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Title: a weak book about a great musician
Review: This reads like an academic's thesis which got published without ever being edited for publication. Conversational on one page, professorially pedantic on the next, straining throughout in its effort to contextualize all of Coltrane's work in the writings of Fela Sowande; this is not an especially fun or insightful read. The book's lack of focus extends to even the placement of photographs, which appear throughout the book with no relationship to the choronology of the text. The best passages are Cole's personal recollections of Coltrane, in particular his recount of Coltrane practicing with a friend in a hotel room. For those sections alone, the book is worthwhile for dedicated Coltrane fans. But newcomers to Coltrane about would do far better to pick up Eric Nisenson's "Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest."
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