The Feb 1963 issue of Jazz magazine opens with an editorial defending a letter from LeRoi Jones, in which he accuses the magazine of being in the hands of 'conservatives'. John Coltrane makes the cover and the featured article. Some of the content of the article has been quoted or repeated, including in the liner notes of the album Duke Ellington & John Coltrane, which was released the same month. CONSIDER COLTRANE by GENE LEES I wish I were one of those sages who can say, “Man, I dug Bird the first time I heard him.” I didn’t: the first time I heard Charlie Parker, I thought he was ridicu- lous, and it took a few months of exposure for his music to start to get through to me. I mentioned this to Dizzy Gillespie once. Birks laughed and said, “The main difference between you and other people is you'll admit it.” The first time I heard John Coltrane, I thought he was ridiculous. In fact, I walked out of the club, in company with three very good ...
Jamo Spingal