledge than therecording session required. Although Coltrane had been for about five years under thesway of Charlie Parkerandmodernjazz in general, Valentine’s laid-back approach to theblues would not have called for the techniques of bebop; what was called for was to fit inwith the singer’s mellow style. Regardless of who the saxophonist is, he is clearly simplifying his modern jazz approach for the occasion, therefore apparent simplicity of style does not eliminate Coltrane from consideration.

From a timbral standpoint, despite the saxophonist’s prevalent airy sound, thereare a few moments during which he blows more forcefully and produces a more

compact and focused sound that resembles the known Coltrane of the 1950s. In thisexample, from the second take of ‘‘I Want You to Love Me,’’ he produces thatcompact sound while repeatedly wailing (perhaps forte , although he is not close tothe microphone) on an Eb pitch (see Example 11), very much like Coltrane on theGillespie and Hodges recordings discussed below. Also note that all pitches except thepenultimate F derive from a minor pentatonic scale, a practice that—while notunique to Coltrane—will be noted in later Coltrane recordings.

Although not particularly notable for its tenor saxophone solo, the second take of ‘‘BeerDrinking Baby’’ finds the drummer switching from brushes to sticks and the saxophonist

Example 10.

Example 11.

28 Thomas Owens, Bebop: The Music and Its Players (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 31 and90. Owens discusses at length vestiges of Parker’s vocabulary heard in Coltrane’s playing after he hadjoined Miles Davis.


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responding by playing forcefully—closer to the microphone—and displaying a tone quality and terminal vibrato that are highly reminiscent of known Coltrane. Because many of themoments that this saxophonist has in the foreground resemble Lester Young as much asthey do known Coltrane, this player cannot be absolutely identified as Coltrane (althoughBig Nick Nicholas can be ruled out). Given the saxophonist’s timbral characteristics noteddirectly above, his most advanced harmonic and melodic moments, and techniques thatare also heard in later Coltrane, coupled with Big Nick Nicholas’s recollection that Coltranerecorded with Valentine around this time, the saxophonist on this Billy Valentine session isprobably John Coltrane, playing ‘‘what the others expected’’ of him.

The Gillespie-Era Solos

Although Coltrane’s soloistic participation on the Dizzy Gillespie big band and Billy Valentine small group dates is debatable, Coltrane definitely solos on tenorsaxophone on numerous recordings of Gillespie’s small group of 1950–51.

29

Theseinclude one piece recorded in the studio and at least fourteen pieces recorded non-commercially in a nightclub and/or taken from radio broadcasts. In 1993, two of these Gillespie-led selections (one studio and one live recording) were issued onCD,30 but the other performances have been available only on unauthorized bootlegLPs and CDs. This large and rich source of early Coltrane has long been available toscholars and collectors, but is little-discussed in Coltrane literature. 31

The Gillespie small group recordings provide an excellent glimpse of Coltrane’searly style for a number of reasons. There are many Coltrane solos (fourteen) and

they are on average much longer than those on the Gillespie big band and Valentinesmall group recordings. And because his and Gillespie’s musical interests weresimilar, Coltrane did not have to rein in his imagination or be selective as to whatstyle he projected as he would on an R&B recording session.

Coltrane’s Gillespie-era improvisations have some clear distinctions from the Billy Valentine tenor solos. For example, a more weighty, dark tone quality replaces thelight, airy tone quality heard with Valentine. In these broadcasts, Coltrane blowsforcefully throughout, and as discussed above, this approach can have an effect upontone quality. Coltrane’s Gillespie-era solos are also more harmonically aware,

29 Coltrane wrote of his presence on the Gillespie studio sides (Coltrane, ‘‘Jazz EncyclopediaQuestionnaire,’’ 85); Coltrane’s name appears on the label of some of the 78-rpm singles drawn fromthe studio session; Coltrane’s participation on the live nightclub recording has been confirmed bysaxophonist Jimmy Heath, who was also in Gillespie’s band at the time and is heard on the recording.See Yasuhiro Fujioka, Lewis Porter, and Yoh-Ichi Hamada, John Coltrane: A Discography and Musical Biography (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1995), 10. On at least some of the original recordings of thebroadcasts (made by Boris Rose), announcer ‘‘Symphony Sid’’ Torin specifically mentions Coltrane’sparticipation (e.g., the January 13, 1951, broadcast). These announcements have been edited out of thebootleg issues of these broadcasts.30 ‘‘We Love to Boogie’’ and ‘‘Good Groove.’’ Both have been reissued on John Coltrane, The Last Giant .31 For example, Porter’s excellent study of Coltrane only includes one brief transcription from this groupof recordings.


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rhythmically varied, and overall more exploratory than the earlier improvisations. Thisexpansion is to be expected, given the aesthetic example provided by Gillespie and thefreedom that he gave to Coltrane, at least at this time and place. With Gillespie’s group,Coltrane could display his commitment to modern jazz. Not surprisingly though, thereis some continuity in saxophone style between the Valentine and Gillespie recordings,especially in the use of Young-like alternate fingerings and in his occasional use of theminor pentatonic scale while playing over a blues chord progression.

Chronologically, the first of these Gillespie-led sessions comes from a late 1950noncommercial recording of the Gillespie sextet at Chicago’s Silhouette Club. 32 Thefidelity of this never-issued tape (which circulates among scholars and collectors) isextremely poor. The band was evidently recorded (or copied by microphone) at adistance, and occasionally a train (no pun intended), possibly on Chicago’s elevatedrapid transit system, is heard going by! 33 Because of the poor recording, we generally cannot tell if Coltrane is tonguing or slurring, nor can we make solid conclusionsabout his tone quality.

One characteristic of Coltrane’s later playing that first appears in the SilhouetteClub recording is his use of the tenor saxophone’s altissimo range. Coltrane’s hornhad a nominal highest note of concert Eb, but he was already in 1950 34 reaching awhole step higher than that (concert F), as seen in Example 12 (whose pitch has beencorrected from the tape circulating among collectors). Note also the alternatefingering in m. 20, a specific device that Coltrane would use throughout his career.

