Quote:
Originally Posted by FranciscanMonk
I don't know how you do for imagining the chords that he is using...
I sit and listen to him and, as he flies all over the register, I imagine the chords he is using and how he manages to take the root chords of his phrases and trurn them into passing phrases.
P.S. I usually wear a seat belt when I listen to him
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By the early 1960s, Coltrane was fast breaking away from normal chord progressions and beginning to explore a much freer approach to sound modulation based on alternate scales. This all seems extremely technical, especially to someone like me who has a minimal notational knowledge of music. However, it makes perfect sense if one remembers Coltrane's roots in R&B as well as Gospel. At this juncture, he often sounds as though he is struggling in pain to find the notes that will carry both him and the listener toward the next set of challenges and opportunities. This effect is, however, usually quite deliberate. And it makes that sensation of tension release - when, suddenly, the resolution of a line of thought/emotion appears with such lightning-like clarity, the notes positively spilling forth almost faster than one is able to keep track of them - all the more intense. The sheer illusion of 'timelessness' he manages to invoke at such moments remains a constant source of surprise. I've listened to much of his recorded work many times over and it practically never fails to sound a different tempo to my ears. Sometimes, I feel as though each and every single note is being slowly etched into my mind. And at other times, I feel as though I'm witnesssing a maelstrom of inpenetrable complexity.
Same music! The mystery and mastery of a great artist.