Coltrane Chasin' The Trane

This book has a different approach because the author has talked to people who know and worked with Trane. As such it gives a deeper insight into how Coltrane developed Well written and informative

Excellent way to spend free leisure time in continuing my mental goals of reading a book a month to expand my memory and reading skills.

absolutely love this book.... awesome service thank you

Pretty factual and informative., but the author injects a bit too much of his own biases when discussing Trane's record output. Discography is somewhat outdated now.

This book is excellent all around, giving good background on John Coltrane's life, discussions of many of his albums, quotes from people who either played with Coltrane or were otherwise part of his life. There's a good discography, although so much new material has been issued since the book has come out, it's become rather patchy and dated. Thomas is a good writer (terrific for a music writer) but sometimes gets way off on tangents. That's my only criticism. But you get a good sense of the man, his music, his influence on other musicians, and his place in history. You can't ask for much more than that in a rock bio.

I read this book on the recommendation of Eric Nisenson in his 1993 book Ascension: John Coltrane And His Quest, previously reviewed. This is a biography, but it is not a straightforward narrative. The author, I suspect, began with a large collection of quotations from others on Coltrane, or by Coltrane himself, or somehow relevant to his life, and wrote the book around them. They don't occur on every page, but nearly.The author's style is of a type I find irritating until I grow accustomed to it and let it pass. He's of the sort that thinks it profound or dramatic to have one sentence paragraphs, rather than to include the line in the paragraph above or below. For example, on page 79 there is a paragraph with the single sentence: "He didn't." On page 83 we get the paragraph: "Except for tobacco." The book does not flow. It jerks along episodically like someone without stamina telling you a long story. The narrative, like a collage, is incessantly interrupted by those quotations set off in separate blocks and the author trying to be dramatic with those silly one sentence paragraphs. At the same time, there is not a single chapter break or header reference to tell you where you are in Coltrane's life.There are several pictures, but no index or bibliography. There is a discography, which the publisher's blurb claims is complete. The book was first published in 1975.

I bought this book for the plane and it was perfect. An easy read. It seems that all the basics of his life and lifestyle are there, but not very much about the music. I don't have a problem with that because that subject could easily fill a few books.This book is not divided into any chapters and has a stream-of-conscious feel to it. Makes for a nice read but sometimes his lead-ins to new topics can be kind of jarring. It's also not very detailed, a bit uneven at points, and he does go off on some tangents but otherwise it's a nice, basic introduction to the life of John Coltrane.

JC Thomas mixes facts with imaginative accounts of Coltrane's life, for example, he writes about a practice session or two as if he is sitting and watching. It's really a tad corny, but you do get a lot of facts. Not enough attention to the Miles Davis Quintet years. I think you can do better. There was a time when this was the only biography available and we had to settle for this.

I do enjoy reading biographies about my favourite musicians. However, even though I'm a musician of more than 30 years myself, I take no great interest in reading about the minutiae of the musical pieces themselves. So while I do love to hear about a musician's background, their influences, how they lived and who they worked with, the specifics of individual progressions or chord changes within a particular piece of music don't particularly float my boat. It's not the academia, rather the person that I want to know about. In that respect, Chasin' The Trane ticks all the right boxes. It's a biography, not a musical analysis. Yes, I would agree with the other reviewers here that it's very much a book of its time but astrology, religion and their effect on a individual's world view (particularly this individual's world view) ultimately influenced how he lived and, in some ways, what he wrote and how.My only slight reservation is that on occasion the (very interesting and often insightful) quotes from friends and colleagues are not always in order. So, you'll be reading about one time period, then there will be a quote from someone talking about something 18 months later, then you'll return to the original timeline, gradually catching up over the following few pages' narrative.All in all though, a thoroughly enjoyable book that doesn't dwell on the technicalities but rather focuses on the man and his life. Excellent.