John Coltrane, US Navy enlistment photo. 1945.
Coltrane, born in 1926, is 18 years old in the photo. From the Tumblr of Jazz at Lincoln Center …
In 1945 John Coltrane, at the age of 18, entered the Navy as a “volunteer apprentice seaman” and a year later made his first recording with a Navy band called the “Melody Masters.”
The Melody Masters, a segregated band stationed in Oahu, HI were not officially allowed to play with black musicians. An Excerpt from the book “Coltrane: The Story of Sound” By Ben Ratliff states that Coltrane appeared as a guest of The Melody Masters by evading the knowledge of their superior officers. The band made private recordings together, eventually pressing four copies of a 78 RPM record.
A swab supreme, a swab supreme, a swab supreme…
I was talking to a friend tonight who didn’t “get” jazz. I told her if she didn’t “get” John Coltrane, something was wrong with her. I’m going to send her this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03juO5oS2ggIf she doesn’t get it then, I’m gonna have to put her under discipline.
I get it, I just can’t stand it.
Midnight Rambler, I love you like a brother, but let me put it this way: I am not a religious man, and I don’t believe in god, but when I hear John Coltrane play, I’m about as close to that god-I-don’t-believe-in as I’ll ever be.
And I ain’t the only one: