The John Coltrane Reference

[Larry Kart]

Larry, any chance Da Capo would pick up your book as a paperback reprint?

Good question. Yale retains the rights to do a paperback edition, I believe, but I'll have to look at the contract to see when and if those rights expire if not exercised.

Edited May 14, 2007 by Larry Kart

[John L]

There is market segmentation for books like this. The choice of a price in the 100s is an indicatation that they are only going after the top segment of the market: libraries and rich collectors.

The free on-line Coltrane discographies work fine for me, especially if questions or omissions can be handled here at the Organissimo Forum.

[erhodes]

I'll wager $150 that Ed Rhodes will cop this book. And when he does, I hope he writes a review, considering how erudite and knowledgable he is concerning all things Trane.

I will definitely cop. Don't know about the review. I will get it because it's Trane and because I unabashedly admire and support the work Chris DeVito has done. He's been revising...in some cases virtually rewriting...the chronology from Porter's bio since 2001. Anyone who has seen the work he posted on the Coltrane-l listserv knows that neither Porter or Fujioka has been the definitive disco/chrono work on Trane for several years now.

There will numerous changes to the chronology and many additions and revisions to the discography. This is where I live and it's enough for me.

[Adam]

up

[John L]

This is what Dave Wild writes about the book

The John Coltrane Reference

By Chris DeVito, Yasuhiro Fujioka,

Wolf Schmaler, and David Wild

General Editor: Lewis Porter

A jazz musician's biography is largely a story of gigs. It's a history of questions: "Where did you play? When did you play there? Who was in the band? What did you play? was it preserved (taped, broadcast, filmed)? What did they say about the performance?" But these day-to-day events were of little consequence at the time, barely noted in the entertainment sections, sketchily recorded elsewhere. Because information on these essential activities is hard to find, buried in obscure newspapers, contradictory, not always accurate, and poorly preserved, most jazz biographers report on them anecdotally--"he was there for a few weeks during the spring", " he played concerts in Baltimore and Washington DC that fall". But such generalities don't do justice to the performer and to the world in which he lived

The John Coltrane Reference sets the bar much higher, by retrieving this information from its obscure hiding places, collating, evaluating and reconciling it, and sourcing and documenting it, to recreate in vivid detail the life and career of John Coltrane. It expands, augments and occasionally corrects the pioneering chronology in Lewis Porter's John Coltrane: His Life and Music (the standard John Coltrane biography), and includes quotes, contemporary observations and reports, and reviews, many of them reprinted here for the first time.

Discographies never age well--even after 40 years, too much new information is continually unearthed, too many new recordings continue to appear. The John Coltrane Reference updates the Fujioka discography which has served as a standard for over a decade--and which itself was an update to the 1979 Wild discography which had been the previous standard (both Fuji and Wild are heavily involved in this new effort). It contains detailed information about all Coltrane recording sessions, with full lists of the many issues and reissues of the material, and photos of the original releases. The John Coltrane Reference unravels many of the more confused sessions, corrects errors, identifies often purposely obscure issues and generally provides a complete and up-to-the-minute view of the body of Coltrane's work. The John Coltrane Reference is also richly illustrated, with over 250 album covers and photos.

The John Coltrane Reference was published on December 20, 2007; copies will be available for order through this website in the near future. This website will also feature additional indices and cross-references for the book, as well as corrections, additions and other new information. Check back regularly at www.wildmusic-jazz.com.

Also

The Guernsey auction of February 2005 (discussed below) was in many ways a Coltrane auction; an amazing amount of material, much of it previously unknown, was put on the block and sold that day. A few items however did not make it to the block. One lot was a set of 35 reels of tape of music by Coltrane, submitted almost as an afterthought by Naima Coltrane's daughter--initially listed for sale, they were withdrawn at the insistence of Verve (parent of Impulse these days), which asserted ownership of the music on the tapes. Fortunately, Guernsey had hired Barry Kernfeld (editor of The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz) to identify and catalogue the material. Barry (for whom I wrote a number of Grove articles Way Back When) had access to The Recordings of John Coltrane: A Discography , my second edition (1979), precursor to the current Fujioka discography and the forthcoming Giant Steps chrono-discography, through which he was able to identify much of the music. Although the material was withdrawn and Barry's article never appeared in the Guernsey catalogue, he recently shared his research in a two-part article in the Dutch discographical journal Names & Numbers . Barry's research did not take into account Fuji's later work or the recent rediscoveries of some of these tapes, but no matter--there's music of enormous interest here. Some of the material is on the 7-inch reels Coltrane took home for review; other material is on the original 10-inch masters. The material stretches from the '61 Vanguard sessions (material long since released), through the various largely unissued sessions from 1962 (Coltrane and Ballads), the lost March '63 quartet session (63-0306) and the Johnny Hartmann session from the next day, and additional material, up through the end of 1964. The collection includes the complete tape reels from the alternate (sextet) recordings of A Love Supreme, session 64-1210 (only the first two of four takes were recovered for the most recent Deluxe Edition release of that music). We expect to sort out the details further in Giant Steps: The Ultimate John Coltrane Reference Work. When will we get to hear all of this? Who knows? But, rediscovered and identified, it's unlikely the material will stay in a closet for another forty years.

