John Coltrane Reference Updates
The John Coltrane Reference
By Chris DeVito, Yasuhiro Fujioka,
Wolf Schmaler, and David Wild
General Editor: Lewis Porter
Click here for UPDATES: Updates to The John Coltrane Reference
A jazz musician's biography is largely a story of gigs. It's a history of questions: "Where did you play? When did you play there? Who was in the band? What did you play? was it preserved (taped, broadcast, filmed)? What did they say about the performance?" But these day-to-day events were of little consequence at the time, barely noted in the entertainment sections, sketchily recorded elsewhere. Because information on these essential activities is hard to find, buried in obscure newspapers, contradictory, not always accurate, and poorly preserved, most jazz biographers report on them anecdotally--"he was there for a few weeks during the spring", " he played concerts in Baltimore and Washington DC that fall". But such generalities don't do justice to the performer and to the world in which he lived
The John Coltrane Reference sets the bar much higher, by retrieving this information from its obscure hiding places, collating, evaluating and reconciling it, and sourcing and documenting it, to recreate in vivid detail the life and career of John Coltrane. It expands, augments and occasionally corrects the pioneering chronology in Lewis Porter's John Coltrane: His Life and Music (the standard John Coltrane biography), and includes quotes, contemporary observations and reports, and reviews, many of them reprinted here for the first time.
Discographies never age well--even after 40 years, too much new information is continually unearthed, too many new recordings continue to appear. The John Coltrane Reference updates the Fujioka discography which has served as a standard for over a decade--and which itself was an update to the 1979 Wild discography which had been the previous standard (both Fuji and Wild are heavily involved in this new effort). It contains detailed information about all Coltrane recording sessions, with full lists of the many issues and reissues of the material, and photos of the original releases. The John Coltrane Reference unravels many of the more confused sessions, corrects errors, identifies often purposely obscure issues and generally provides a complete and up-to-the-minute view of the body of Coltrane's work. The John Coltrane Reference is also richly illustrated, with over 250 album covers and photos.
The John Coltrane Reference was published on December 20, 2007; copies will be available for order through this website in the near future. This website will also feature additional indices and cross-references for the book, as well as corrections, additions and other new information. Check back regularly at www.wildmusic-jazz.com.
Details:
Pages: 821
Format: 8.5 x 11
ISBN: 978-0-415-97755-5
Binding: Hardback
Published by: Routledge
Projected Publication Date: 12/20/07
Routledge Order Date: 12/20/07
Projected Store Date: 1/4/08
Retail Price: $150.00
Routledge website
About the Authors:
Lewis Porter is Professor of Music at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, where he
directs the Masters Program in Jazz History and Research. He is a well known author and jazz
pianist. More information: Lewis Porter
Chris DeVito is a freelance writer and copy editor, and author of a published short story,
“Notespinning.”
Yasuhiro Fujioka is a freelance jazz writer, producer, and photographer who regularly
contributes to Swing Journal and other magazines. His 1995 Coltrane discography was
the previous standard reference work. More information: Yasuhiro Fujioka
Wolf Schmaler has assisted Yasuhiro Fujioka since 1989 in Coltrane research.
David Wild has authored influential discographies of Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, written
liner notes to many recordings on the Impulse! label, and has published in Down Beat, Coda,
Cadence, Signal To Noise, and the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. He is also a jazz pianist.
More information: David Wild
...The intensity and accuracy of the scholarship in this monumental effort cannot be praised enough...To give Coltrane his due in book form is to be as painstaking in researching as Coltrane was in practicing. This book honors its subject through such exercise of care.
Two Ways of Bookending John Coltrane
By Norman Weinstein
Published: January 23, 2008