32 The personnel in this sextet were: Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Jimmy Heath (alto sax), John Coltrane(tenor sax), Milt Jackson (vibraphone and piano), Percy Heath (bass), and Charles ‘‘Specs’’ Wright(drums).33 The train sounds may be on the original recording or may have been added inadvertently whilecopying from the original tape by means of a microphone.34 Jimmy Heath recalled working with Coltrane on their altissimo registers while both were altosaxophonists in Philadelphia in the late 1940s. Lewis Porter, John Coltrane , 63.

Example 12.


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On the Silhouette Club recording, Coltrane’s upper-register intonation seemsunusually unstable. The glissando notations in mm. 18 and 19 of Example 12represent moments when Coltrane’s intonation seems to slide between pitches in arather wobbly (not blues-derived) manner. This pitch instability is not merely causedby poor tape quality. On the tape, alto saxophonist Jimmy Heath, while employingsome scooping into pitches, does not approach Coltrane’s intonational variability.Coltrane goes beyond scooping, and his intonation sounds a bit out of control. In themid-1950s, Coltrane indeed had occasional intonation problems, and in 1956, onereviewer even criticized Coltrane as being out of tune. 35

Much better recorded—and therefore much more conducive to transcription anddiscussion—are the other early Coltrane solos with Gillespie small groups, all from early 1951. These derive primarily both from live recordings from five New York City radiobroadcasts 36 and from one studio recording of the group. (Certain compositions wereperformed on more than one broadcast; in such cases, the broadcast date of the exampleunder discussion will be identified on the transcription.)

Although Coltrane displays more modern jazz than Swing Era traits in his playing,the earlier influence of Lester Young is still in evidence in Coltrane’s solo work on ‘‘ANight in Tunisia.’’ Here, Coltrane uses a Young-like alternate fingering. (SeeExample 13.) The technique is of course reminiscent of the tenorist on the Billy Valentine recordings discussed above.

In addition, beginning in the 1940s, Young became well known for rhythmically ‘‘honking’’ on low notes, especially during his appearances with the Jazz at thePhilharmonic concert series. Occasionally while honking he would overblow thoselow notes to produce overtones deriving from the fundamental pitch. The excerptshown in Example 14 is from a Young improvisation on the 1939 Decca Count Basierecording of ‘‘Taxi War Dance.’’ 37 Young uses the two low notes on his saxophone

35 Bill Coss, ‘‘Miles Davis,’’ Metronome , July 1956, 27. Coltrane’s reputation for intonation problems wascommon enough that in 1959 another author refuted the notion by insisting that Coltrane indeed didplay in tune (which he consistently did by that stage of his career). Zita Carno, ‘‘The Style of JohnColtrane,’’ The Jazz Review , October 1959, 18. Reprinted in Woideck, John Coltrane Companion , 10.36 Recordings of these broadcasts circulate among jazz scholars and have also appeared on bootleg LPs: John Coltrane, Trane ’s First Ride 1951: First Broadcasts , vol. 1, Broadcast Tributes 009, n.d., LP, andTrane ’s First Ride 1951: First Broadcasts , vol. 2, Oberon 5100, n.d., LP.37 Count Basie and His Orchestra, ‘‘Taxi War Dance,’’ Vocalion 4748, 1939, 78 rpm; reissued on CountBasie, America ’s # 1 Band , Columbia/Legacy AC4K 87110, 2003, compact disc.

Example 13.


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(concert B and Bb; his low C# and C respectively) to produce overtones at theoctave. The notes that Young fingered are represented by standard note heads and theovertones produced are represented by ‘‘x’’ note heads. Also notice the alternatefingerings used.

Many saxophonists (often in the R&B idiom) learned this technique from Young,

and Coltrane was likely among them. Here, on ‘‘Congo Blues,’’ Coltrane plays afingering sequence that in part involves overblowing a low concert Bb (his low Cfingering) to produce higher Bb and F pitches at the octave and twelfth respectively:

In his well-known 1955–59 recordings with Miles Davis and others, Coltrane de-emphasized this technique, preferring to put forth melodies composed of a single note ata time. Beginning around 1960, however, Coltrane re-emphasized this technique, as seenin this brief A Love Supreme excerpt from 1964, which is from a minor blues (from‘‘Pursuance’’) in concert Bb where he overblows the lower Bb and Ab pitches (his lowestC and Bb respectively) to produce overtones at the octave and twelfth:

This overblowing of harmonic overtones became an essential part of Coltrane’s laterapproach to the saxophone and was one of the techniques that his detractors foundalienating. However, it was already a well-established part of the saxophone traditionand derived in part from one of the most revered of all Swing Era saxophonists,Lester Young.

Example 14.

Example 15.

Example 16.


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Although Coltrane had a few years earlier found that switching from alto to tenorsax had the effect of lessening his dependence on Charlie Parker’s improvisationalstyle, Parker’s influence upon Coltrane can understandably still be heard in 1951.One device, spread to modern jazz musicians by Parker and Gillespie (although notdeveloped by them), was a double semitone voice-leading device (referred to here asdevice no. 1) in which a chord tone—often but not always the root—is approachedfirst from a semitone above and then from a semitone below before resolving to thechord tone in question. 38 Here is an example from Coltrane’s solo on ‘‘Birks’Works,’’ which offers one of several instances of Coltrane using that device in theGillespie live broadcasts:

Even more associated with Parker (spread by, but not originated by him) is avoice-leading device (here referred to as device no. 2) that is an extension of theone just discussed. 39 It involves leading to a chord tone from a semitone aboveand then from two semitones below and is seen below in Example 18 in a 1946Parker solo on ‘‘Moose the Mooche.’’ Another Parker-associated device, a scalar

descent from the 3rd of the ii7 chord to the 3rd of the V7 chord followed by adiminished seventh leap up to the b9 of the V7 chord, is seen here in a 1947Parker solo on ‘‘Dexterity’’ (see the middle stave of Example 18). Coltrane showedhis Parker roots by combining these two devices in his solo on the Gillespie Bbblues ‘‘The Champ,’’ performed March 17, 1951. 40 (See the bottom stave of Example 18; both Parker examples are transposed into Coltrane’s key for ease of comparison.)

