John Coltrane, who was born on September 23, 1926, grew to be one of the most conspicuous jazz artists of the 1960’s as evidenced by his saxophone playing that revolutionised the music industry. During the crest of his life, Jazz music rose to share the stage with blues and rock ‘n’ roll among music genres, and it further stood out stuck out for the manner in which it transformed, took musical chances, and with specific songs, seized the country’s mood so heartrendingly. It is important to note that at the time John Coltrane was growing up, racism was at its peak with institutions like the judiciary that were expected to uphold equality providing for an equal while at the same time segregated facilities for whites and non-whites. Living in a racist neighbourhood, John Coltrane experience with racism was a big impact in his life having lost his father at the age of twelve, but he allowed the experience to make a positive impact on his music life transforming it into his avant-garde style.
Throughout John Coltrane life, experienced racism at its highest having been forced to move from Hamlet, North Carolina his birth place to Philadelphia, and like any other black family at that time, they had to seek employment from the increasing war industries. During that era, the First World War had just come to an end, and a number of war industries were being established to offer employment and boost the economic situation of the country (Perchard 124). However, getting an opportunity to work in some of these industries was a challenge especially for the non-white because the United States society was being haunted by heightened racism. Similar to the apartheid that was practiced in South Africa, America is Southern, and the Border States had their own version referred to as “Jim Crow”, a system that greatly affected every form of life through segregation of schools, libraries, and buses among many others. Organisations sprung up during those days backing up the Jim Crow Policy of segregation like the Ku Klux Klan, which flourished in these, southern through its extremist reaction currents like white-nationality. Life in Philadelphia was hard for John Coltrane considering the extensive history of intolerance for the black people by the whites as they always found a reason to perceive that they were more superior to the African-Americans. It was a common picture in Philadelphia during that era to find everyone standing up for himself against any other person in the name of fighting for whatever job whether a blue collar or a white-collar job. Being a Jazz musician, John Coltrane was in most cases caught up in various indignities of racism and even his close ally succumbed to death after being beaten by the police. Moreover, the same attack saw Sonny Murray, who was a renown free jazz member, had his fingers cut-off while other musicians sustained various injuries (Yale 408). One poet, Langston, summed up the blacks bitterness in her poem when she asked whether the endpoint of a dream being deferred is an explosion, which in a way appeared to be true. However, John Coltrane overcame the explosion that was witnessed in among many people as he flourished in his Jazz Music during the peak of a revolution against racism led by Martin Luther King.
Coltrane’s musical pursuit kicked off in earnest at a time that he joined Miles after which left to collaborate with Monk and later came back in 1959 to form a group with Miles and there was evidence that Coltrane was trying to break loose from the accepted norms of early avant-guard style of jazz. Even though John Coltrane had experienced heightened form of racism, he perceived himself as an artist and refrained from speaking out on matters concerned with politics. He overcame the political nature of that time by covering a number of songs originally done by white artists just because of his love for songs, even though some listeners went on to politicize his ways after his demise. By deciding to perform a song that was done by a white, he ends up establishing a unique musical sound and even further turns around the structural makes of an existing and well-comprehended mainstream song. His basic arguments were the attributes that comprise bad or wrong music that end up being centered on race constructions, but he refuses to be dragged in racism because he believes there is no criterion that differentiates white from black musicians (White 3). He even goes further to write the Alabama song after a bombing that killed four black girls, and when performing it, he felt that its crescendo should represent the civil rights movement, which in a way marked a revolution in the jazz music.
Works cited
Perchard, Tom. "Writing Jazz Biography: Race, Research and Narrative Representation." Popular Music History 2.2 (2007): 119-145. Print.
White, Aaronet M. "John Coltrane's Style of Jazz and the Improvisational Lives of Profeminist Black Men." Journal of African American Men 6.3 (2001): 3. Print.
Yale Heisler, Aaron. "John Coltrane's Pursuit of Elegance." African American Review 48.4 (2015): 393-413. Print.
