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On SEPTEMBER 15, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, a Klansman known as "Dynamite Bob" detonated several sticks of dynamite in a local church. The explosion wounded several parishioners and killed four girls. Three of them were fourteen years old, the fourth only eleven. In response to this tragedy, the tenor saxophonist John Coltrane composed "Alabama" and recorded it on November 18, just two months after the bombing. According to biographers, Coltrane incorporated not only his emotional response but the rhythms in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s eulogy for the girls. While this tune might be considered overtly political, Coltrane throughout his career made no direct statements about his association with the Civil Rights Movement. Nevertheless, outspoken African-American poets of the 1960s adopted Coltrane's sound as the musical embodiment of black nationalism in the United States.
Born in North Carolina in 1926, Coltrane spent his life in a relentless exploration of musical ideas and sounds. His career is often separated, roughly, into three periods: from the '50s through 1960, from 1960 to 1965, and from 1965 to his death in 1967--each a step in Coltrane's development toward the freest forms of jazz and, on a personal level, the most spiritual forms of expression. He began as a sideman for bebop pioneers, recording with Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra as early as 1949. In the mid-'50s Coltrane became a member of the Miles Davis quintet, and in 1957 he worked closely with Thelonious Monk, whose compositions and unexpected musical transitions (often improvised during performances) extended Coltrane's understanding of harmonics and alternative chordal progressions. Shortly thereafter Coltrane began recording as a leader. His first major breakthrough came in 1960, when he began to shape and control with maturity his driving, intimidatingly rapid musical phrases. At this time he established what became known as the "classic quartet": Coltrane on tenor and soprano saxophones, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and the explosive Elvin Jones on drums. From 1960 to 1965, this quartet recorded many albums, three of which have become primary sources for poetic inspiration: My Favorite Things (1960), Coltrane "Live" at Birdland (1964), and A Love Supreme (1964), a virtual anthem for poets such as Michael Harper.
The new sound of the quartet featured an unmatched percussive pulse generated in...