April 16–23, 1998
music issue|bookquicks
John Coltrane: His Life and Music
by Lewis Porter, University of Michigan Press, 409 p., $29.95
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The powerful musical persona of John Coltrane presents a formidable challenge for any biographer's sense of objectivity. Existing Coltrane biographies have portrayed the saxophonist as a near-otherworldly figure; a contemplative, prophetic hero. In addition, they have relied primarily on insubstantial hearsay and scant documentation. With John Coltrane: His Life and Music, Rutgers University professor Lewis Porter has crafted the first truly authoritative Coltrane biography. Porter's treatment is meticulously researched, with sections devoted to the saxophonist's North Carolina roots, his Navy service on Oahu, and his crucial developmental period in Philadelphia during the late '40s. The book delves into Coltrane's various apprenticeships—not only his legendary work with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, but also earlier (and, one might argue, equally important) gigs with Joe Webb and Big Maybelle, King Kolax, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and Dizzy Gillespie's big band. Porter writes with a simple, straightforward style, forgoing flourish where it might interfere with the integrity of the text. His analysis of various solo transcriptions provides useful insight without overwhelming the layperson, and the 39-page chronology contains the most exhaustive account of Trane's performance schedule to date. The chapter titled "The Man: 'A Quiet, Shy Guy'" relies primarily on first-hand accounts and excerpted interviews, a marked contrast to the impressionistic methods of earlier biographers. This once again illustrates Porter's deliberate demystification of the untouchable Coltrane aura. "He was someone who did not begin with obvious exceptional talent," Porter writes, "and that makes his case all the more interesting—one can become one of the great musicians of all time and not start off as some kind of prodigy." The obvious subtext: Coltrane's gift was developed rather than bestowed. It's an honest and hopeful message, and one which needed to be told.
-Nate Chinen