The tone quality and articulation displayed by Coltrane during the Gillespiebroadcasts is quite reminiscent of Dexter Gordon, who has been called the first beboptenor saxophonist. 41 This similarity is not surprising because Gordon’s melodic line

38 Scott DeVeaux finds this figure in Gillespie’s playing by 1943 and in the trumpeter’s composition, ‘‘ANight in Tunisia.’’ Scott DeVeaux, The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History (Berkeley: Universityof California Press, 1997), 260–261.

Example 17.

39 Thomas Owens conjectures that Parker may have learned this voice-leading figure from the opening of Duke Ellington’s ‘‘Concerto for Cootie,’’ first recorded on March 15, 1940. See Owens, Bebop , 32.Parker used the figure as early as November 30, 1940. See Carl Woideck, Charlie Parker: His Music and Life (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996), 79.40 Thomas Owens calls the combined phrase motive M.3A.c. See Thomas Owens, vol. 2, Charlie Parker:Techniques of Improvisation (Ph.D. diss., University of California Los Angeles, 1974), 1.41 In his Jazz Styles (9th edition), Mark Gridley calls Gordon ‘‘the first tenor saxophonist to berecognized as a bebop player.’’ Mark Gridley, Jazz Styles: History and Analysis , 9th ed. (Upper SaddleRiver, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996), 152.


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and sense of swing were deeply influenced by Lester Young. In a mid-1950squestionnaire, Coltrane listed Gordon as one of his favorite saxophonists. Similarly,in 1958, Coltrane looked back upon his early days as a tenor saxophonist andnamed Gordon as one of two influences: ‘‘At that time, I was trying to play likeDexter Gordon and Wardell Gray. I liked what they were doing. I heard in themlots of the ideas of Lester Young, who was my first influence. So when I made theswitch to tenor, I was trying to play like them.’’ 42 In 1977, Gordon himself recognized his influence upon Coltrane, saying: ‘‘Again, it’s the same line—Lesterto Bird to Dexter to Trane. There was evolution, of course, but really the sameline.’’43 Even at this early stage, however, Coltrane was beginning to depart fromGordon in displaying a more keening tone quality, especially in Coltrane’s upper-register playing.

Gordon’s influence upon Coltrane is primarily found in a tendency to improvise instrings of unbroken eighth notes (as opposed to Parker’s wider variety of notevalues), using prevalent legato tonguing (as contrasted with Young’s prevalentslurring) and employing a dark, weighty timbre (as opposed to Lester Young’s light-colored and light-weight timbre).

Example 19 shows a passage of Gordon playing a B-flat minor blues progression(an A section of ‘‘Blues Bikini,’’ recorded in 1947) and Coltrane playing a similarchord progression in the same key (‘‘Birks’ Works,’’ recorded with Gillespie in 1951).The excerpts’ similarities are greatest in tone quality and legato tonguing (neither of which is evident in the transcriptions), and also that both are constructed primarily in eighth notes. Note also Coltrane’s use of a whole-tone scale (used by Gillespie

42 Barbara Gardner, ‘‘John Coltrane,’’ Down Beat Music 1962 (an annual supplement), 67.43 Dexter Gordon quoted in Chuck Berg, ‘‘Dexter Gordon Making His Great Leap Forward,’’ DownBeat , February 10, 1977, 42.

Example 18.


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among many others) marked in m. 10. Coltrane recorded ‘‘Birks’ Works’’ again in1957, harkening back to his days with Gillespie. 44

The only studio-recorded Gillespie item with a Coltrane solo is ‘‘We Love toBoogie.’’45 It too shows a Dexter Gordon influence in its eighth note-based passages,timbre, and articulation, although the wailing high notes predict Coltrane’s post-1954 style. Coltrane’s solo begins four measures into a ‘‘G’’ concert blues:

As seen directly above, one aspect found in Coltrane’s playing with Gillespie is hisemphasis on his instrument’s upper register, a tendency found in his playing into theearly 1960s.46 Certainly he uses a fairly wide range—low to high—on his instrumentin these recordings, but his preference is for an average tessitura that is slightly higherthan Gordon’s of the same period, and Coltrane certainly tends to choose notes thatare on average higher than, say, Coleman Hawkins’s or Ben Webster’s. Coltraneshows interest in the saxophone’s altissimo range, hitting high concert F (a whole

step above his saxophone’s nominal highest note) on ‘‘Birk’s Works’’ (the January 13version), ‘‘Good Groove,’’ and ‘‘A Night in Tunisia’’ (the January 20 version). Thatlast example finds Coltrane in m. 29 chromatically working his way up from his

Example 19.

44 Red Garland Quintet, Soul Junction , Prestige 7181, 1957, LP; reissued as Prestige PRCD-30169,2007, compact disc.45 Dizzy Gillespie, ‘‘We Love to Boogie,’’ Dee Gee 4005, 1951, EP, and possibly Dee Gee 3060, 1951,78 rpm; reissued on Coltrane, The Last Giant.46 In the 1960s, Coltrane never discontinued his playing in the upper and altissimo ranges; he did beginplaying in his lower register more than before. Discussed in Frank Kofsky, Black Nationalism and theRevolution in Music (New York: Pathfinder Press, 1970), 237.

Example 20.


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highest built-in pitch of Eb to altissimo E and F, slightly scooping to give a wailingquality highly associated with his post-1954 work:

A related upper-register practice is heard in his tendency to approach high noteslying in his palm key range (the nominally highest four pitches on his saxophone; notaltissimo) with lead-in pitches from below. These gestures are either glissandi of

varying lengths that are fingered, or short scoops that are lipped up to the goal pitch.Author Mark Gridley has noted that lipped scoops were common in the playing of Duke Ellington’s longtime alto saxophonist, Johnny Hodges, one of Coltrane’s early models. An example of Coltrane using a Hodges-like lipped glissando will bediscussed with regard to ‘‘In a Mellotone’’ below. Gridley suggests that Coltrane’sfingered chromatic glissandi were an adaptation by Coltrane of the Hodges scoopingdevice.47 This is a practice that Coltrane utilized quite often in the second half of the1950s and into the 1960s, especially while performing ballads. Illustrating the fingeredtype of glissando, Example 22 shows a chromatic glissando of a major seventh up tohigh D concert (the high E, a palm key) in Coltrane’s performance of ‘‘Good Bait.’’ 48

Coltrane would record ‘‘Good Bait’’ again in 1958, once more revisiting his Gillespierepertoire. 49

48 In the passage, Coltrane refers to the melody of Josef Myrow’s 1941 pop song ‘‘Autumn Nocturne.’’

Example 21.

