Chasing the Trane

Do we as saxophonists have a John Coltrane complex? It would be understandable if we did. After all, he did develop jazz improvisation and the technical possibilities of the saxophone to such a high level, that it persuaded most of us to blindly accept his contributions as the standard by which everything should be measured without question. Sort of like following a religious leader.

Many of us, when we try to "improve" on Coltrane’s music and numerous contributions--some how thinking that we can "take it further" than where he did--often fall short in one of two ways, if not both. First, we don't give listeners a sense of who we are, consequently, selling the listener short, as well as ourselves. And second, we produce a something that's inferior to the original, since we are essentially taking something already perfect and tampering with it until it becomes much less perfect. These things usually result due to the fact is that we’re not playing by our own rules, we’re playing by those of John Coltrane; we’re chasing the Trane.

I once read in a book of inspirational aphorisms that “a genius works, as a child plays.” What does this mean? Does it mean to work recklessly, without discipline? Or does it mean to come to work with the openness and willingness to venture in to the unknown, as a child often does?
When I first read the quote I was reminded of the story of the child who opened his new toy at Christmas time, and after a few minutes became bored with the toy and began playing with the box. This is the kind of openness by which I feel a genius works--being open to all possibilities, being willing to stray from your original preconception of what something should be and learning to go with the flow with what’s inspiring you at that moment. What if you used John Coltrane’s contributions as a source of inspiration and not just a source? What if you used Coltrane’s flawless technique as a source inspiration to find your own approach to the instrument where you develop your own technique that’s as natural you as eating or drinking? - Something that you can do better than anybody else in the world. What if you used Coltrane’s harmonic innovations as a source of inspiration to find you own harmonic language? If you break down harmony to its most rudimentary terms, it’s when music is organized vertically and pitches are heard simultaneously. These pitches are derived from scales, which are just systems of organizing pitches. Why use Coltrane’s scales? Why not come up with your own system of organizing pitches? Why not come up with own pitches?

It would be irresponsible of me to suggest that anyone who’s serious about becoming a great jazz musician not study the masters or even “cop” their ideas. The great Clark Terry even said, “First there’s imitation, and then there’s innovation.” But during the “imitation” stage of development, I feel it’s very important that we don’t lose sight of who we are, and what our personal contributions to the language are or possibly could be. In some ways I feel its very selfish just take from the community of jazz and not give anything back.


Finding ones own voice is a life long journey that should not be taking lightly. It not only requires instrumental mastery, but mental mastery and spiritual enlightenment--with and without the instrument. Of course, life would be a lot easier not having to worry about all of these esoteric things. But I feel to truly pay respect to those we revere, at some point we're going to have to step out of our comfort zone and take those difficult steps towards artistic freedom and enlightenment, just as they did. Trumpeter Donald Byrd once told me, after hearing me play some generic sounding Coltrane licks, “ Don’t do what we did, do as we did.”