[Dixielandjazz] John Coltrane, Giant Steps, & AJB

[Steve Barbone]

Marek Boym at marekboym at gmail.com wrote:

> OK, sheik, but be warned - the original is Coltrane!  To my ears - it
> does not sound like music.
> 
> Cheers

Hello Marek:

To others ears, it is a religious experience :-) VBG. See below news clip
from 2000 when the church of St. John Coltrane was forced to move because of
rising rents. It operates today on Fillmore street in San Francisco. See
their web site if interested. After all, it's not every day that a jazz
musician, and/or jazz music becomes the basis for a church. 37 years and
counting.  http://www.coltranechurch.org/

Like a gal, who was listening to our trio music, Friday night said, when I
remarked that we saw her listening intently: "I always listen fully to live
music. My father said, when I was a little girl, that when a musician plays
jazz in front of an audience, he is giving you a little piece of his soul."

47 years old, 7 kids and already a Grandmother. A very hip chick, as we used
to say in the 1950s.

Cheers
Steve Barbone

Requiem for a Church Supreme - After three decades of feeding the homeless,
the  the Church of Saint John Coltrane now finds itself without a home

San Francisco Weekly - By Jack Boulware - Published: January 26, 2000

Sixty people -- primarily white twenty-somethings with goatees and
dreadlocks -- crowd into a small Western Addition storefront. Musicians
carrying saxophone cases and drumsticks slip through the crowd up to the
front. It's immediately apparent that this is not your ordinary Sunday
church service. The walls feature a series of 10-foot-high murals depicting
saxophonist John Coltrane, and lyrics from his album A Love Supreme. The
altar displays a portrait of a black Jesus Christ.

A beatific African-American woman greets the room.

"Anyone here love John Coltrane?" she asks. People answer yes. Some raise
their hands. Sister Deborah introduces herself, welcomes everyone, and
explains that it is acceptable to do whatever the spirit moves you to do
during the service. If you want to sit, fine. If you feel like standing and
dancing, that's cool. If you want to sing along, or grab a tambourine, even
better. 

"This is God's house," she explains. "We're God's children. So we wanna have
a good time!" 

She smiles wide, and asks how many in the room are locals. Three hands rise.
The vast majority of this morning's congregation is from somewhere outside
the city -- Texas, Arizona, Spain, New Zealand, France, Denmark, Sweden, and
Ireland all are represented today.

Bishop Franzo King enters from behind a curtain, wearing bright purple
vestments and sporting a saxophone around his neck.  The bishop might not
say anything at all. He might stick his sax in his mouth, and the band might
kick into a Coltrane composition that goes on for 30 minutes, with the choir
singing along, and every musician getting time to play solo. The entire
crowd might be on its feet dancing, clapping along, rapping knuckles against
the walls. The pianist might move to a Hammond B-3 organ in the back of the
room, and rip into a groove so furious that Bishop King will run over to him
with a wireless microphone, stick the device directly into the organ's
speaker, and send out an ear-splitting cacophony of jazz that echoes off the
walls and ceilings. And at that point, the bishop might scream, "YEAH!"

Since 1971, the St. John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church has
operated out of this Divisadero Street location, holding weekly services,
feeding, clothing, and counseling the homeless, and teaching music and
computer classes. After nearly three decades, a word-of-mouth reputation has
earned the church mentions in travel guidebooks, jazz Web sites, and
Coltrane biographies. Each Sunday, the room is filled to capacity.

(snipped for brevity)



on 5/20/07 6:25 PM, Marek Boym at marekboym at gmail.com wrote:

> OK, sheik, but be warned - the original is Coltrane!  To my ears - it
> does not sound like music.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> On 20/05/07, Steve Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Sheik (dwlit at cpcug.org) wrote:
>> 
>>> A couple of folks have send me AJB's "Giant steps". Sounds like it might
>>> be a worthy tune, but as far as I know I've never heard the original.
>>> Gotta listen a few more times...
>> 
>> Hey Sheik. To hear the original Giant Steps go to:
>> 
>> http://www.johncoltrane.com/swf/main.htm
>> 
>> Click on "A love Supreme" on the upper left and a list of songs Trane made
>> famous among his fans songs will appear. The 2nd song is Giant Steps. Click
>> it, listen and you'll know why few Dixieland Bands attempt it.
>> 
>> On the other hand, General Audiences will relate to almost any song, be it
>> The Saints", or "St Thomas", or "Sister Sadie" as long as they are played by
>> a competent band with fire and energy and the players relate to the
>> audience. All the song needs is a semblance of a melody, and a swinging band
>> to get them going.
>> 
>> St Thomas is one of our most appreciated numbers by general audiences. It is
>> the happiest of music and gets people swaying right away.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Steve Barbone
>> 
>> 
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