Celebrating John Coltrane at 100!

John Coltrane Quartet, Teatro Dell'Arte, Milano, 1962, photo by Riccardo Schwammenthal.

Celebrating John Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) on the 100th anniversary of his birth!

Despite being labelmates at Atlantic and Impulse!, as well as sharing close connections to Eric Dolphy and Elvin Jones, John Coltrane and Charles Mingus were only known to have collaborated together once, very briefly, when Coltrane sat in with Mingus’ big band one night in 1964. In November of that year, the two bandleaders were booked playing opposite each other at Birdland for two weeks, which led to Coltrane joining the group for a set. Charles McPherson recounted the event in a recent interview with Mingus biographer Brian Priestley, seen in the second slide.

Mingus later shared some of his thoughts on the music of John Coltrane during a series of interviews with John Goodman, conducted in the early 1970s.

Credits:

1: John Coltrane Quartet, Teatro Dell'Arte, Milano, 1962, photo by Riccardo Schwammenthal

2: Excerpt, Charles McPherson interview by Brian Priestley. Published in the liner notes for Mingus Takes Manhattan - The Complete Birdland Dates: 1961-1962 (New Land Records)

3: Excerpt from the book Mingus Speaks, highlighting Mingus’ thoughts on John Coltrane and folk music from (2013, University of California Press)

4: John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, Village Gate, 1961, photo by Herb Snitzer

5: “John William Coltrane” by Roy DeCarava, Gelatin silver print, 1961, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution