Africa: John Coltrane and the African Connection

10 August 2014
analysis

FORTY seven years after his demise in July 1967, saxophonist John Coltrane continues to be remembered for advancing the execution of the instrument to an avant-garde and far-out level. He is also known for inventing the 'modal' technique where, rather than drive your improvisation along specific chord progressions, solos are interpreted along 'scales'. But little is known about his African connection - his involvement with African rhythms and melodies.

Jazz was to be redefined as the 'great black music' in the 6os with the active participation and involvement of a new crop of musicians who played a whole new music that bordered on experimentation and avant-garde. The whole idea was to move away from the Western musical tradition which predetermined the structure of jazz. The objective was to identify with Africa, the original source of jazz. Coltrane was perhaps the leader of this culture revolution which turned out to be a radical process that began with the Savoy Sessions where he performed such tunes as Dial Africa and Oomba even though Tanganyika Strut and Gold Coast were the first recorded evidence of the saxophonist's interest in Africa and African music.

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