John Coltrane

John Coltrane
42" x 22"
oil on wood, 2011

There's one image of John Coltrane I like better than all others. I believe that this may be the eight painting I've done from a photo taken by F. Winham. I have a copy of it in the book Jazz Heroes by John Fordham. As you can imagine the page it's on has quite few paint stains. The photo shows Coltrane performing at the end of his career. Gone is the black suit and tie, gone are the conventions of the traditional jazz combo. The photo shows Coltrane with with Pharoah Sanders on tenor, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali, precisely the line-up I cherish most. It is however not precisely the quartet of musicians featured on the recording of Vigil from 1965 in the newest Top 100. McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones are heard together with Garrison and Coltrane. Of the eight or so paintings from the photo I've only included Sanders a few times, Ali and Garrison remain unpainted, and now again Coltrane is singled out. Funny thing is that of all eight paintings, the one just finished, still wet, is the only one I own. The first one I painted in 2000 and it was one of the first paintings ever to sell from the Top 100 series. Apparently my audience likes this image of Coltrane just as much as I do. If the new one doesn't sell (which I don't think it will—due to its excessive size the price is somewhat steep) I'll keep it and it will be time to close Jazz Heroes forevermore and find myself a different Coltrane image to paint.