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Re: A lot of latter day revisionism takes place with Coltrane...

Posted by Robert H. on December 3, 2002 at 16:07:10

In Reply to: Re: A lot of latter day revisionism takes place with Coltrane... posted by Teelio on December 3, 2002 at 11:58:31:

"Mouthpiece-wise, he used a TON of different ones, from an old Link Tone Master (used on most of the Prestige sides), to metal Selmers, to short-block rubber Selmers, to rubber
Links, and altered Super Tone Mater Florida Links. "

Simply not true. On Tenor, Trane played the same metal Otto Link for ages. At the time, there was only one "Link" factory, there was no such thing as a "Florida" Link different from any other. He used a hard rubber Link - again, at the time, their only rubber model, once his main metal Link got trashed. Later he got another metal Link. He never, ever, used any Selmer mouthpiece on Tenor, the narrow bore of the Selmers is designed specifically for classical players, it's sound is unmistakable. The only jazz Tenor man who ever used a Selmer on tenor is Joe Henderson. On Soprano, Trane used a metal Selmer virtually exclusively. This is presumably because, at the time he started playing soprano, it was the only game in town.

Any musician will tell you that the single, most critical aspect to technique is the mouthpiece. Even changing to another of the same model, facing, and tip opening can be disastrous for a virtuoso. For the sax player, the mouthpiece is the single, greatest issue, when they find one that works for them, they hold on to it like it were a gift from heaven, because it just about is that.

By the way, real Trane-o-philes will know that Round About Midnight was recorded in 1955, and Kind Of Blue in 1959, so which one he had the teeth fixed before (not "tooth" as you wrongly say)cannot be both. It was actually well before Kind Of Blue, which is also obvious to the listener, Coltrane is still having intonation problems as well as executional issues on Round About Midnight, Kind Of Blue is clearly showing markedly superior playing.

As to what this all has to do with helping a guy get into Coltrane...well, that escaped you also, so let me reiterate it. It has to do with what are the masterpieces, and which are the steps on the learning curve. The Prestige stuff, particularly the earliest ones, are works of a gifted artist still struggling to get his instrument to do what he wanted, and to find his own voice. I don't recommend starting there, I recommend starting at Blue Train or, even better, Giant Steps, where we hear the beginnings of the fully matured Coltrane.

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