Jake Baynes Quarter Two Blog

Finished Coltrane Book After reading about the life of John Coltrane and the life of Stevie Ray Vaughan, I have a lot to think about as far as music is concerned. Both Coltrane and Stevie where very different as far as their personalities and mentalities towards music. However, one thing that they both would have connected through is this mentality of getting what they wanted through hard work and determination. Stevie got his fame through constant gigging and practicing to become the best blues musician that he could be. Coltrane got his fame the same way. Coltrane never stopped attempting to go somewhere new and raise the bar on what is and is not possible with Jazz. It was said that Stevie began the second wave of Blues guitarists since he added this whole new flavor to the genre with effects and intensity through adding a level of rock n roll to his playing. This mindset reminded me a lot of a John Mayer speech about how John had made all of his career happen by himself. The spee...

Recently, I found this musician named Hailey Niswanger who is part of a group called MAE.SUN. They are a group from Berklee. Her style of improvisation is very like minded of that to Coltrane with the way that she plays out side of the changes. I reached out to her through Instagram to ask her about her influences in music. I was delighted to find that she was a large Coltrane fan!!

355-431 John Coltrane Coming close to the end of this book on the life of John Coltrane, I have learnt a lot about his connection to music as well as his over all mentality as a musician. Looking at Coltrane's life in entirety with both of his parents dying at the age of 12, nothing seemed to stop Coltrane from achieving what he wanted. He was always determined to get what he wanted, even if it meant that he would have to work extremely hard to achieve it. There were a few people in this book that had said that Coltrane was willing to work harder, practice more, listen more, and play more than anyone else in order to get where he wanted too musically. After reading about his later years with learning under Ornett Coleman, this is absolutely validated. Coltrane spent a lot of time learning about the super imposition style that Coleman had been using through his playing. This idea of super imposing changes is something that really gives musicians a sound that is absolutely superson...

Lydian (311) - A mode that Coltrane loved to experiment with due to the tritone that was placed at the center of the scale. Reed (315) - The wooden part of the saxophone where the mouth goes. Smooth Jazz (312) - Jazz that contains very little tension.. for example, David Sanborn Blanketing (322) - A flurry of notes Impressions (323) - the song Coltrane wrote inspired by Miles’ tune “So What” So What (323) The modal tune that Miles wrote that was semi controvercial due to its half step key changes. A Love Supreme (324) - the album coltrane wrote in one week after he had a child. Cold Turkey (325) - The term used for quitting drugs immediately. Pslam (326) - Sacred song or hymn Blues For Alice (330) - written for his wife Alice. Circle Of Fifths (337) - the ordering of keys which coltrane used to write songs. Ravi Coltrane (338) - coltranes son that inspired the writing of A Love Supreme 26-2 (338) - The song that Ravi recorded that got me into ravi!

313-355 John Coltrane The way that Coltrane practiced as well as what and how he learned was a huge factor throughout his life. Compared to other musicians, Coltrane definitely practiced the most. Not only did he practice the most, but he also practiced in the most diverse way to all other musicians of his and current times. Coltrane was known for practicing in hotel rooms, taxi cabs, bathrooms and in the dressing rooms before shows. In one interview Coltrane had said that an interviewer told him that his music sounded angry and conflicted. Following this, Coltrane responded that he just had so many ideas going on from all of the practicing that he was doing, that when he played, he attempted to fit in all of his new ideas so that he could wrap his ears around them. This all relates to an essential question that I had, "how does the way in which someone practices, effect their overall playing as a musician?" In Coltrane's case, it seems that the excessive playing and pr...

I thought for this quick burst blog, I would share a song that really changed the way that I look at music. Back before I really got into playing the guitar, I was really into playing metal and shred guitar! My favorite band was Metallica! Then, my guitar teacher introduced me to Robben Ford's "Revelation". This song absolutely changed my life. I remember the first time that I heard this song. I was sitting where I am right now, noodling on my guitar. I then received the link to the song and decided to take a listen to it. This song embraced the soul of the blues and the technicality of the jazz, which I did not know that I would like until later on. From this song, I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan and immediately fell in love with the blues.

220-313 John Coltrane After Coltrane recorded "Giant Steps" he created his great quartet which included musicians, McCoy Tyner (piano) Elvin Jones (drums), Reggie Workman (bass). Coltrane played with these musicians from 1961-1962 and recorded the album "Africa/Brass". This album was extremely different from the last that Coltrane had released. This album featured a very selective section of brass as well as heavy influence from African music. This step was one of the first that Coltrane really made towards the music branch under jazz called Avant-Garde. Avant-Garde music is classified as music that showcases new and experimental ideas. The drive behind Coltrane attempting something new and wild like this was rooted in what he believed music was. Coltrane talked a lot about how he believed that music was one of the deepest connections to the human being. Being able to play different variations of music allowed for him to supposedly connect to more human beings on...

210-220 Modal (188) - A word describing the key changes of a tune. Giant steps (195) - A tune coltrane wrote that is regarded as one of the hardest songs in jazz. 1959 (201) - The year that jazz changed with the releases of “kind of blue” “Giant steps” and “The shape of jazz to come” Blanketing (201) technique that coltrane used. He would play many notes at once creating a blanket of notes. Quadtime (202) When the quarternote is multiplied by 4. Reed (204) - the wooden piece on a wind instrument that creates some of the tone. Bell (205) - the sound hole of the horn Horn (205) - broad term used for a sax or trumpet. Horizontal (207) Playing in one key Vertical (207) playing in many different keys Staff (208) what sheet music is written on

176-210 John Coltrane Throughout Coltrane's life, a devotion to finding unique sounds seemed to be prevalent. At the beginning of his career, Coltrane was unknown and somewhat undeveloped as a musician. This is simply due to the fact that he had not experienced much as far as new jazz was concerned. Coltrane's experience and level of musicianship can be explained by answering the essential question, "How does experience shape a musician?". So far, from what I have read about Coltrane's life, the answer is that experience outweighs everything as far as being a musician is concerned. In Coltrane's case, experience is what helped him develop such an interesting, progressive approach to jazz music that people are still amazed by! The book talked a lot about Coltrane's time with Miles and how it changed his views and perspectives on music. Before his time with Miles, Coltrane was playing standards, swing and bebop jazz as that is all he knew had existed. When...

This is a great recording to check out if you want to hear the difference between what Miles Davis had to say and what John Coltrane had to say when improvising. This tune is called "So What" the song is an extremely foundational modal tune. The whole tune works from the key of D to the key of Eb. If you listen, you can hear when they shift up a key and back down again! It is a great tune to analyze some of Coltrane's playing as the tunes simplicity allows for Coltrane's attitude in the way he plays to show and shine. 

157-176 Up to this point in John Coltrane's life, I have learnt a lot about how his life played out. Coltrane's first real musical influence was his father, who was a part time musician. Coltrane began to study the alto saxophone and the clarinet. He soon moved to Philadelphia and began schooling at "Ornstein School Of Music". From there Coltrane learnt about jazz. It was this knowledge that he then took too the navy as a member of the navy band. Once released, he began playing with Dizzy Gillespie. When looking at the style of Dizzy, I am not surprised where Coltrane got his sound. Dizzy was a very crazy outgoing musician who would play some things that the normal musician would not typically play. Yet the one thing that differentiated him from those like Ornett Colman, who would play outside for the technicality of it, Dizzy would play outside for the feeling of it. From here, Coltrane soon moved on and began playing with Miles in what was called the "First G...