The John Coltrane Reference by Chris DeVito, et al. (review)

This is the first paperback edition of an indispensable, almost day-by-day account of the professional life of the great saxophonist–composer–bandleader John Coltrane (originally published in hardcover in 2008). It describes almost every performance known to its compilers in which the saxophonist was bandleader or sideman. The book’s compilers have made valiant attempts to clear up misunderstandings and confusion regarding dates, venues, and personnel for Coltrane performances that had been reported elsewhere. The authors present much evidence from investigations they conducted to track down and verify little-known gigs and recordings that were rumored to exist. Gigs that were reported in newspapers and magazines, and some that were reported by fellow musicians or recalled by jazz fans (who were interviewed), are also included, as are gigs that were publicized but cancelled.

The John Coltrane Reference supplants other Coltrane discographies and the Coltrane sections of general jazz discographies, as well as those found in biographies of Coltrane. The book provides detailed information on every one of Coltrane’s recording sessions, from 1946 to 1967, and it lists the various formats on which each recording was issued. It even includes the results of sessions that were never released, such as radio broadcasts that were recorded by professionals and amateurs and issued as bootlegs, as well as recordings made for commercial firms but not released. The prodigious research represented here on more than thirty years’ worth of gigs and obscure recordings constitutes a huge achievement for which the authors are to be commended.

The compilers reproduce newspaper and magazine accounts that sample journalistic response to the music and include the attendant publicity for Coltrane’s gigs. They also convey the attitudes of jazz fans and musicians by including the texts of interviews and correspondence about the gigs they attended. Numerous playbills, posters, contracts, and album covers are reproduced, as well as forty-two glossy black-and-white photos that will delight jazz buffs. Three of them captured Coltrane smiling, which was extremely rare.

Previously-published interviews with Coltrane’s fellow Philadelphian, Benny Golson, telling readers about Coltrane’s early playing in that city, are also included. One heart-wrenching story recounts an incident from 1944 in which young saxophonists Golson and Coltrane were cheated by a leader who replaced them without telling them. After Golson and Coltrane went to the site of the gig and saw their replacements performing, they took their hurt feelings back to Golson’s home. Upon hearing of the insult, Golson’s mother assuaged their feelings by telling them that one day they would be so good that this bandleader would not be able to afford them. Little did she know how true her calming words would become.

Amusing anecdotes also appear, including one about Miles Davis stranding his band members after a gig in Los Angeles in 1956. Apparently, Davis took the entire gig payroll for himself and returned to New York with it. The authors show that a scheduled gig in Chicago that should have occurred during the same time frame was cancelled, presumably because Davis had no band to use during his journey east. That story has a happy ending because the remaining musicians from the band then mounted a recording session for themselves in Los Angeles in order to finance return passage to New York.

In the process of tallying Coltrane’s gigs, the authors tell us who else was playing at the same clubs. This provides a window into the jazz scene of the time, not just into Coltrane’s scene. It not only informs us about who was active, but it also indicates where the music was happening, for instance, in Detroit, Minneapolis, and Cleveland, not just New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

A tragic sidelight appears in accounts of The Down Beat Swing Room, a nightclub in Philadelphia where many of the modern jazz giants performed...