COLTRANE: The Definitive Visual Celebration of the Legend by Ravi Coltrane (Contributor)
A boyish John Coltrane stares at the camera, 5’9’ reads the tape behind him in his 1945 U.S. Naval Reserve enlistment photograph.
COLTRANE: The Definitive Visual Celebration of the Legend opens with a moving forward by saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, whose father died before he turned two years old. John Coltrane was born 100 years ago on Sept. 26, 1926.
This book of photographs traces his trajectory as a musician with images made by masters including Chuck Stewart, Francis Wolff and William Claxton; Jim Marshall’s candid shot of Coltrane hung in the White House during President Obama’s terms. Essayists include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Phil Lesh, Carlos Santana and Patti Smith.
Heirloom-worthy, consider it a collection of historic analog photographs, developed by hand in a darkroom, of musicians playing instruments, performing, recording and relaxing in real time—a photographic record to celebrate one of the most forward-thinking musicians the world has ever known.
Carlos Santana says the tone and emotion of Coltrane’s playing “sounded like his horn was radiating holes of light in the darkness, and each note he blew emitted more light.”
Images include Coltrane playing with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and his own classic quartet—including a series taken at Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey studio where a number of Coltrane’s albums were recorded. A candid shot of pianist Alice Coltrane captures her backstage before the first concert she played with her husband as a member of his final lineup.
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