Example 22.

47 Gridley, Jazz Styles , 241.

49 John Coltrane with the Red Garland Quintet, Soultrane , Prestige 7142, 1958, LP; reissued as Prestige30006, 2006, compact disc.


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Another significant influence upon Coltrane’s improvisational style was his ownhighly active study of saxophone technique. Lewis Porter has documented how,during this period, Coltrane in part practiced out of C. L. Hanon and Carl Czerny piano technique books. 50 Porter interviewed Dennis Sandole, Coltrane’s late-1940s/early-1950s music instructor, who described the course of study that he gaveColtrane. This approach included what Sandole called ‘‘ultrachromaticism’’ andsynthetic scales.51 Around this time, Coltrane became interested in patterns based onchromatic intervallic architecture, both for practice and as a source of melodicmaterial (usually presented sequentially) for his solos. We know from recordings thatby the mid-1940s, two musicians in Coltrane’s sphere of listening, Charlie Parker 52

and Dizzy Gillespie, occasionally presented chromatic patterns motivically insequence, and it could have been one of them, Sandole, and/or some other sourcethat inspired Coltrane in this practice. Example 23 shows an example of Coltraneplaying a pattern (in his performance on ‘‘The Champ’’) that involves semitones and

major thirds; the motive (marked in brackets) descends sequentially by whole tones:

Of course, in the later 1950s and 1960s, Coltrane was known for incorporating

sequential chromatic patterns into his solos. This tendency clearly began many yearsearlier when Coltrane was an apprentice with leaders such as Gillespie. From 1957,here is a motive built on a diminished scale that is presented sequentially, as heard onColtrane’s composition ‘‘Moment’s Notice’’ 53 :

As would be expected, many aspects of Coltrane’s style of this period aretechniques too general to be traceable to a particular artist. One is his use of a wide

Example 23.

Example 24.

50 Porter, John Coltrane , 81–83.51 Sandole refers to ‘‘nonatonic’’ and ‘‘decatonic’’ scales. Ibid., 51.52 See Woideck, Charlie Parker , for examples of Parker using chromatic sequences.53 Thispattern wasfirstdiscussed, transcribed,and publishedin Carno, ‘‘The Style of JohnColtrane,’’18–19.


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variety of scales, which is certainly consistent with the experimentation associatedwith modern jazz. As did the Valentine-session saxophonist, Coltrane occasionally uses minor pentatonic scales, most often—but not always—while improvising over ablues chord progression. Unlike the Valentine saxophonist, Coltrane with Gillespieseveral times employs what is today called the blues scale (formed by taking a minorpentatonic scale and inserting an additional chromatic tone between the perfect 4thand 5th degrees).

Also notable is Coltrane’s use of tonic-based harmonic and melodic (ascending)minor scales. (Two of the compositions in this group, ‘‘A Night in Tunisia’’ and‘‘Birks’ Works,’’ are in minor keys; none of the pieces previously discussed were inminor.) In this solo break leading on ‘‘A Night in Tunisia,’’ Coltrane ascends using Dmelodic minor and descends with D harmonic minor:

Even more common is his use of a whole-tone scale passage at V7-I or V7-icadences, an approach that was also not employed in the Valentine session. Here is anexample in a minor key from Coltrane’s performance of ‘‘Birks’ Works’’ (note also

the voice-leading device no. 1, discussed above):

Coltrane was only 24 years old at the time of the Gillespie small group recordings.Not surprisingly, he was still developing as a musician. One notable misstep in hisplaying occurs on the later of two versions of ‘‘Good Bait,’’ during which Coltranegoes down the wrong harmonic alley at the ‘‘B’’ section. The chord structure of the‘‘A’’ section of ‘‘Good Bait’’ resembles in various ways the popular songs ‘‘I GotRhythm,’’ ‘‘You Took Advantage of Me,’’ and ‘‘Between the Devil and the Deep BlueSea,’’ but the ‘‘B’’ section of ‘‘Good Bait’’ does not follow that of any of those popsongs. Instead, the ‘‘A’’ section progression is simply transposed up a perfect fourthfor the ‘‘B’’ section. In Example 27 (the upper stave), which is taken from theJanuary/February recording of ‘‘Good Bait,’’ we see Coltrane initially trying to use the‘‘B’’ chord progression of ‘‘I Got Rhythm’’ (D7, followed by G7, C7, and F7). This

Example 25.

Example 26.


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was evidently just a momentary lapse, not a lack of harmonic knowledge. As seen inExample 27 (in the lower stave), on the earlier Gillespie live recording of Good Bait,Coltrane then navigated the proper ‘‘B’’ section clearly.

As mentioned at the opening of this essay, Coltrane’s style was said in 1955 toresemble that of tenor saxophonist Edward ‘‘Sonny’’ Stitt. In 1962, Coltrane spoke of being attracted to Stitt’s approach during Coltrane’s time with Gillespie: ‘‘Sonny’splaying sounded like something I would like to do. He sounded like somethingbetween Dexter [Gordon] and Wardell [Gray], an outgrowth of both of them.’’ 54

When Stitt improvised in strings of eighth notes, he was more likely than Gordon orColtrane to slur rather than legato-tongue. More strikingly, Stitt was more likely thanGordon or Coltrane to double-time at medium tempos. 55 Stitt was also known fordeveloping a large repertoire of prepared phrases that could be mixed and matchedwhile improvising. If there is a detectable Stitt influence in the recordings studied inthis article, it might come in Coltrane’s general usage of prepared phrases whilenegotiating rapid tempos (see ‘‘The Champ,’’ above, although that Coltrane solo doesnot resemble Stitt in detail). 56 Perhaps because both Coltrane and Stitt wereinfluenced by Charlie Parker and Lester Young, it is difficult to pinpoint a morespecific Stitt influence on these Gillespie recordings.

Example 27.

