Uno dei tre sax di Coltrane donato al "American History Museum"

Scritto da RedazioneGiovedì 27 Marzo 2014 23:20

Ravi Coltrane, figlio di John Coltrane e Alice, ha donato nel giorno del cinquantesimo anno dallaregistrazione di "A Love Supreme" (uscito però nel febbraio 1965) uno dei tre sax tenoriposeduti da suo padre. Si tratta di un Selmer Mark VI del 1964.Di seguito, in inglese, l'articolo completo redatto dal museo stesso.

On December 9, 1964, legendary jazz musician John Coltrane recorded his canonical, four-partsuite A Love Supreme in sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, NewJersey. A squat brick residence surrounded by tree-lined suburban streets, its unassumingfaçade belied state-of-the-art facilities; 39-foot ceilings with fine acoustics lent a cathedral-likereverence to the sleek, brick-lined space that also housed countless other great artists includingGil Evans, Oliver Nelson and Ray Charles.

That day, as legend goes, the lights were dimmed, and Coltrane’s quartet soon began to play.As their sounds melded together, each member became lost in the music, improvising a liltingstream of notes to the four-note bass line anchoring the composition. Few words were spoken,but none were needed; the band's natural chemistry surpassed any instruction. The next 33minutes were a singular moment in time—and sound—that will now live on forever within thecollections of the National Museum of American History, thanks in part to a donation fromColtrane’s son, Ravi Coltrane.

Today, the museum kicked off its 13th annual Jazz Appreciation Month by celebrating A LoveSupreme’s 50th anniversary. And in honor of the occasion, Ravi Coltrane, himself anaccomplished contemporary jazz musician, donated one of his father’s three principalsaxophones—a Mark VI tenor crafted by Henri Selmer Paris, a manufacturer of high-qualitybrass and woodwind instruments. The saxophone was made in 1965, the same year in whichthe recording of A Love Supreme was issued. “Every time I open the case to look at thesaxophone,” said John Edward Hasse, curator of American music, who presided over itsdonation ceremony, “I get goosebumps. John…Coltrane’s….saxophone.”

Among one of Coltrane’s greatest works, the resulting album also held personal significance forthe esteemed saxophonist. Its four phases—"Acknowledgement," "Resolution," "Pursuance"

1 / 2

Uno dei tre sax di Coltrane donato al "American History Museum"

Scritto da RedazioneGiovedì 27 Marzo 2014 23:20

and "Psalms”—tied his music to a newly-reaffirmed faith in God, and marked his resolve to endthe hard-drugging lifestyle that had gotten him fired from Miles Davis’ group seven years earlier."As time and events moved on, I entered into a phase which is contradictory to the pledge andaway from the esteemed path,” Coltrane wrote in the album’s notes. “But thankfully now,through the merciful hand of God, I do perceive and have been fully reinformed of hisomnipotence. It is truly a love supreme."

Coltrane passed away less than three years later, at the age of 40. But his musical legacy livedon.

John Coltrane was not only a saxophonist, but a bandleader and a composer, Hasse said,calling the musician a "creator of new sound" and a "musical revolutionary." He was a muse toJimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana, and the "subject of college courses and countless poems. Formany, an epic culture hero."

The instrument will become a part of the museum's treasure trove of jazz artifacts, whichincludes 100,000 pages of Duke Ellington’s unpublished music, Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet andHerbie Hancock’s cordless keyboard. It will also be on view in the museum's “American Stories”exhibition starting June 1, alongside Coltrane's original score of A Love Supreme. Until then,visitors will be able to see it on the museum's first floor, near the Warner Bros. Theater

http://americanhistory.si.edu/

2 / 2