Jazz Unlimited will feature “John Coltrane in His Own Words and Music,” on Sunday. Jazz Unlimited airs from 9 p.m. to midnight, on St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7 FM.
During his career, John Coltrane gave only a few interviews to jazz journalists. He was a quiet, humble man who was very guarded. Until now, only transcripts existed of these interviews. Two well-known interviews with August Blume (1958) and Frank Kofsky (1966) have recently been issued in audio form. These interviews, along with a short 1960 audio interview from Stockholm and a short 1966 interview from Japan will provide a different look at this jazz giant.
In addition, we will play rare 78 rpm recordings of Coltrane with Gay Crosse and His Good Humor Six and saxophonist Earl Bostic. Coltrane will be featured with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Coltrane’s own work with his trio, quartet and quintet and with Johnny Hartman.
The Slide Show has my images of three of the artists heard on the show.
Here is a video of the John Coltrane Quartet on the Jazz Casual TV show in 1963. The tune is "Alabama" and its source was the cadences of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his eulogy for the victims of the Alabama church bombing. The personnel is John Coltrane (ts) McCoy Tyner (p) Jimmy Garrison (b) and Elvin Jones (d).
