Jazz Corner: Celebrating a Hundred Years of Miles Davis and John Coltrane

For the  Jazz community worldwide, 2026 is very special. Jazz superstars John Coltrane and Miles Davis, both born in 1926, would have turned a hundred this year. Though they were mortal, the legacy of music they have left behind has transcended that limitation to become immortal. This music has been recorded and well preserved for the generations that follow to savor, enjoy, and learn from.

It is almost as if Miles Davis and John Coltrane have rewritten the very grammar of Jazz; if it was approached in a certain way before they entered its great traditions, they have suggested that maybe, just maybe, there is another perspective worth looking at without muddying its culture. And then they have shown us how. The impact of Miles & ‘Trane on jazz is enormous.

Miles Davis stamped a signature style of his own onto jazz. He brought about changes in the trend of jazz at different times in his playing days (which we shall expand on further later in the piece), but there was a quality of magic in his trumpet playing that defies category. Miles Davis’ use of the muted trumpet and his persuasive playing just a fraction of a second behind the beat had an almost haunting quality about it; this was especially true when he played ballads. Miles also had an instinctive knack for picking musicians who would be just right for the music he had in mind. His choice of pianists in his different bands — the classy Red Garland in the early Fifties playing standards and hardbop, the pensive Bill Evans for his modal masterpiece album, Kind of Blue, the use of the swinging Wynton Kelly thereafter (and on one track off Kind of Blue), and Herbie Hancock for his later acoustic phase and into his electronic and fusion periods were very astute choices. In retrospect, he could not have chosen pianists who were more appropriate for the phases of Miles’ music.

Miles chose arranger and orchestra leader Gil Evans for his albums, Birth of the Cool, Porgy & Bess, Sketches of Spain, and a few more. This choice was inspired and against the trends of jazz at the time. Miles’ vision of his music was impeccable, and along with Gil Evans, he created masterpieces.

The interesting choice Miles Davis made in the early Fifties, when he was putting together his quintet, was that of John Coltrane as his saxophone player. Rejecting the likes of Sonny Rollins and several other established saxophonists, Miles opted for the relatively unknown and raw John Coltrane. The growth of Coltrane within the group can be heard in the successive recordings of the band, especially in the four albums they recorded, Cookin’, Relaxin’, Workin’ and Steamin’, all recorded in a very short period of time. 

They are all considered jazz classic albums, replete with popular jazz standards. Coltrane’s powerful blowing served to offset the more introspective style of Miles’ trumpet; together their yin-and-yang sounds made for a perfect jazz band, exactly as Miles had visualized it. 

John Coltrane, on his part, was a proficient and technically sound saxophone player who had done stints with bebop and hardbop bands before establishing a name for himself in the post-war jazz scene. This was the lead-up to his induction into Miles’ quintet. His consistent playing with Miles’ band gave Coltrane a direction. There was no looking back.

Coltrane next joined the band of the eclectic pianist and leader Thelonius Monk as a regular member. This was for six months in 1957 during their residency at New York’s Five Spot Cafe, a jazz club. Here, Coltrane honed his style and skills. Monk, a legendary jazz composer and pianist, gave John Coltrane plenty of space to explore his sounds. This phase with Monk allowed Coltrane to establish his signature sound. There was no stopping John Coltrane’s upward trajectory.

Miles Davis re-inducted Coltrane into his scheme of sounds. Their collaboration on Kind of Blue and a handful of other albums now occupies a legendary status in jazz history. It was not just their great innovative combination; Miles and Coltrane each brought individual class to the recording sessions. They complemented each other perfectly, as if each of them was telling their version of the musical tale. In combination with the great alto saxophone player Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley, this band was sublime; their music from close to 70 years ago can still surprise listeners with its freshness.

Miles and Coltrane could have rested on their laurels, having created some of the best sounds in jazz.  However, each of them seemed to have some unfinished personal musical agendas to fulfil. They both took off in different directions, to the next phase of their musical paths.

While Miles set off in search of new possibilities using the then-newly invented electronic musical instruments like the Moog synthesiser, electric guitar, electric bass, and others, John Coltrane found an aspect of jazz that he had previously only hinted at in his playing with his own bands. His albums as leader of his groups, such as Giant Steps, My Favorite Things, Blue Train, and Ole, among others, pointed to a search for something beyond the ordinary. John Coltrane embarked on a tangential jazz journey. He brought back the Soprano saxophone, dormant in jazz since the 1930s. He experimented with the avant-garde dimension in jazz, as evidenced by his collaborations with non-mainstream jazz musicians such as Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, and Pharoah Sanders. Coltrane seemed to be seeking something hidden. Then he found it.

John Coltrane discovered a deeply spiritual aspect to his jazz playing. We had heard hints of it in earlier, soul-stirring tracks like “Alabama,” which he recorded as a requiem for innocent school children being killed in Alabama.  Later, he also gave us the album Crescent, an introspective jazz creation from his quartet. Coltrane could be seen reaching within himself, and then he came up with a masterpiece.

John Coltrane’s magnum opus emerged in 1965 with the very powerful and moving A Love Supreme, one of the greatest-ever jazz albums. It is a jazz piece in four movements, each packed with a powerful composition. It sounds as if he is reaching for, searching for, and attaining contact with a higher power.

According to his wife, Coltrane isolated himself for 10 days in his room and came out saying that his new music was ready. It sounded to her like a life mission had been fulfilled. He later said that it was his communication with god and that music was his prayer. This album ignited a lot of emotion. The African Orthodox Church canonised him as Saint John William Coltrane, while in San Francisco, a “Church of St. John Coltrane” was formed, which exists to date. 

Sadly, Coltrane died when he was just 40, having aroused a lot of interest in his style of jazz. John Coltrane had just a brief 12-year career during which he made a deep dent on the industry.

“I humbly asked to be given the means and the privilege to make others happy through my music”, John Coltrane had once said. How well that wish was granted.

Sixty years after his death, his musical inspiration is very strong; every subsequent saxophone player has something from Coltrane.

Meanwhile, Miles Davis continued to explore his version of jazz fusion, creating a new listenership of jazz followers. 

The influence and impact of Miles Dewey Davis and John William Coltrane on the way jazz is played is not quantifiable. They are jazz game changers.

Now, a hundred years after they were born, their music is still contemporary, almost wondrous.

Album sales of Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme and their other recordings are brisk to this day. Every jazz radio station is still playing their music. 

Below is a short suggested playlist to celebrate that legacy. Time to listen and celebrate.

Miles Davis & John Coltrane:

“‘Round Midnight” 

“Milestones” 

“So What”

Miles Davis:

“Pfrancing”

“Basin Street Blues”

“Bye Bye Blackbird”

John Coltrane:

“Alabama” 

“Impressions” 

“Equinox”

Albums:

Kind of Blue

A Love Supreme 

Seven Steps to Heaven 

Giant Steps