54

Gardner, ‘‘John Coltrane,’’ 67.55 Although tenorists Stitt and Coltrane were both influenced by Lester Young and Charlie Parker, Stittretained Parker’s rhythmic characteristics to a greater degree at this time. Comparing Coltrane’s solo onthe blues ‘‘We Love to Boogie’’ (discussed in this article) with Stitt’s October 17, 1949, recording‘‘Bud’s Blues,’’ Stitt shows far greater rhythmic variety than Coltrane. Sonny Stitt, ‘‘Bud’s Blues,’’Prestige 706, 1949, 78 rpm; reissue on Stitt ’s Bits: Bebop Recordings, 1949–1952 , Prestige PRCD3-30043-2, 2006, compact disc.56 Mark Gridley has found similarities between Coltrane’s solo on ‘‘Oleo’’ (with Miles Davis, recordedOctober 26, 1956) and Stitt’s solo on ‘‘The Eternal Triangle’’ (with Dizzy Gillespie, recorded December19, 1957), both out of the time-frame of this article. The solos find the two saxophonists using in partprepared, boppish phrases at a rapid tempo. Miles Davis Quintet, Relaxin ’ with the Miles Davis Quintet ,Prestige PLP 7129, 1956, LP; reissued as Prestige CPRCD-8104-2, 2006, compact disc. Sonny Stitt,Sonny Side Up , Verve MGV 8262, 1958, LP; reissued as Verve 731452142627, 1997, compact disc. Alsosee Gridley, Jazz Styles , 254.


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On the Dizzy Gillespie small group recordings, Coltrane is clearly a player intransition, as he is still assimilating his influences and gradually finding his ownway. Remnants of the styles of Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Hodges, andCharlie Parker are evident. As would be expected with a more experienced player,gone are the problems of rhythmic execution that were so prevalent in his muchearlier 1946 recordings on alto sax (and, in the 1950 Gillespie big band recordings,if that player was indeed Coltrane). He shows solid command of his instrumentand a Parker/Gillespie-influenced harmonic vocabulary. Anticipating his later,better-documented style, Coltrane shows an interest in sequential chromaticpatterns, displays a tenor saxophone range that extends slightly above his nominalhighest pitch, and wails on high notes, sometimes with lipped or fingered lead-innotes.

With Kittrell and CrosseIn March 1951, after his tenure with Dizzy Gillespie’s group, Coltrane returned toPhiladelphia where he freelanced (when not on the road) with various R&B-orientedbandleaders. During this period, Coltrane may have occasionally made commercialrecordings with these regional bandleaders and may have taken improvised solos onthose records. As of this writing, three sets of recordings from this period have beendiscovered that may contain Coltrane tenor sax solos. Unfortunately, none of theaccompanying musicians were credited on the records’ labels.

The first two sets of recordings were made for the Republic label of Nashville,

Tennessee. One set (with four selections) was led by the Louis Jordan-influencedvocalist and sometime saxophonist Gay Crosse; the other set (with two selections)was led by vocalist Christine Kittrell, with second vocalist Crosse and some or all of Crosse’s band as accompanists. The exact date(s) of recording are unknown; the six selections were released in three batches in late 1952 and early 1953.

Coltrane was definitely in the Crosse band during January, February, and March of 1952.57 Coltrane left Crosse and joined Earl Bostic’s band around April 1, 58 and tenorsaxophonist Joe Alexander replaced Coltrane in Crosse’s band around that time, and

57

For example, evidence of this connection can be found in two Cleveland Call and Post articles fromearly 1952. One January announcement notes that Crosse’s ‘‘new tenor man, John Cole Trane [sic],formerly with Dizzy Gillespie, will rock the house with the best of them, is handsome, personable, andyoung.’’ The Cleveland Call and Post , Saturday, January 19, 1952, p. 4-D. In the next month, it wasreported that ‘‘Crosse revealed that he has some new men in the combination which open at the RoseRoom on March third. They are James Robertson on the trumpet, John Coletrane [sic] on tenor sax andSpecs Wright on drums.’’ The same article further adds that ‘‘Gay said last week that he and the GoodHumor Six will cut another disc for GOTHAM soon, ‘No Better For You’, on the other side of which is‘Slow And Easy’ written by bassman Lathan.’’ (Uppercase in original.) The Cleveland Call and Post ,Saturday, February 23, 1952, p. 4-D. Thanks to William E. Anderson for researching this at my requestand for providing photocopies of both clippings.58 Based on a press release, Lewis Porter ( John Coltrane , 315) reports that Bostic’s tour began on April 1.Coltrane recorded on tenor saxophone with Bostic on April 7 and August 15, 1952, but he did not soloon any of those selections.


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most certainly by April 26th. 59 The first of the Crosse-led selections were releasedaround November, 1952, 60 so at first glance, both Coltrane and Alexander would becandidates for the tenor sax soloist in question. But based on aural evidence (e.g.,several of his recordings from the mid-1950s), Alexander is most likely not the tenorsax soloist in question on these recordings. 61

One older discography suggests that the Kittrell selections were probably recordedin January 1952, 62 consistent with Coltrane’s early 1952 tenure with Crosse. However,in December 1952, Kittrell was reported to have only recently signed with Republic, 63

so late 1952 (or early 1953) is a more realistic time frame for her session. Crosse’s‘‘No Better for You’’ and ‘‘Tired of Being Shoved Around’’ were reviewed as new releases in November 1952, 64 and thus these titles are more likely to have beenrecorded in the latter part of 1952 rather than early in the year as previously thought.(Independent R&B labels commonly rushed new releases to reviewers, disc jockeys,and the public as soon as possible after recording.)

