Aural archetypes and cyclic perspectives in the work of John Coltrane and ancient Chinese music theory.

Publication: Black Music Research Journal

Publication Date: 22-MAR-01

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Center For Black Music Research

The shaman is, then, a cosmically instructed man. His initiation is appropriate to the outer forms of his existence, yet bears an archetypal stamp.

--Stephen Larsen (1988, 81)

The following work, by relating musical constructs with cross-cultural concepts, proposes essential parallels between John Coltrane's enigmatic diagram of 1960 (see Lateef 1981, inside cover; Schott 2000, 355-356) and several ancient cyclic music theories of China. Consequently, with a reconsideration of commonly accepted analytical approaches to Coltrane's later musical periods, a new perspective offers a more artistically relevant view toward his developing musical conceptions of the 1960s as well as a more integrated understanding of modal practices in general.

Historically, the inclusivity of jazz tradition has inspired many musicians to introduce a variety of world influences into a predominantly African-American musical heritage. Beyond general concepts of pentatonicism, though, specific Chinese references to historical jazz practices have thus far remained untapped. Scholarly significance in this area must move both analytical and performance worlds forward, primarily because of the manifold potential in applying ancient Chinese theories toward the analysis of a twentieth-century musical culture like jazz.

Indeed, from two seemingly far-removed worlds, tangible new relationships are generated for Chinese traditional and American jazz music scholars alike in ways such as the following.

* Ancient esoteric Chinese concepts applied practically by the jazz performer will affect cognitive interaction both socially with the listener and personally with the historical tradition at hand.

* Theoretical insights, when compatible between two or more removed cultural-historical contexts, raise important potential for creating larger, more unifying musical theories--not necessarily of any particular practice in itself but rather for more cultural practices in general--in all, furthering our understanding of human commonalities through music.

* Considering the possibility that similar resources could give rise to the conception of similar approaches between modulatory traditions, then from and beyond the singular jazz model presented here, speculation could be returned toward how ancient Chinese and other musical practices may relate to the surviving theoretical documents of their time. This comparative work hones theoretical aligning of those tonal processes that together reveal more than common pentatonic perceptions have thus far allowed. For example, in regard to a recently discovered Chinese bell-set from the fifth century B.C., Liang (1985, 74-75) points out that: "The evidence for a modulation practice is especially compelling when one considers, for example, the purpose of having almost identical tuning modes, pitch names and registers in sub-sets G.5 and G.6, but with different temperaments.... Regrettably, the ancient tonal and modulation practice has long been a lost art ever since the end of the Zhou period (1075-256 B.C.).... [I]nstrumental artifacts suggest that the theoretical formula and recorded theoretical systems manifest a belated doctrine, whereas the actual music practices of the Zhou period may have been much more advanced than what was theoretically documented."

By realigning our jazz perception of John Coltrane's modal periods of the 1960s with ancient Chinese musical theoretical constructs, whether actually practiced or not, a door opens onto a cross-cultural view compatible with more than one practice alone. And once again, as "speculative theory" (which in itself seems a redundant phrase, for all theory must, on some level, carry an inherent sense of the speculative), such cross-cultural study accepts the importance of comparing historically removed concepts, traditions, and individual practices for the sake of initiating "new" theories, thus inviting the potential of transcultural considerations to emerge from the models discussed.

For the sake of focus, specific Chinese or African-American sociohistorical sources responsible for the musical conceptions discussed herein are not elaborated upon. In addition, many other cultural-historical contexts well-deserving of similar comparative study are only briefly treated in the conclusion, in the form of aural archetypes. In all, though, other ancient musical systems may not align as neatly with John Coltrane's diagram as with the musical theoretical implications of the Chinese sources. Certainly, many other directions inspired by this particular study may be worthy of pursuit on their own terms but nevertheless must be spared here for the more practical purpose of deriving new tools for assembling an alternative take on Coltrane's late musical creations, this in turn also expanding our general view of Chinese music theory.

