John Coltrane left an indelible mark on the world, but what was
the essence of his achievement that makes him so prized forty years
after his death? What were the factors that helped Coltrane become
who he was? And what would a John Coltrane look like now--or are we
looking for the wrong signs?
In this deftly written, riveting study, "New York Times "jazz
critic Ben Ratliff answers these questions and examines the life of
Coltrane, the acclaimed band leader and deeply spiritual man who
changed the face of jazz music. Ratliff places jazz among other art
forms and within the turbulence of American social history, and he
places Coltrane not just among jazz musicians but among the
greatest American artists. Ben Ratliff has been a jazz critic at
"The New York Times "since 1996. The author of "The Jazz Ear" and
"The New York Times Essential Library: Jazz," he lives in Manhattan
with his wife and two sons. Finalist for the National Book Critics
Circle AwardAn "Artforum" Best Book of the Year What was the
essence of John Coltrane's achievement that makes him so prized
forty years after his death? What was it about his improvising, his
bands, his compositions, his place within his era of jazz that drew
so many musicians and listeners to his music? Jazz writer and "New
York Times "music critic" "Ben Ratliff addresses these questions in
"Coltrane." First Ratliff tells the story of Coltrane's
development, from his first recordings as a navy bandsman to his
last recordings as a near-saint, paying special attention to the
last ten years of his life, which contained a remarkable series of
breakthroughs in a nearly religious search for deeper expression.
In the book's second half, Ratliff traces another history: that of
Coltrane's influence and legacy. This story begins in the mid-'50s
and considers the reactions of musicians, critics, and others who
paid attention, asking: Why does Coltrane signify so heavily in the
basic identity of jazz? Placing jazz among other art forms and
American social history, and placing Coltrane not just among jazz
musicians but among the greatest American artists, Ratliff tries to
look for the sources of power in Coltrane's music--not just in
matters of technique, composition, and musical concepts, but in the
deeper frequencies of Coltrane's sound. "Ratliff suggests,
intelligently and persuasively, that Coltrane had, among other
attributes, a 'mystic's sensitivity for the sublime, which runs
like a secret river under American culture.' Ratliff patiently
explicates Coltrane's legend, writing in short, aphoristic bursts,
often as elliptically as his subject played tenor saxophone, but
never less than lucidly."--Pankaj Mishra, "The New York Times Book
Review" "Engaging . . . clear-sighted . . . Ratliff suggests,
intelligently and persuasively, that Coltrane had, among other
attributes, a 'mystic's sensitivity for the sublime, which runs
like a secret river under American culture.' Ratliff patiently
explicates Coltrane's legend, writing in short, aphoristic bursts,
often as elliptically as his subject played tenor saxophone, but
never less than lucidly."--Pankaj Mishra, "The New York Times Book
Review
"""Coltrane: The Story of a Sound" is not a biography but an
extended, deeply informed analysis of the qualities that make
Coltrane and his music so meaningful to people today, four decades
after his death."--Matt Schudel, "The Washington Post Book
World
""Ratliff, a "New York Times" jazz critic, has written a book
that's neither a biography nor a critical study, although it has
elements of both. It is, rather, a kind of cultural history . . .
Ratliff writes extremely well, with terse, assured brio, as when he
refers to Coltrane's 'serene intensity' or the 'incantational
tumult' of his vast, cathedral solos."--Mark Feeney, "The Boston
Globe
""Ratliff has turned me on to more music over the last few years
than any other writer . . . The listening skills of a great critic
and the ability to convey what he hears are what he brings
here."--R. J. Smith, "Los Angeles Times
""Brilliant, economical . . . sharp . . . [Ratliff] skillfully and
convincingly places Coltrane as something of a man apart from most
other musicians--a cultural comet, as much as a musical
one."--Henry C. Jackson, "San Francisco Chronicle
""In his astute and unorthodox biography, "Coltrane: The Story of a
Sound," "New York Times" critic Ben Ratliff pays as much attention
to Coltrane's haunting absence over the last forty years as he does
to his brief decade of renown . . . As attentive a reader as he is
a listener, Ratliff charts the rapid expansion of the mythology in
various, often contradictory tropes: the humble music student and
theorist who never stopped practicing and learning, the Christian
into Eastern religious for whom pride was a far graver sin than
wrong notes, the wordless spokesman for black civil rights and
revolution, the unbound thinker who tripped across inner and outer
space."--Richard B. Woodward, "Bookforum
""Ratliff condenses the biography proper into the first part of the
book in order to devote himself in part two to a lengthy
consideration of the saxophonist's influence since his death. Even
more important, the book is less about music than it is about
sound--as jazz musicians understand it . . . Ratliff's book is
intelligent and compelling. The text and its sources reveal how
seriously he took his task. In addition to working with biographies
and interviews, some of which must have been difficult to locate,
Ratliff also draws on obscure radio programs, various unpublished
materials, thirty-nine interviews he conducted with musicians and
countless conversations with people knowledgeable about jazz,
American culture and New York City. Throughout he tackles topics
that might seem the province of academics--such as the merits of
Theodor Adorno's and Edward Said's ideas about 'late style'--with
considerable skill and clarity . . . While Ratliff avers in his
introduction that he is a writer rather than a musician, his
discussions of the sound of Coltrane and Coltrane's compatriots in
performance are informative and compelling, especially when his own
writing captures the spirit and feel of a recording in ways that a
transcription never could . . . Most important, Ratliff focuses his
observational eye again and again on the power and perils of
repetition, both for Coltrane and the jazz musicians who have
emerged since his death . . . Indeed, Ratliff's reconsideration of
a musician who has already been the subject of countless books,
poems, and documentaries is perhaps a subtle reminder of how much
joy there is in repetition. Like the best writing on music, his
book not only provides food for thought but also creates an
insatiable desire to go back to the recordings, in hopes that we
too might discover some elusive truth."--Travis A. Jackson, "The
Nation
""Were it not for the power and breadth of saxophonist John
Coltrane's legacy and the lithe prose of "New York Times" critic
Ben Ratliff, "Coltrane" would be a scholarly
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