I guess that the John Coltrane Reference is already available. I am not planning to fork out 150 for it, but I would still very much like to see it. More to the point, I would like to hear some of this new treasure chest of Coltrane!

Edited January 14, 2008 by John L

[GregK]

I just can't pay $150 for a book. I thought I stopped doing that once I graduated college.

Although, it looks like it can be had for $94 (Canadian) from amazon.ca: http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415...m/directextb-20

[Uncle Skid]

I have $20 that says you'd pay $150 for a _really_ good book about Braxton or Roscoe Mitchell!

[Chuck Nessa]

[GregK]

I have $20 that says you'd pay $150 for a _really_ good book about Braxton or Roscoe Mitchell!

like one or all of these?

http://www.frogpeak.org/fpartists/fpbraxton.html

[GregK]

well, I couldn't resist. I got it from amazon.ca for about $95 plus shipping. This has to be the most detailed, obsessive and just information-packed book I have ever seen devoted to one person. There is a ton of info in it, and it is huge, over 800 pages. A full discography, timeline and chronology, interspersed with period reviews, concert notices and newspaper articles (amazing how many misspelling of Coltrane there were!). I even caught Ed Rhodes mentioned by name somewhere in the chronology.

[Chuck Nessa]

Sounds like it was based on Hendersonia by the late Walter C. Allen. This book of 651 pages tracks the career of Fletcher Henderson. Got my copy in 1974. Wonderful book.

[GregK]

I'm glad I bought this Coltrane book, despite the price (I didn't answer my wife when she asked me how much it cost!). I can't imagine what size a similar TOME on Miles Davis or Duke Ellington would be.

[radarmark]

I paid the bread the day it came out. No regrets. All previoius bios and discographies are now obsolete. To be expected when Porter, DeVito, Fujioka, and David Wild all were part of the team. I am a former physicist who does risk analysis now so I have paid much more for references... actually Routledge is quality, paper is thin, but heavy (part cotton)... better than Springer-Verlag (who I think hold the record for cost per page or linear inch).

This book is like Hendersonia in three ways: comprehensiveness, cost. and length. And like Trane himself, The John Coltrane Reference sets a new standard.

[Bluesnik]

Slightly off topic: A new article on "world jazz" mentions Coltrane "took lessons" with Ravi Shankar in 1961 - is this true?

i remember reading somewhere he intended to study with him shortly before his death.

[ghost of miles]

Got a little extra bit of money and finally took the plunge on this.

[Matthew]

Got a little extra bit of money and finally took the plunge on this.

You should not say things like this, I have been fighting off the temptation of buying this for over a month.

[ghost of miles]

Got a little extra bit of money and finally took the plunge on this.

You should not say things like this, I have been fighting off the temptation of buying this for over a month.

I've been fighting off the temptation ever since it first came out!

[AllenLowe]

now you have to buy the Ladnier book - they're a set.

[Matthew]

Got a little extra bit of money and finally took the plunge on this.

You should not say things like this, I have been fighting off the temptation of buying this for over a month.

I've been fighting off the temptation ever since it first came out!

I know what you mean, but lately I've really been into Coltrane and this book keeps beckoning to me....

now you have to buy the Ladnier book - they're a set.

Allen, what book are you talking about?

[brownie]

Matthew, Allen is refering to this Ladnier book.

A labour of love worth every cent. Allen finds it too expensive!

That's his loss!

[Matthew]

Matthew, Allen is refering to this Ladnier book.

A labour of love worth every cent. Allen finds it too expensive!

That's his loss!

Thanks, I was following the conversation on the Ladnier book, but I never made the connection, the reference went over my head, way over

[bertrand]

John L. on 1/14/08 posted a quote regarding a lost quartet session on 3/6/63. Do we know anything more about this?

Bertrand.

[Shrdlu]

I doubt that any revisions therein would be be anything of fundamental importance.

That's the main point, Jim.

I have about 4 Trane books (if you include the one about Impulse), and enough is enough. I also have some of his recorded music, lol.

On another note, imagine a fantastic, fully developed, vastly experienced musician of Trane's caliber "studying" with some doodling sitar player. I like the odd bit of Indian music occasionally (and I liked Joe Harriott's "Indo Jazz Suite" as a novelty), but, as with the bagpipes, a little goes a long way.

[Matthew]

Got a little extra bit of money and finally took the plunge on this.

Well Ghosty, how is the book? Worth the money?

I'm looking for the same thing in a good Miles Davis reference/discography right now -- I just like the feel of a book in my hand, even though the Miles Ahead website is very good.

[king ubu]

I've really made heavy use and often looked up stuff in the "Coltrane Reference" (bought the hardcover edition in Aug 2011) - but I'm devastated to realize there should have been a photo insert all the way (un-numbered betweetn p. 394 and 395). Amazon declares itself free of any obligation after two years ... now I sent a note to Routledge. I never ever spent such an amount on any other single book ... really am pissed (no booze involved, mind me) big time!

Do all those of you who bought it have okay copies? Not sure how many there are, took me weeks to make up my mind, too ... but I've not regretted it, it's a terriffic source.