According to previous chronologies of Coltrane’s career, by that time, Coltranehad long been out of Crosse’s group (in part because he had been working with EarlBostic). Thus, he would not likely have participated in later-1952 Crosse recordingsessions.65 However, new research reveals that after his stint with Bostic, thesaxophonist rejoined Crosse for an undetermined period around the time of theCrosse selections’ likely recording dates. Crosse had musical jobs in Cleveland fromNovember 10 to 16 and December 1 to 13, 1952, and Coltrane’s later tenure inCrosse’s band is confirmed both by a postmarked letter that he wrote during theearlier engagement 66 and by a newspaper article that was published during the second

59 The Cleveland Call and Post reported that ‘‘backing Gay up are Joe Alexander, Stanley O’Laughlin, James Robertson, Oliver (Junior) Jackson, and John Lathan.’’ The Cleveland Call and Post , Saturday,April 26, 1952, p. 6–D. Thanks to Chris DeVito for supplying this clipping.60 ‘‘No Better for You’’ and ‘‘Tired of Being Shoved Around’’ were reviewed as new releases inNovember, 1952. The Billboard , November 8, 1952, 89. (The magazine was published in Cincinnati andmailed to subscribers some days before the cover date. The copies I consulted were received in Portland,Oregon, one or two days before the cover dates.) ‘‘Easy Rockin’’’ and ‘‘G. C. Rock’’ were reviewed asnew releases in March, 1953. The Billboard , March 14, 1953, 48.61 Tadd Dameron, Fontainebleau , Prestige PLP 7037, 1956, LP; reissued as Original Jazz Classics OJC-055, 1991, compact disc. Alexander solos on ‘‘Delirium’’ and ‘‘Bula-Beige.’’ Compared with positivelyidentified Coltrane solos of the period and the jazzier soloist with Crosse/Kittrell, Alexander’s tonguing is

a bit less legato and his tessitura is slightly lower. Alexander’s melodic line is more stepwise and lessarpeggiated than Coltrane’s, and, unlike Coltrane, he seldom develops melodic motives. Alexander doesbriefly use Lester Young-style repeated alternate timbral fingerings on ‘‘Bula-Beige,’’ but that passage isone of few notable similarities between mid-1950s Alexander and Coltrane of the 1950s.62 Fujioka, Porter, and Hamada, John Coltrane: A Discography , 18.63 The Billboard , December 20, 1952, 43. Those two performances were reviewed as new releases inFebruary, 1953. See The Billboard , February 7, 1953, 28.64 The Billboard , November 8, 1952, 89. ‘‘Easy Rockin’’’ and ‘‘G. C. Rock’’ were reviewed as newreleases in March, 1953. The Billboard , March 14, 1953, 48.65 It is unknown when Coltrane left Earl Bostic’s band. He was likely with the group at least throughAugust 24, 1952, when the band finished its engagement in Los Angeles, where Coltrane had recordedbut not soloed with Bostic on August 15.66 Coltrane wrote his mother from Cleveland and mentions being there with Crosse. The envelope ispostmarked November 12, 1952. Jazz (Guernsey’s), 95.


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job.67 Exactly when he rejoined the Crosse band is not clear, but given theapproximate period of his departure from Earl Bostic, Coltrane could have rejoinedCrosse as soon as late August 1952, thereby giving him plenty of time to record theselections in question. Coltrane could have been asked to record with Crosse andthen rejoined the group for performances. How long Coltrane stayed with this bandthis time is not known.

Of the four Crosse-led selections, ‘‘No Better for You’’ and ‘‘Easy Rockin’’’ bestexhibit the style of the jazz-oriented tenor saxophonist in question. Judging fromgeneral tone quality and upper-register wailing, the tenor soloist on ‘‘Tired of BeingShoved Around’’ is the same player, but the passage is almost completely set (notimprovised) and reveals little of the player’s individual tendencies. ‘‘G. C. Rock’’features an uncredited alto saxophone solo that is not central to this article becausethis performance is not played on the tenor sax. Of the two Kittrell-led pieces, only ‘‘Gotta Stop Loving You’’ reveals much about the jazz-oriented tenor saxophonist.‘‘Slave to Love’’ features a tenor saxophonist whose timbre and phrasing does notresemble the other tenor solos. It must be said, however, that the player’s R&B-oriented bending of notes and use of a growling and raspy subtone tend to mask themusician’s identity. It could be Crosse himself, who, although associated with playingalto sax, could have played this simple passage on the tenor (as could have countlessprofessional saxophonists of the time). Based on aural evidence, I assume that thetenor saxophonist on Crosse’s ‘‘No Better for You,’’ ‘‘Easy Rockin’,’’ ‘‘Tired of BeingShoved Around,’’ and Kittrell’s ‘‘Gotta Stop Loving You’’ is the same player, and thatthe growling tenor sax soloist on ‘‘Slave to Love’’ is another musician.

Like Coltrane in the early 1950s, the Crosse/Kittrell soloist also seems to display aCharlie Parker influence (‘‘Gotta Stop Loving You,’’ below). The tenorist’s legatotonguing of strings of eighth notes generally resembles Coltrane’s work with theGillespie small groups (and that of the unidentified Gillespie big band soloist). Thesoloist’s open and dark tone quality is closer to that of Coltrane’s work with Gillespiethan that of the unknown soloist with Billy Valentine. There is a bit more grit orsizzle in the Crosse/Kittrell player’s tone quality than in Coltrane’s jazz playing of the1950s, although some of that sizzle seems to come from the worn surface of theoriginal records. The saxophonist nearly always plays at a forte dynamic level, butduring one moment in ‘‘Easy Rockin’,’’ where he plays at mezzo forte , the grittinessdissipates and a keening tone quality emerges that sounds much like later Coltrane:

67 The Cleveland Call and Post reported that ‘‘with Gaye now are Stanley O’Laughlin on piano, Oliver Jackson on drums, Ali Jackson who plays a terrific bass, John Coletrane [sic] on tenor sax.’’ See ‘‘NoDoor Charges: Gaye Crosse Goes Large at Ebony,’’ The Cleveland Call and Post , December 6, 1952,p. 7-B. The Ebony Club engagement began December 1, 1952. Crosse and his band were also at theEbony from November 10 to 16, 1952, and although no personnel was listed in the newspaper forthat engagement, the letter discussed in the previous footnote above establishes Coltrane’s presence. SeeThe Cleveland Call and Pos t, November 8, 1952, p. 7-B, and November 15, 1952, p. 5-B. Thanks toWilliam E. Anderson for researching this matter in Cleveland at my request. This research has since beenpublished in John Coltrane Reference , 77–78.


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The saxophone soloist also displays a sure command of blues phraseology, as wouldbe essential in this context. This characteristically bluesy phrase is just one of many inthis ‘‘Easy Rockin’’’ solo:

(This phrase will also be discussed below with regard to a nearly identical passage inthe Coatesville Harris recording ‘‘Ham Hocks and Hominy.’’)

