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John Coltrane in his own words and music

Jazz Unlimited will feature “John Coltrane in His Own Words and Music,” on Sunday. Jazz Unlimited airs from 9 p.m. to midnight, on St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7 FM.

During his career, John Coltrane gave only a few interviews to jazz journalists. He was a quiet, humble man who was very guarded. Until now, only transcripts existed of these interviews. Two well-known interviews with August Blume (1958) and Frank Kofsky (1966) have recently been issued in audio form.  These interviews, along with a short 1960 audio interview from Stockholm and a short 1966 interview from Japan will provide a different look at this jazz giant. 

In addition, we will play rare 78 rpm recordings of Coltrane with Gay Crosse and His Good Humor Six and saxophonist Earl Bostic.  Coltrane will be featured with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Coltrane’s own work with his trio, quartet and quintet and with Johnny Hartman.

The Slide Show has my images of three of the artists heard on the show.

Here is a video of the John Coltrane Quartet on the Jazz Casual TV show in 1963.  The tune is "Alabama" and its source was the cadences of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his eulogy for the victims of the Alabama church bombing.  The personnel is John Coltrane (ts) McCoy Tyner (p) Jimmy Garrison (b) and Elvin Jones (d).

Dennis Owsley has broadcast a weekly jazz show for St. Louis Public Radio since April 1983. He holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry and is a retired Monsanto Senior Science Fellow and college teacher. His show, Jazz Unlimited, airs every Sunday from 9:00 p.m. to midnight. The show has the largest jazz audience in St. Louis and was named Best Jazz Radio Show in St. Louis for the years 2005-2007 and 2009 by the Riverfront Times. In celebration of his 25 years on the air, January 24, 2008 was proclaimed Dennis Owsley Day" in the City of St. Louis. He is the 2010 winner of the St. Louis Public Radio Millard S. Cohen Lifetime Achievement Award. Dennis is also a noted photographer, and his exhibit, In the Moment: Photographs of Jazz Musicians, ran from September 23, 2005 to January 21, 2006 at the Sheldon Art Gallery. He is a lifetime student of jazz history and teaches short courses on the subject. Dennis is the author of the award-winning book City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis 1985-1973, published in 2006.