Comments on: Thesis

By: subimal

subimal — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:03:25 +0000

I can’t express how much thankful I am for this wonderful thesis as I didn’t know at all that John Coltrane reinterpreted “My Favorite Things”. He is one of my most favorite musicians but I can feel still how much ignorant I am and how badly I want to listen to this wonderful tune played by him

By: Trace Dreyer

Trace Dreyer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:03:17 +0000

Thanks Scott! What great work! As an amateur musician (guitar) and new fan of Coltrane’s I found your analysis insightful, and sensitive.

By: Jonah Dempcy

Jonah Dempcy — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:42:40 +0000

Nice work! Really enjoyable, I read it from start to finish. Have you heard Kurt Elling’s version of Coltrane’s “Resolution”? Elling transcribed the solo perfectly and wrote lyrics to it, interesting stuff.

By: room34

room34 — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:49:35 +0000

You are correct; I just read about that last week. I don’t know how I’ve managed to go more than a year without hearing about it (and I’m a bit embarrassed, to be honest).

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:04:27 +0000

Alice Coltrane passed away in January, 2007, at the age of 69. I believe her daughter, Michelle, has taken over as executor of Coltrane’s estate.

By: room34

room34 — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:49:53 +0000

I’m sure someone else could go a lot more in-depth on this than I can, but I do know about a couple of unique characteristics of McCoy Tyner’s style: he tends to play chords in blocks with a lot of parallel motion (Bach would not be pleased), and specifically, those chords are generally constructed of stacked fourths.

That’s not to say that they aren’t “normal” chords — it’s not necessarily quartal harmony — but that they’re voiced in fourths rather than thirds. As a very rudimentary example, say he’s playing a G7 chord. Rather than stacking the notes as G - B - D - F, he might play it as D - G - F - B.

By: David

David — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:29:43 +0000

Thank you for that! But I was more looking for the piano parts of this record by McCoy Tyner or generally about McCoy Tyners way of music.

By: room34

room34 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:20:23 +0000

Andrew White is the recognized expert for John Coltrane transcriptions. He has transcribed countless Coltrane solos and I used some of his work in this thesis. (The transcriptions shown as figures in the text are his.)

He doesn’t seem to have his own website but he comes up a lot online. Here’s a Google search:

“Andrew White” “John Coltrane” transcriptions

By: David

David — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:37:49 +0000

Hallo, is there any book with the transcription of the songs of this record? Can anybody recommend a sheetbook of Mccoy Tyner, I would like to learn his style!
Thanks.

By: room34

room34 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:07:27 +0000

I’d start with some of the sources referenced in my bibliography. In particular, there was a documentary I used, called “The World According to John Coltrane.” This was on VHS, over 10 years ago, of course; I’m not sure if it’s on DVD or still in print at all.

You might also want to go to the source, the official John Coltrane website. John’s wife Alice is still alive and I believe is the executor of his estate, so you would probably need to work with the estate in some capacity if you are planning to take the project further.

Good luck!

By: kA'

kA' — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:04:33 +0000

i am in the process of developing a screenplay on the life of coltrane and found your thesis extremely insightful. can you recommend any other sources of research? thank you much for sharing your gift of perspective!

By: Wayne Clark

Wayne Clark — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:10:53 +0000

Fascinating. Absolutely.

Must add that the first time I heard Trane play My Favorite Things… well, the sound has never left my head. To explore him through his choice of the song the way you have done was inspired, and it makes me want to gather all the versions and listen to them over and over.

Wayne

By: Antonia

Antonia — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:02:17 +0000

this is brilliant

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:37:02 +0000

Great thesis on a piece that astounds me in almost every permutation I’ve heard, from legit releases to bootlegs.

FWIW - to my knowledge Coltrane never ‘converted’ to anything. Alice stated a number of times in interviews that he had become a proponent of spirituality in general and the universality of all religions.

By: Carl Olson

Carl Olson — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:58:14 +0000

Well written thesis. Words fall painfully short in describing how amazing the classic quartet is. The Tyner/Coltrane interactions still can give me goosebumps. I can say nothing but gentlemen, thank you.