News & Updates — John Coltrane

Happy birthday to Elvin Jones! The amazing polyrhythmic "heavy bop" drummer from Detroit was already a seasoned veteran of many years before he ever hooked up with John Coltrane. His intense drumming style largely changed the swing dynamic in jazz to a more African-inspired one, subsequently influencing a million drummers along the way, including rock legends Ginger Baker (whom he has played with) and Mitch Mitchell (Jimi: 'my Elvin Jones"). He came from Detroit, son of an auto worker and youngest brother to well-known pianist Hank and trumpeter Thad Jones (both of whom he'd collaborate with professionally). He played in...

One of my very favorites is the pianist/harpist/composer and cosmic music traveler Alice McLeod, known later as Alice Coltrane. Another great jazz artist from Detroit, she is possibly best known for being the wife and collaborator of John Coltrane, but Alice is an amazing artist in her own right. She brought celestial concepts into the music and fused free jazz, Indian, European classical, new age, bebop and avant-garde into a gorgeously spiritual, intense experience. Her music has gained much more currency in the last twenty years but I have always been a fan. I remember thinking "why are her records...

Yes, I know it's the birthday today of a more famous pianist, Bill Evans, but I want to highlight Mal Waldron because I like his music better (it's just a matter of personal taste, pal) and I feel that he is underrated, despite a much-longer career than Evans. Born to West Indian parents in NYC, Mal grew up in Jamaica, Queens and took piano lessons before also playing alto sax in bands as a teenager. In the '40s he was witness to the bebop explosion and after college switched permanently to piano. Turning pro in '50, he cut first record...

I want to give a birthday shout-out to an underknown talent, the jazz tuba player Ray Draper. He career was stunted from drug addiction, as well as the limited opportunities for his cumbersome instrument, but he burst onto the bop scene as a teenage bandleader and cut some records for Prestige. At 16 he made his debut, Tuba Sounds, with Jackie McLean on sax and Mal Waldron on piano. At 18 he cut Ray Draper Quintet Featuring John Coltrane and at 19 released A Tuba Jazz, again with Trane in the band, for the Jubilee label. He cut some sessions...

Happy birthday to one of my all time favorites, the radical tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler, a man who brought his biting R&B/gospel tone to the intergalactic free jazz world and pushed the music to it's freaky limits. Born in that storied freak-music town of Cleveland OH, he was inspired by the church before joining Little Walter's band in '52. A stint in the military found Stanley Turrentine and Beaver Harris as jam partners. He moved to Sweden in '62 and started making albums, as well as a brief stint with Cecil Taylor. In '64 he found himself in NYC and...