The saxophonist’s average tessitura is again higher than Dexter Gordon’s of theperiod. On display is the tenorist’s altissimo register, including two very confidentand wailing high concert Gs (A on the tenor sax; a major third above his tenor sax’snominal highest note, and a whole step above Coltrane’s highest pitch on the Dizzy Gillespie sessions) on ‘‘Easy Rockin’.’’ As was seen in the Billy Valentine recordings,note here the minor pentatonic descents in mm. 13 and 18 and the ascending bluesscale in m. 14:

The tenor soloist on the Christine Kittrell-led ‘‘Gotta Stop Loving You’’ begins withthe same strong altissimo concert G pitch heard twice on ‘‘Easy Rockin’.’’ That,along with identical tone qualities heard on the other Crosse recordings, establishesthat the same tenor saxophonist is a soloist on both the Crosse and Kittrellrecordings.

Example 29.

Example 30.

Example 28.


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Along with tone quality, tessitura, and use of altissimo, one very brief instance onthe Crosse recordings that relates to Coltrane’s solos with the Gillespie small groups isthe use of a single alternate timbral fingering (see the next example). That said, thistechnique is employed only once and without the Lester Young-like immediaterepetition heard in the Gillespie and Valentine recordings.

One technique that Coltrane would later use (see the Coatesville Harris sessionbelow) that is heard in one performance here is the saxophonist’s manipulation of short motives to unify an improvisational passage. In the ‘‘No Better for You’’excerpt shown in Example 31, the two-note motive is marked by a bracket, and analternate fingering marked with a ‘‘ + ’’:

When playing strings of eighth notes, as in the ‘‘No Better for You’’ pickup and m.1 shown in Example 32 below, the soloist’s melodic lines and articulations resemblethose of Dexter Gordon, and of the Gordon-influenced Coltrane on the Gillespiesmall group broadcasts. As did Coltrane, the saxophonist in question has a tendency

to approach high notes lying in the palm key range with lead-in pitches from below.The following ‘‘No Better for You’’ example includes both a short scoop lipped up tothe goal pitch (m. 2) and a fingered glissando (m. 3, albeit too rapid to notateindividual pitches):

The last two measures of the above example contain the melodic device discussedabove with regard to ‘‘Oo-La-La,’’ specifically the octave drop followed by a majorsecond rise. Example 33 shows a comparison between ‘‘No Better for You’’ and Oo-La-La’’ with the octave drop-major second melodic movement circled. (Here, ‘‘Oo-La-La’’ has been transposed into the same key as ‘‘No Better for You’’ for easy comparison).

Example 32.

Example 31.


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(The triplet figure in m. 25 of ‘‘Oo-La-La’’ is ornamental, and is not central to my discussion of the melodic movement.) Heard back-to-back, the two excerpts have asimilar open-throated tone quality, although the former is slurred and the latter islegato tongued.

At a quarter-note tempo of 82 bpm, ‘‘Gotta Stop Loving You’’ is the slowestperformance examined thus far in this article. This recording shows how thesaxophonist is able to double-time in sixteenth notes in a modern jazz fashion. Aftera minor pentatonic descent from the wailing opening high G mentioned above, in m. 4,the saxophonist implies a modern jazz-influenced substitute progression (ii7-V7 of IV)over the basic tonic chord that is in effect:

In mm. 5 and 6, over the subdominant, the saxophonist pivots between a lower Eband higher Ab in a way that recalls Charlie Parker’s second solo of the master take

(take 5) of the 1948 ‘‘Parker’s Mood,’’ where Parker (also in mm. 5 and 6, over thesubdominant) pivots between a lower Eb and either a higher C or Db. Note inExample 35 (which includes this excerpt), how Parker also begins his passage with animplied ii7-V7 in the area of the subdominant in m. 4.

Example 33.

Example 34.

Example 35.


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The strong, phrase-beginning altissimo concert Gs heard in both ‘‘Easy Rockin’’’and ‘‘Gotta Stop Loving You’’ give us another basis for comparison between theunknown saxophonist and known Coltrane recordings. In the 1950s, he developedthe ability to confidently approach and depart from his altissimo range. (Possibly because of changes in embouchure and mouthpiece, this was not always true in the1960s.) That he could begin a phrase with such a strong concert high G isdemonstrated in a live 1960 ‘‘All Blues’’ recording made while Coltrane was touringwith Miles Davis. Note that Coltrane, like the saxophonist in ‘‘Gotta Stop LovingYou,’’ also descends a minor 13th to a midrange Bb as the lowest note of the phrase:

The Crosse/Kittrell saxophonist in question in ‘‘No Better for You’’ is clearly acontemporary player who is influenced by then-popular modern jazz harmonicconcepts, as seen in the descent from the 13 to the # 11 in m. 17 (recalling ‘‘Oo-La-La,’’above, and presaging ‘‘In a Mellotone,’’ below), and the b9 and b5 alterations inmm. 19–20:

Although Coltrane primarily played tenor sax with Gay Crosse, he also played altosax with the band, as James Moody remembered: ‘‘I heard him in Cleveland playingalto saxophone with a bandleader name[d] Gay Crosse, and I said ‘damn, who wasthat cat?’ Trane was smokin.’ He had another kind of drive. He sounded differentfrom Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon.’’ 68

Like the tenorist on ‘‘No Better for You,’’ the altoist on ‘‘G. C. Rock’’ also descendsfrom the 13th to the # 11 on a dominant chord. And like tenorist Coltrane on ‘‘The

Example 36.

Example 37.

68 Doug Ramsey, liner notes to ‘‘John Coltrane in the Fifties’’ (p. 11), in John Coltrane, John Coltrane:The Prestige Recordings , Prestige 16PCD-4405-2, 1991, 16 compact discs. Thanks to Chris DeVito forpointing this out.


