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(“In a Sentimental Mood” by John Coltrane)
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- Do you live far outside of…
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wherever we are now?
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- Well I guess I’m about four or five miles
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down the road (laughs).
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- [Frank] You really sound like Farmer John (laughs).
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- Yeah man, when I come up here, I have to do all…
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to get everything I want to get...
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You know, I got to the store and do all that
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because I don’t want to come back up here.
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(jazz music)
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- [Frank] Where do you play at home?
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- [John] Anywhere.
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There’s a room over the garage out there
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that I’m getting fixed now to…
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I think it’s going to be my practice room.
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You know sometimes you build a room
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and it ends up you can still go in the toilet,
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so I don’t know, I hope I like it but…
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I keep a horn on the piano and I have a horn in my bedroom…
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the flute’s usually back there
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because when I go down tired, I lay down and practice and...
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- About how many hours a day do you play, would you say?
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- Not too much at this time.
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I find that it’s only when something
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is trying to come through
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you know that I really practice
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and then it’s just,
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I don’t know how many hours,
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it’s just all day.
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(saxophone music)
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I did a foolish thing,
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I got dissatisfied with my mouth piece (laughs).
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I had some work done on this thing
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and instead of making it better, it ruined it.
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It really discouraged me, you know, a little bit
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because they were certain aspects of that playing
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that certain fast thing that I was reaching for
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that I couldn’t push because I had damaged this thing…
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so I just had to curtail it (laughs).
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But at that moment, it was so vivid in my mind,
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the difference in what I was getting on the horn,
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as soon as I put that horn in my mouth,
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I could hear it.
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I could feel it and I just stopped,
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I just went into other things.
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In fact, soprano’s one of the reasons I started (laughs)
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getting dissatisfied with that tenor mouthpiece, see?
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Because the sound of that soprano
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was actually so much closer to me in my ear.
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I didn’t want to admit this damn thing
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because I said well the tenor’s my horn,
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this is my baby but the soprano,
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there’s still something there,
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just the voice of it that I can’t…
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It’s just really beautiful.
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I really like it.
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(“My Favorite Things” by John Coltrane)
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- [Frank] The people I was staying with have a friend,
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a young lady,
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and she was downtown at one Malcolm X’s speeches
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and, lo and behold, who should plop down
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in the seat next to her but John Coltrane (laughs).
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- [John] (laughs) Yeah.
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- [Frank] Were you impressed with him?
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- [John] Definitely, definitely.
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I felt I had to see the man.
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I was quite impressed.
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- [Frank] Some musicians have said there’s a relationship
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between some of Malcolm’s ideas and the music.
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- [John] Well, I think that music,
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being expression of the human heart
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or the human being itself,
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does express just what is happening.
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The whole of human experience
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at that particular time is being expressed.
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(horn music)
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In any situation that we find in our lives,
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when there’s something we feel should be better,
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we must exert effort to try and make it better.
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So it’s the same socially, musically, politically,
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in any department of your life.
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I think music is an instrument.
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It can create the initial thought pattern
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that can create a change, you see,
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in the thinking of the people.
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(saxophone music)
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I want to be a force for good.
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I mean I want to be a force for real good.
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In other words, I know that there are bad forces.
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I know that there are forces out here
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that bring suffering to others
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and misery to the world,
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but I want to be the opposite force.
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I want to be the force which is truly for good.
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(saxophone music)
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- [Frank] What were you looking for John,
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do you want some cigarettes or…?
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- [John] No, I’m just sitting up because my back is wet
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and I just need to get off the chair.
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- [Frank] I don’t have any more of my prepared questions
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to ask you, or my improvised questions (laughs) to ask you.
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I don’t know when I’ll ever get the chance
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to sit you down with a tape recorder again (laughs).
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Do you have anything else to get on here?
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- [John] I think you man, well you just about covered it,
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I believe…
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just about covered it.
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(jazz music)
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