Thursday, July 24, 2008

The holy man who dances wherever he wishes


This week's St. Louis American has a really deep K. Curtis Lyle review of a new book about the collaboration between Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Clawing at the Limits of Cool by Farah Jasmine Griffin and Salim Washington. If you're in St. Louis and picking up the print edition (free at most supermarkets and drug stores), it's deep inside the Living It section.

I was privileged to meet Miles and his brother Vernon Davis, but I would classify myself as more of a Coltrane man. So I am mostly digging on Curtis' closing riff on Trane:

"Coltrane brought the sacred edifice of the holy into the profane space of the club. He made it make sense, and he made it work. His mission has yet to be understood. His collaboration with Miles Davis was the beginning of this new archetype: the holy man who dances wherever he wishes, without stepping on another man's toes."

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Now this looks like a cool book, and I wouldn't have known about it if you hadn't sent out an e-mail directing me to read your next post about beer and Obama (nice one, too, by the way). Ya gotta trumpet yourself, Chris.

Speaking of which, check out my ongoing series of "Summertime" reviews over at euclidrecords.blogspot.com.

Poetry Scores said...

Steve, I glanced at your stuff yesterday and will now attempt to add you to my "blogroll."