He was exploring new avenues of chord changes . Trane was smokin ’. He had another kind of drive . He sounded different from Charlie Parker and Dexter and everybody .
Roy Haynes , who heard him with Earl Bostic , says :
He was the only musician that I knew that could play as long as he played and still keep some interest . And Earl Bostic could do that too , and I think that ’ s where he captured that . Once , he played a phrase , and I was singing it to him later , I said ‘ Trane , where ’ d you get that ?’ He said ‘ Earl Bostic ’.
In January 1954 , Trane toured with the septet of one of his early idols , alto player Johnny Hodges , who was on leave from Duke Ellington ’ s band . Although he was not given a solo spot in the studio , his playing on a public recording made in California in June 1954 is at times reminiscent of Earl Bostic (“ Castle Rock ”), Coleman Hawkins (“ Thru for the Night ”), Dexter Gordon (“ In a Mellotone ”, “ Don ’ t Blame Me ”), and here and there , Paul Gonsalves , in rushing flurries pointing ahead to the Coltrane that was to come .
After leaving High Point , his tobacco and alcohol intake rose sharply . By 1948 he was already on heroin , like many boppers who took their cue from Charlie Parker . This already earned him the wrath of Dizzy Gillespie . After his dismissal by Hodges in Los Angeles early in the summer of 1954 , he returned to Philadelphia , alternating between unemployment and minor engagements , notably with then unknown organists Shirley Scott and Jimmy Smith . But two people would help Trane put an end to his addiction woes : Naima and Miles Davis .
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