Last time I gave you a very detailed introduction to Coltrane’s uses of texts, including “hidden” texts, in his music during 1964 and ‘65. But what about “Alabama” from 1963? What do we know about its genesis, and why is there a pervasive opinion that it has a hidden text? Well, John’s pianist McCoy Tyner once told journalist Ashley Kahn that the rhythms of the piece were based on the rhythms of a speech by Dr. King that John saw printed in a newspaper. (See page 79 of Ashley’s 2002
The first time I became aware of this type of composition technique was as a student of Dr. Billy Taylor.
“I wish I knew how it would feel to be free“ made famous by Nina Simone was composed in a similar fashion from a phrase Billy wrote to demonstrate gospel style to his young daughter.
Billy visited the African-American Studies department at UMass two or three times a year and I remember him demonstrating on piano how he composed a melody to match the text of a statement Dr. King made.
I look forward to discussing this topic with Lewis further as I have been developing an idea about some of the music and musicians at Woodstock, including Star-Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix, as directly coming from this mold cast by Coltrane.
Coltrane was far more subtle in supporting the civil rights movement than many of his contemporary Black musicians and artists were. It almost seems like he wanted to translate King's endorsement of peace and non-violence into his own work, which ultimately led to him writing "A Love Supreme".
This was fascinating, and I love reading about music when audio clips are a click away. Such an effective mode of presentation. One tiny quibble is the line "Well, first of all, do we believe Tyner or not? .... why should we discount what he said?" It's not hard to imagine that Tyner, while doing his best to say accurately what he knew, might have simply misremembered a detail like this, if Ashley's interview was decades after the fact. Even with straight shooters like Tyner, a writer should trust but verify--people like Tyner lead very intense and busy lives, and can't be expected to remember it all (or not conflate two memories into a single incident).
Thank you Jim. As I'm sure you know, I am well-known for debunking many many things that people have said in interviews, and I always double-check. But you may be misunderstanding my sentence. I am certainly not saying, "Always trust interviews," and I am also not saying "Always trust Tyner." I AM saying, let's use this as a starting point, and see if it works out. Tyner said it was a newspaper, but as you see I checked both newspapers and radio, to be sure. In other words, I did indeed verify, as I always do. Also, I should note that I'm pretty sure that Tyner said this well before Kahn's book, but I wasn't able to locate the original source yet. I just rewrote that paragraph--please see if it works better now. THANK YOU JIM.
Thanks for your kind response, and to be clear, I was completely in awe of the research you did to look into Tyner's recollection. It went way beyond taking his statement as gospel. Less careful writers, particularly those doing more casual feature pieces in mainstream publications, so often do just take a recollection of a famous performer at face value, and I really appreciate it when show biz memories get interrogated a little, to check the "lore" that can be so entertaining.
This is astonishing and fascinating - one of the most eye-opening things I’ve ever read on Coltrane. I feel like I am listening to Alabama for the first time (and I have heard it probably more than a hundred times).
Wonderful work, Lewis. Like John Vernon, and, I'm betting a lot of your readers, I'm listening to this music with brand new ears! And we all remember Dr. King's powerful, rhythmic preaching.
Great job. Thank you.
Thank you!
i am totally spellbound by this, how you've pieced so much of the song to King's words, Bravo!
I find it very moving--hope I can do more--THANK YOU!
Wow, such a powerful read.
The first time I became aware of this type of composition technique was as a student of Dr. Billy Taylor.
“I wish I knew how it would feel to be free“ made famous by Nina Simone was composed in a similar fashion from a phrase Billy wrote to demonstrate gospel style to his young daughter.
Billy visited the African-American Studies department at UMass two or three times a year and I remember him demonstrating on piano how he composed a melody to match the text of a statement Dr. King made.
I look forward to discussing this topic with Lewis further as I have been developing an idea about some of the music and musicians at Woodstock, including Star-Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix, as directly coming from this mold cast by Coltrane.
Coltrane was far more subtle in supporting the civil rights movement than many of his contemporary Black musicians and artists were. It almost seems like he wanted to translate King's endorsement of peace and non-violence into his own work, which ultimately led to him writing "A Love Supreme".
Very nicely put. He didn't have to say it in his interviews, because it was in his music. THANK YOU DAVID
This was fascinating, and I love reading about music when audio clips are a click away. Such an effective mode of presentation. One tiny quibble is the line "Well, first of all, do we believe Tyner or not? .... why should we discount what he said?" It's not hard to imagine that Tyner, while doing his best to say accurately what he knew, might have simply misremembered a detail like this, if Ashley's interview was decades after the fact. Even with straight shooters like Tyner, a writer should trust but verify--people like Tyner lead very intense and busy lives, and can't be expected to remember it all (or not conflate two memories into a single incident).
Thank you Jim. As I'm sure you know, I am well-known for debunking many many things that people have said in interviews, and I always double-check. But you may be misunderstanding my sentence. I am certainly not saying, "Always trust interviews," and I am also not saying "Always trust Tyner." I AM saying, let's use this as a starting point, and see if it works out. Tyner said it was a newspaper, but as you see I checked both newspapers and radio, to be sure. In other words, I did indeed verify, as I always do. Also, I should note that I'm pretty sure that Tyner said this well before Kahn's book, but I wasn't able to locate the original source yet. I just rewrote that paragraph--please see if it works better now. THANK YOU JIM.
Thanks for your kind response, and to be clear, I was completely in awe of the research you did to look into Tyner's recollection. It went way beyond taking his statement as gospel. Less careful writers, particularly those doing more casual feature pieces in mainstream publications, so often do just take a recollection of a famous performer at face value, and I really appreciate it when show biz memories get interrogated a little, to check the "lore" that can be so entertaining.
Thanks very much. I did rewrite that paragraph, so feel free to check if it reads better now. THANK YOU JIM!
This is astonishing and fascinating - one of the most eye-opening things I’ve ever read on Coltrane. I feel like I am listening to Alabama for the first time (and I have heard it probably more than a hundred times).
I really appreciate these words, John--THANK YOU!
Wonderful work, Lewis. Like John Vernon, and, I'm betting a lot of your readers, I'm listening to this music with brand new ears! And we all remember Dr. King's powerful, rhythmic preaching.
THANKS MUCH JIM!