Milestones
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While I agree with you that Miles arguably had Trane beat in terms of the quantitative amount of innovation he contributed (in terms of the number of different styles that Miles contributed to the jazz canon) - I'm afraid I can't agree with you that Coltrane was essentially a musical conservative.
Coltrane's entire career was marked by a restless searching for new ways of expressing the transcendently beautiful sounds he heard in his mind. The guy never rested on his laurels or became fixed in one approach to the tenor saxophone or his music - and he was always looking for new techniques for expressing what he was trying to say musically. Not only did he have a huge, indelible impact on the way the tenor saxophone was and is played that lasts to this day (as well as almost singlehandedly reviving the use of the soprano sax - no disrespect to Steve Lacy) - but he also was on the cutting edge of both the use of modal and free jazz. While he didn't create either modal or free approaches to improvisation, he employed both at a time when they were still considered very cutting edge and avant-garde.
Go back and listen to the 1961 Live Village Vanguard box set recorded by Impulse records. Do you really think that can accurately be characterized as "conservative". It was so out there for the time that a prominent Down Beat critic famously called Trane's music from the 61 Vanguard performances "anti-jazz". What about "A Love Supreme", "Ascension", "Interstellar Space"? - conservative?
For all these reasons, I think it is grossly inaccurate to characterize Trane as "essentially musically conservative".
I think I know what you are trying to get at - which is: Miles had a fundamental part in innovating a number of radical different ways of approaching jazz (cool, hard bop, modal, free bop, fusion, etc.) whereras Trane operated within frameworks established by others (hardbop, postbop, modal, free/avant-garde). I think it is possible to say this, however, without labelling Trane as "essentially musically conservative" - again, a grossly inaccurate statement even given the point you are trying to make.
Originally posted by Ross Miles also advanced the art of jazz - with "cool" jazz, modal jazz, fusion and other innovations - I believe more than Coltrane did, who was essentially musically conservative, if passionate. Coltrane was like Mozart, a genius working within existing forms, compared to Miles' Beethoven, perhaps less musically gifted (though still a genius), but who completely changed the face of music. Ross |
While I agree with you that Miles arguably had Trane beat in terms of the quantitative amount of innovation he contributed (in terms of the number of different styles that Miles contributed to the jazz canon) - I'm afraid I can't agree with you that Coltrane was essentially a musical conservative.
Coltrane's entire career was marked by a restless searching for new ways of expressing the transcendently beautiful sounds he heard in his mind. The guy never rested on his laurels or became fixed in one approach to the tenor saxophone or his music - and he was always looking for new techniques for expressing what he was trying to say musically. Not only did he have a huge, indelible impact on the way the tenor saxophone was and is played that lasts to this day (as well as almost singlehandedly reviving the use of the soprano sax - no disrespect to Steve Lacy) - but he also was on the cutting edge of both the use of modal and free jazz. While he didn't create either modal or free approaches to improvisation, he employed both at a time when they were still considered very cutting edge and avant-garde.
Go back and listen to the 1961 Live Village Vanguard box set recorded by Impulse records. Do you really think that can accurately be characterized as "conservative". It was so out there for the time that a prominent Down Beat critic famously called Trane's music from the 61 Vanguard performances "anti-jazz". What about "A Love Supreme", "Ascension", "Interstellar Space"? - conservative?
For all these reasons, I think it is grossly inaccurate to characterize Trane as "essentially musically conservative".
I think I know what you are trying to get at - which is: Miles had a fundamental part in innovating a number of radical different ways of approaching jazz (cool, hard bop, modal, free bop, fusion, etc.) whereras Trane operated within frameworks established by others (hardbop, postbop, modal, free/avant-garde). I think it is possible to say this, however, without labelling Trane as "essentially musically conservative" - again, a grossly inaccurate statement even given the point you are trying to make.