Porter and Coltrane

[Andy D]

Hi All.

Just join the 'room' Happy Birthday to some of you.

Anyway I have just got a copy of Lewis Porter's book on John Coltrane, took me a while to get a copy of this anyone read this book?

I am looking forward to reading this book Coltrane is my personal fav Jazz musician.

Looking forward to sharing to thought and ideas

Kind regards

Andy D

[Hardbop]

I read the Porter bio and enjoyed it quite a bit. There have been four bios or at lease books on Coltrane and I think the Porter is the best of the bunch. I haven't read the Thomas or the Cole books (yet) but did read the Simpkins book and it wasn't as good as Porter's.

I understand that Francis Davis, a Philly native or at least resident, is writing a Coltrane bio.

[Andy D]

Hi.

I had read Eric Nisenson's book on Coltrane " Ascension: John Coltrane and his Quest", which Porter describes and 'worthy; but not that accurate.

If fact he suggests that his book is the most authorative book so far on Coltrane, nothing like blowing your own trumpet:) I have found the first few chapters good stuff. I also have a copy of Nisenson's book on Sonny Rollins.

Regards

Andy D.

[Bev Stapleton]

I enjoyed the Porter but didn't find it to be exceptional. I think musicians would enjoy it more - there's lots of 'flyshit'! I think I was disappointed by how little discussion there was of many of the albums.

However, I know many jazz enthusiasts love the book.

[Lazaro Vega]

It was especially worthwhile to see someone with the technical ability attempting to tie together the early, middle and late periods of Coltrane's music, specifically through the examples of "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" and "Venus." Very specifically, he's the first person who identified for me the place where Sonny Rollins played the idea which became Coltrane's compostion "Like Sonny." It's on a Kenny Dorham album with Newk. There's much to be learned from this one, and like the best of the bio-books Porter's sends you back to the record shelf.

[shawn·m]

For anybody with both Porter and Simpkins’ books, don’t miss this AAJ article; Tranography: A Juxtaposition of Apparent Conflicts Between Two Biographies (http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=38)

Actually, I haven’t read Simpkins and instead, started out with Nisenson’s Ascension. I’d recommend Nisenson over Porter to any non-musician looking at Coltrane for the first time: Eric transfers his wonder and enthusiasm to the Coltrane novice, while Lewis focuses more on technical detail.