John coltrane

Set for release through Craft Recordings on August 20, Another Side Of John Coltrane spotlights the jazz legends sessions with Miles Davis and many more.

The sexiest backdrop to be a drug addict: Jazz. A little known fact about our jazz greats from Coltrane in the photo above to Charlie Parker, hard drugs were believed to be the channel of musical greatness. Coltrane struggled with heavy alcohol use along with a heroine addiction. This musical environment was fresh, scandalous, edgy and wild- quite normal for the music industry of today. But this is where that lifestyle derives from. The jazz age laid the foundation of drug use for music.

Starting in the 1920s, Hawkins made an afterthought of an instrument into one of the sounds we most identify with jazz. He also straddled the era of big band swing and later developments like bebop. Here are five songs that illustrate his genius.

“A Love Supreme,” recorded in 1964, is presented as a suite in four parts

John Coltrane & Miles Davis during a recording session at Columbia Records, 1958

john coltrane

John Coltrane - Dolphy and Coltrane had met in L.A, when Coltrane was in Miles Davis first great quintet.