The larger intent behind this probe is to further affirm the potential raised by John Coltrane's successful articulation of his spiritual essence in both theoretical and practical terms. (1) His 1960 diagram, here described and reconstructed through the direct application of four Chinese theoretical sources, implicates an original "Afro-Asian" referential approach. (2) This continues to support the late saxophonist and composer's ultimate triumph of integrating cosmological concerns with musical practice.

Appropriately, the following work assumes no responsibility for interpreting any specific kind of symbology with this material, for the understanding of Coltrane, expressed musically, looms much larger than any single or sum source could explain. Put more succinctly by Alice Coltrane (1990), "if it is possible to realize truth through sound, then that was the essence of his search." Hopefully, what follows is yet another example of how John Coltrane's search has inspired and influenced many, from a variety of backrounds, to discover for themselves how manifold truth is realized through shared universals in music.

On John Coltrane's Eclecticism

Particularly noteworthy were Coltrane's cumulative abilities to integrate a diversity of both musical and extramusical information into a fiercely original and evolving voice, based clearly on expansive conceptualizations of the materials that he read as well as practiced. Porter (1998, 216) notes that: "One way that Coltrane developed this unique sound world is by bringing into his music--and through his influence, into all of jazz and beyond--an eclectic collection of method books, exercises, and scales from around the world. The eclecticism gave his style originality--the more widespread one's sources, the less one sounds like any of them. Eclecticism, it seems to me, is one hallmark of genius.... It's well known that Coltrane utilized many books and studies.... What's unusual about Coltrane is that he seems to have built his style out of many of these resources, instead of leaving them at home strictly for practice and technique development."

By the late 1950s, this eclectic nature included a fervent interest in various aspects of the metaphysical as well. Louis-Victor Mialy has mentioned that Coltrane, "was also involved with oriental astrology, which is different from the astrology we use in the west--so he knew the sign of the snake, the dog, the horse" (quoted in Porter 1998, 255). Nisenson (1995, 113) adds that Coltrane "would internalize many of the ideas he had gathered from different world musics, meshing the basic concepts and techniques with that of his growing musical conception." Nisenson continues, "Most of the books that absorbed him were on religion and cosmic philosophy.... His interests in cosmology had a parallel to his music" (134-135). Coltrane "for years had been trying to relate mystical systems such as numerology and astrology, theories of modern physics and mathematics, the teachings of the great spiritual leaders, and advanced musical theory, and trying somehow to pull these threads into something he could play on his horn" (167). And he "continued to develop his musical theories, according to rumor, putting together what were basically large maps that exhibited the connection between mystical, scientific, and mathematical concepts" (213). In order to move across a variety of reading subjects while keeping prioritive time for musical practice, Coltrane stated: "Some I get into, man, and I don't get any further than the first few pages--then I start looking around, trying to find things" (quoted in Porter 1998, 257).

One source available during this time, Alain Danielou's Introduction to the Study of Musical Scales (1943), offered those intrigued by both science and mysticism a quick and accessible account of Chinese, Indian, and Greek tonal systems, accompanied with an integrative philosophy of universals. The book's title is indeed suggestive of the range of material on musical matters that Coltrane was pursuing for practice during the 1950s. (3) Porter (1998, 83) comments, "we begin to get a sense of how [he] collected materials freely from all sources and began to develop a new kind of jazz style, new in part because it didn't rely exclusively on traditional jazz materials." For instance, in chapter four, on "The Cycle of Fifths: The Musical Theory of the Chinese," Danielou covers areas of notable interest, particularly the significance of Yin and Yang, numerology, and pentatonicism as "the cyclic system, which necessarily leads to transposition" (Danielou 1995, 29). The foreword is indeed thought-provoking:

All music is based on the relations of sounds, and a careful study of the numbers by which these relations are ruled, brings us immediately into the almost forgotten science of numerical symbolism. Through musical experience it is easy to see that numbers correspond to abstract principles and that their application to physical reality follows absolute and inescapable laws. It is in music only that this connection between physical reality and metaphysical principles is evident. Music was, therefore, justly considered by the ancients as the key to all sciences and arts, the link between metaphysics and physics, through which the...

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