Lewis Porter reveals the hidden sources of John Coltrane's compositions

By Chet Williamson

In the opening pages of his book John Coltrane: His Life and Music, author Lewis Porter identifies his subject as one of the great musical artists of the 20th century.

The remainder of the exposition is not only an admiring portrait, but an insider's look at the music. Being a musician himself, Porter pulls the music apart to see how it all hangs together. Through his analysis the reader sees exactly how Porter supports his assertion.

He continues the process with a live presentation called "The Hidden Sources of John Coltrane's Compositions," a program featuring a solo piano performance and lecture by Porter. Through the Arts and Humanities Department at WPI, he brings it to Worcester next Wednesday, March 19.

Porter wears many hats in his jazz life. In addition to being a player and author of five books, he is a professor of music at Rutgers University in Newark, where he directs the master's program in jazz history. In that position he has built a respected career as a leading jazz scholar, dedicated to raising the standards of jazz scholarship.

As a pianist, Porter is known for possessing a free and open attitude and ability to connect and contribute in any musical situation. His credits include sharing stages with such disparate artists as Wycliffe Gordon, Ravi Coltrane, Joe Morris, Badal Roy and Jane Ira Bloom. In 2007 he performed with Dave Leibman in Europe. His latest CD is Italian Encounter, a live date recorded at Siena Jazz. For more check out his MySpace page or visit www.lewisporter.com.

Lewis Porter

For the performance part of his WPI presentation, Porter says he will play a collection of Coltrane tunes, such as "Central Park West," "After the Rain" and "Naima." He qualifies other pieces by saying, "maybe something a little out, like 'Cosmos,' and maybe 'Mr. P.C.' to get a blues in there."

As for the hidden sources of Coltrane's compositions, Porter says, "People might be a little surprised, but most of the audio that I'm going to play is not Coltrane. I almost don't want to give it away because I love to see the audience response when I do this kind of thing."

Porter did reveal that he would play a variety of selections from light classical music to a field recording of a singer in India, to show "the breadth of his listening world. To me that was one of the things that made Coltrane different. He was so open to every possible source. When he got into his own unique sound, it's because he got away from only getting inspiration within the jazz field. He started taking it from anywhere on the planet."

Although he was best known as a master of the saxophone, whose astonishing solos have been likened to "sheets of sound" by noted jazz critic Ira Gitler, the thing that often goes unnoticed is Coltrane's compositions.

"If he were only a composer, he'd still be famous because he wrote brilliant tunes," Porter says. "I also like to point out that even his arrangements were brilliant. The simplest, but most overlooked example is 'My Favorite Things.' What he did with that was a real transformation. It's very striking, deep and profound what he did with it."

Speaking of favorite things, Porter admits that between writing and teaching, performing remains at the top of the list. "That's where I come from and that's what I like to do most," he admits. "Everything revolves around that. My second favorite is to teach. I love teaching. I kind of discovered that by accident. First was when I had to give a talk in high school. I wouldn't say that I love writing, but I've done a lot of it. I think of myself as a musician and if I have something I need to say I can write it. But, everything is informed by my playing."

Porter also appears with a quartet featuring Ron Mahdi, John Ramsay and Daniel Ian Smith on Tuesday, March 18 from 9-10 p.m. on the show "Eric in the Evening," heard over WGBH 89.7 FM. o