John Coltrane , moving ahead in giant steps
Earl Bostic loved to drive . Thanks to his early rhythm and blues successes racked up since 1948 , the alto saxophonist had bought himself an eight-seater Cadillac into which his small band would squeeze , while their instruments followed in a Chevrolet pickup truck . He would happily sit behind the wheel for hours on end , enjoying the vehicle ’ s powerful and precise response to his every move . His sax obeyed him with the same controlled energy , offering him the same level of power and comfort in all registers and at all tempos . He knew all the makes and all the models , and he had learned to tame them all . He knew their secrets . Like a horse trainer , he knew how to whisper in the ear of saxophones . For precisely this reason , while the rest of the band dozed in the back of the vehicle , John Coltrane would sit up front beside him asking questions . While Bostic offered advice on how to hold the saxophone , alternative fingerings , the upper register and overtones , reeds and circular breathing , Trane – as we will call him for the sake of the story – drank in his every word . And with no heed for the landscape flashing past , he stared wideeyed at the interminable road stretching out before him , hoping to finally catch a glimpse of the truth hoving into sight .
This scene , described by J . C . Thomas in Coltrane , Chasin ’ the Trane , and somewhat reworked here , occurred during Trane ’ s stay with Bostic ’ s band from April 1952 to the following autumn . Trane was by now 25 years old – about four months older than Miles Davis , who had already made a name for himself seven years earlier thanks to his time in Charlie Parker ’ s first quintet , while Trane was still struggling to imagine a future for himself . Riddled with doubt , he was hungry for knowledge . Knowledge was to be the major
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