Quotes by John Coltrane

“I never even thought about whether or not they understand what Im doing . . . the emotional reaction is all that matters as long as theres some feeling of communication, it isnt necessary that it be understood.”

“All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.”

“Over all, I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things that he knows of and senses in the universe. . . That’s what I would like to do. I think that’s one of the greatest things you can do in life and we all try to do it in some way. The musician’s is through his music.”

“You can play a shoestring if youre sincere”

“ says Price. Hes more than a musician: a spiritual leader, a political leader, and just a leader of human nature around the world.”

“ says Jackson. Its a major part of our cultural landscape. Football comes in the fall, and so does the Coltrane concert.”

“One Down, One Up.”

“This Half Note material really comes at a summit, ... Its the high point of a sound that the band had been cultivating, basically, since 1961. The music that was recorded there comes at the strongest point of that band, playing that sound. Right after that, they start changing and going other places.”

“It starts with this group: with McCoy and Elvin and Jimmy Garrison.”

“I’ve found you’ve got to look back at the old things and see them in a new light.”

“Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Being so inescapably a part of it, I’ll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels, and that’s too bad.”

“The first violins have the most interesting part.”

My music is the spiritual expression of what I am — my faith, my knowledge, my being...When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups...I want to speak to their souls.

I believe that man is here to grow into the fullest, the best that he can be. At least this is what I want to do. As I am growing to become whatever I become, this will just come out on the horn. Whatever thats going to be, it will be. I am not so much interested in trying to say what its going to be. I dont know. I just know that good can only bring good.

I start from one point and go as far as possible. But, unfortunately, I never lose my way. I localize, which is to say that I think always in a given space. I rarely think of the whole of a solo, and only very briefly. I always return to the small part of the solo that I was in the process of playing.

All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.

My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith, my knowledge, my being.