I don't do much radio promo on this blog, but I just happened to be reading Ben Ratliff's "Coltrane: The Story of a Sound" when the email came in from WGBH touting Ratliff's appearance tonight.
The book is one of the best I've read on Coltrane. The text is split roughly in half, focusing first on Coltrane's development of his sound and then on his effect on jazz and the wider musical world. (Modal jazz hovers over "Eight Miles High" as an influence? Never thought of that - but yeah.) While there are some technical passages that will challenge the non-musician reader at times, there's also much greater analysis of where Coltrane fit in his tumultuous times, especially in the second half of the book.
N.Y. Times jazz critic Ratliff will talk Coltrane with Eric Jackson on a special edition of "Jazz With Eric in The Evening" on WGBH FM 89.7, tonight at 8.
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