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Champ’’ (discussed in the Gillespie sessions above), the altoist uses the modern jazz-associated voice-leading device no. 2:

This particular 13 to # 11 descent recalls Charlie Parker. Scholar Thomas Owensfound approximately 40 examples of Parker using this basic phrase in recordings. 69

It would be valuable to this article if the transcriptions of the altoist on ‘‘G. C.Rock’’ could help determine whether or not the Crosse/Kittrell tenorist is Coltrane.Both play versions of the descending 13 to # 11 device, but this device was commonamong modern jazz players of the time, and the passage is too brief to make a positivecorrelation solely on that basis. The altoist’s melodic style is clearly influenced by bebop, and understandably this style has some elements in common with knownColtrane solos, including the modern jazz-associated voice-leading device no. 2discussed above (also a common device and not conclusive). But the saxophonist’stone quality does not resemble that of Coltrane playing alto while in the Navy in1946,70 and only somewhat the sound of him playing the instrument under Gene

Ammons’s leadership in 1958.71

This player’s overall tone is without a lot of edge,rather like Gigi Gryce or early Art Pepper. Coltrane described Crosse’s sax style as‘‘something like’’ Louis Jordan. 72 The alto sax soloist on ‘‘G. C. Rock’’ plays in a stylemore modern than Jordan, and given the limited instrumentation of Crosse’s GoodHumor Six (two saxes, trumpet, piano, bass, and drums), the player is more likely the jazz tenor soloist discussed above, doubling on alto. If it is indeed Coltrane, perhapshe was playing on a borrowed horn whose mouthpiece and reed combinationproduced a tone quality unlike his other work on alto sax.

Given the Crosse/Kittrell jazz tenorist’s tone quality when playing mezzo forte ,tessitura, use of altissimo, manipulation of a short motive, and one-time use of analternate fingering, the tenor saxophone soloist could be John Coltrane emphasizinghis Dexter Gordon roots. Also, the similar aspects (tone quality and the noted

Example 38.

69 Owens, vol. 2, Charlie Parker: Techniques of Improvisation , 6.70 The Navy-era session was recorded non-commercially July 13, 1946. One selection from the session,‘‘Hot House,’’ was released on Coltrane, The Last Giant .71 Gene Ammons, Groove Blues , Prestige PLP 7201, 1958, LP; reissued as Original Jazz Classics OJCD723, 1995. Gene Ammons, The Big Sound , Prestige PLP 7132, 1958, LP; reissued as Original JazzClassics 651, 1991, compact disc. Coltrane borrowed Ira Gittler’s alto sax for this recording.72 The full quote reads: ‘‘He [Crosse] used to be with Louis Jordan one time, his band. He had a littleband that was patterned after Louis’ band. He sang and played something like Louis.’’ John Coltrane,unpublished tape interview by August Blume, June 15, 1958. Transcribed by the author.


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melodic device) found in both the unidentified Gillespie big band soloist (discussedabove) and the Crosse/Kittrell jazz soloist tend to reinforce the idea that the twosoloists might be the same person. Finally, the nearly identical phrase found in boththe Gay Crosse and the Coatesville Harris recordings (below) reinforces the notionthat both of those soloists might be the same person.

If the saxophonist is indeed Coltrane, what could we observe about his stylisticdevelopment since the Dizzy Gillespie small group recordings? This is a difficultquestion because Coltrane enjoyed greater artistic freedom with Gillespie than he didin his R&B freelance work. (As quoted above, during this period he played ‘‘what theothers expected’’ of him.) In addition, the Crosse/Kittrell sessions offer a smallersoloistic sample to analyze compared with the Gillespie sessions. Nevertheless, ‘‘NoBetter for You,’’ ‘‘Gotta Stop Loving You,’’ and ‘‘Easy Rockin’’’ show limitedadaptation to R&B aesthetics, and thus form the best basis for comparison. If thismusician is Coltrane, he displays a generalized continuing influence of Gordon andParker and a lessened influence of Lester Young (as evidenced in the use of only onetimbral fingering). Techniques heard in the Dizzy Gillespie recordings but not heardin the Crosse/Kittrell sessions are sequential chromatic patterns and whole-tonepassages. Lack of these devices is to be expected, given the more conservative R&Bcontext. The main technical development heard here is the display of confidentdouble-timing on ‘‘Gotta Stop Loving You.’’ Over time, Coltrane may have gainedthe technical assurance required to employ the technique, and/or the slower tempo of ‘‘Gotta Stop Loving You’’ made the double-timing easier. Few similar melodicphrases are heard in both the Gillespie and Crosse/Kittrell recordings, but that would

not be surprising given Coltrane’s well-known penchant for gradually overhauling hismusical vocabulary over time.

With Coatsville Harris

The next possible Coltrane recording to be discussed has not been dated with any certainty, but may be from late 1952 or sometime in 1953. This document is arecording by drummer James Coatesville Harris for the Nestor label, a smallindependent Philadelphia company. Coltrane had known Harris at least as early as

April 1951,73

but several clues point to a later date for this specific recording. Further,Robert L. Campbell has pointed out 74 that on one selection, ‘‘Ham Hocks and

73 In April, Coltrane and the Heath group were working at the Zanzibar nightclub, where theyencountered drummer Coatesville Harris. Lewis Porter found this notice in the April 14, 1951, issue of the Philadelphia Tribune : ‘‘Coatesville Harris, visiting with Jimmy Heath and his boopers [sic], including: John Coltrane, tenor, Specs Wright, drums; Tom Bryant, bass, and James Forman, piano.’’ Porter, JohnColtrane , 349 (no page number for the Philadelphia Tribune article is supplied). It is not clear what‘‘visiting’’ means in this statement, but Harris either dropped by the club and chatted with Heath, et al.,or he sat in with the group.74 Robert L. Campbell, email communication to the Jazz Research listserv, July 30, 2001. Willie Mabon,‘‘I Don’t Know,’’ Parrot 1050 and Chess 1531, both 1952, 78 rpm.


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Hominy,’’ singer Rodney Smith uses an exaggerated pronunciation of the word‘‘baby’’ that is a distinct reference to singer Willie Mabon’s ‘‘I Don’t Know,’’ whichdebuted on Billboard’s R&B chart on December 6, 1952. 75 So, most likely, thisrecording was made after the release of the Mabon recording in late 1952. 76 TheNestor label was reportedly active from approximately 1953–1955, although thosedates are not firm. 77

The possible Coltrane connection with this disc was first noticed by Swisssaxophonist and collector Mario Schneeberger. 78 Although recording sessionsintended to produce R&B singles routinely yielded four

John Coltrane Development

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