John Coltrane Essay

     James Brown was born on May 3, 1933, in South Carolina. He lived a life without parental guidance. His mother left him with his father when he was only 4 years old. James was often left alone while his father traveled to turpentine camps selling tar for a living. James recalls the times he spent alone walking around in the woods looking for doodlebugs, and playing

Paul Revere was a man of many talents, a “Jack Of All Trades” if you will. Patriot, silversmith, engraver, and republican, he was destined to be a hero. Born to parents Apollos De Rivoire, a French Huguenot, and Deborah Hitchbourn, Paul Revere came into the world on January 1, 1735 in Boston Massachusetts. Clark’s Wharf is where the Reveres resided now. The third born of eight children Revere learned early the lesson of perseverance, a lesson that would be an important in his later life, Revere would need to keep on going no mater what obstacles appeared in his way. Revere attended school in Boston where he got a sufficient education as well as in the shop with his father and the wharves of where he lived. As Revere grows

Jimi Hendrix is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer who is widely considered to be the most important electric guitarist in the history of music. Although Hendrix is known for his outstanding ability to play the guitar, he is also a very famous name in Blues music. He played the acoustic guitar but is known for his outstanding ability to play the electric guitar. With songs such as Red House, Here My Train A Comin', and Born Under a Bad Sign, Hendrix is considered to be in the Chicago category and quickly made his way into the history of Blues music.

Before we pass on from this world it would be nice if we had left our mark, given our contribution, made our claim in the history of human civilization. Wouldn't it be wonderful to achieve such a goal? Wouldn't it be horrible to have attained that level of recognition and yet be recognized for things you deemed inferior? In the poem "The Poet", Paul Laurence Dunbar expresses his remorse at having written superior Standard English literature and yet only be known and praised for his Dialect works.

Shortly after his birth, Coltrane's family moved to High Point, North Carolina. He lived in a nice neighborhood sharing a house with his mom and dad, aunt and uncle and cousin, and his grandparents, the Blairs (7). Even at an early age it was obvious that religion was important to Coltrane. He would listen to his grandfather, Reverend Blair, preach at the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church on Sunday mornings (7).

Paul Robeson as a scholar and athlete was a two-time All-American in football and baseball, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and valedictorian of his high school and college class. As an entertainer he starred in eleven movies, five Broadway musicals, and sang in sold out concerts throughout the world in twenty-five different languages. As a statesman he became known as the "citizen of the world," who spoke out whenever he saw social or racial injustices in any country, and spent his last years working with Albert Einstein to bring world peace. This magnificent African-American was able to do all these things during a time in America when most African-Americans were denied service at a local restaurant. "He was Michael

Tommy Burns was the new heavy weight champion and like Jefferies, he to was denying Johnson a shot at the title. This time Johnson was not having it. He followed Burns for two years from San Francisco to New York from Paris to London, mocking him to fight him. Burns would just state that Johnson was yellow, eventually it was said that King Henry himself called Burns a bluffer, I guess this got to Burns for in the end he agreed to fight Johnson for 30,000 dollars win, lose, or draw. This

The theme of the cellist of Sarajevo is the psyche. Every character goes through a

Singer. Born April 25, 1917, in Newport News, Virginia. (Though many biographical sources give her birth date as 1918, her birth certificate and school records show her to have been born a year earlier.) Often referred to as the "first lady of song," Fitzgerald enjoyed a career that stretched over six decades. With her lucid intonation and a range of three octaves, she became the preeminent jazz singer of her generation, recording over 2,000 songs, selling over 40 million albums, and winning 13 Grammy Awards, including one in 1967 for Lifetime Achievement.

John Joseph Gotti, Jr. was born on October 27, 1940. He was the fifth child of eleven children. His parents were John J. Gotti Sr. and Fannie Gotti. John Gotti's father was believed to be a hardworking immigrant from the Neapolitan section of Italy, though Gotti would later describe his father as a New Jersey native who has never set foot in Italy and never worked a day in his life to provide for the family. The Gotti family grew up in the slums of the South Bronx. Although Gotti denies it, his father worked hard to move them out of the poor neighborhoods. John J. Gotti Sr., after much perseverance, later moved his family to the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood. However, after living in Sheepshead Bay for about a year, the Gotti

Scott Joplin, commonly known as the "King of Ragtime" music, was born on November 24, 1868, in Bowie County, Texas near Linden. Joplin came from a large musical family. His father, Giles Joplin was a musician who had fiddled dance music while serving as a slave at his master's parties. His mother, Florence Givens Joplin, born free and out of slavery, sang and played the banjo, and four of his brothers and sisters either sang or played strings.

     Jazz is a style of music that began and has been revolutionized within the United States. Jazz music first appeared in the city of New Orleans and eventually moved onto Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and New York City. Jazz unites different elements of African, African- American, religious, brass brand, and blues style of music. The music of Jazz, and its changes through the years, is now a form of music that is known and respected throughout this nation and the world.

Charles Ives is known in our day as the “Father of American Music,” but in his day, he was known just like everyone else- an ordinary man living his life. He was born in Danbury, Connecticut on October 20, 1894 (Stanley 1) to his mother, Sarah Hotchkiss Wilcox Ives and father, George White Ives (A Life With Music, Swafford 4). His father was renowned for being the Union’s youngest bandmaster and having the best band in the Army (The Man His Life, Swafford 1). Little Charles was influenced early in his life by his father who had libertarian ideas about music (Stanley 1). Although Danbury prided itself as “the most musical town in Connecticut”, the people did not give the musical profession respect or understanding

Ludwig van Beethoven was, and remains today, an influential figure in the history of classical music. Perhaps no other composer in history wrote music of such inspiring power and expressiveness. His influence on the last 150 years of music is unequalled.

After being fired from Miles Davis's band in 1957 for his chronic use of heroin, John Coltrane was hurt tremendously. He decided it was time he quit using heroin. He took a month off from music while he went "cold turkey." During this month in the early spring of 1957, Coltrane had a momentous religious experience (Nisenson, 40). Coltrane asked God to give him "the means and privilege to make others happy through music" (Coltrane, 1995, 2). As time went on, Coltrane felt that he was leading a life that was "contradictory to the pledge and away from the esteemed path" that he had made to God (Coltrane, 1995, 2). Starting with A Love Supreme (recorded in December, 1964), Coltrane stuck to