In the liner notes to his 1964 masterpiece A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote, “During the year of 1957 I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life.” 1957 has become Year Zero in the Coltrane legend, a key turning point for the tenor saxophonist, then 30 and still in the throes of a debilitating drug addiction that had led Miles Davis to twice boot Coltrane out of his group. Throughout the course of this year Coltrane would…

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Reports have been circulating on the Internet for the past several days that bassist Art Davis had passed away–confirmation now from the Los Angeles Times. Some good discussion ongoing over at Organissimo about Davis’ work with Max Roach, John Coltrane…

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Jazz documentarian Bret Primack has made a short film about the musical relationship of tenor saxophone greats Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane that includes interviews with Rollins and Jimmy Heath, as well as footage…

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The very cool Jazz Icons DVD series has announced the release of seven more titles, including concerts by Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, Dave Brubeck, and Charles Mingus.

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Spirituals were African-American religious folksongs that grew out of the slavery experience and the introduction of Christianity into slaves’ lives. Rooted in African musical tradition as well, they reflected life in a strange and terribly oppressive new world. They were often improvisations upon older hymns that became entirely new songs, and in some ways they foreshadow…

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Alice Coltrane grew up as Alice McLeod in the thriving Detroit jazz scene of the 1940s and 1950s and first gained notice in the jazz world through her work with vibraphonist Terry Gibbs. In 1963 she met the tenor saxophonist John Coltrane while Coltrane and Gibbs’ groups…

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Trumpeter Cal Massey was an African-American jazz composer, little-known now and in his lifetime, but whose work was recorded by musicians such as John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Parker, Lee Morgan, Jackie McLean, McCoy Tyner, and Archie Shepp. In the 1960s Massey made his Brooklyn home into a kind of community center for jazz artists and produced…

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There was a strong relationship between jazz and civil rights in 20th-century America; musicians and many critics as well were advocates for equal rights for African-Americans, and jazz provided a cultural bridge between blacks and whites that helped to work as a force for integration. In the post-World War II era black musicians began to speak up, directly and indirectly, against racial injustice, and they also began to record…

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