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The Story of a Sound
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
September 2007
On Sale: September 18, 2007
Featuring: John Coltrane
272 pages
ISBN: 0374126062
EAN: 9780374126063
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
A major work about the great saxophonist—and about the
state of jazz. 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 left so many musicians and
listeners so powerfully drawn to him? What would a John
Coltrane look like now—or are we looking for the wrong signs? The acclaimed jazz writer Ben Ratliff addresses these
questions in Coltrane. First Ratliff tells the story
of Coltrane’s development, from his first recordings as a
no-name 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.
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