Historical Dictionary of Jazz. John S. Davis
she had three children. She replaced McCoy Tyner in Coltrane’s group in 1966 and played with the band until Coltrane’s death in 1967. Following his death, from 1967 to 1972 Alice Coltrane led many groups that included musicians Pharoah Sanders, Joe Henderson, and Roy Haynes, among others. In 1972 she moved to California and became involved with spiritual and religious concerns, performing less regularly. In 1987 she performed a tribute to John Coltrane with her sons Ravi Coltrane and Oran Coltrane.
COLTRANE, JOHN (1926–1967)
Next to Charlie Parker, there is no more influential or imitated jazz saxophonist than John Coltrane; next to Miles Davis, there is perhaps no more influential figure in jazz. Around the age of 15, Coltrane began playing the alto saxophone, and from 1945 to 1946 he toured with a navy band, followed by tours with King Kolax and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. He recorded with Dizzy Gillespie in 1949, playing with his big band from 1949 to 1950 and his sextet from 1950 to 1951. Thereafter he played with Earl Bostic (1952) and Johnny Hodges (1953–1954), during which time he switched permanently to the tenor saxophone.
After spending two weeks with Jimmy Smith, Coltrane received and accepted Miles Davis’s offer to replace Sonny Rollins in his quintet. Coltrane would be in Davis’s group on and off until 1960, famously fired in 1957 due to his drug addiction but rehired after kicking his habit in 1958. During this time Coltrane participated in several of Davis’s most famous recordings, including Kind of Blue and Milestones; released some of his own recordings as a leader, including Blue Train and Giant Steps; and had a much-celebrated stint with Thelonious Monk in 1957.
In 1960, Coltrane left Davis’s group and formed his own quartet with McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Reggie Workman (until 1961), and then Jimmy Garrison on bass. During this time, Coltrane produced many of his finest recordings, notably “My Favorite Things” in 1960, on which Coltrane plays the soprano saxophone, and A Love Supreme in 1964, which contained the spiritual message that framed the latter years of his life. As Coltrane ventured deeper into the avant-garde during 1965 and 1966, the quartet changed members, adding Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, and Rashied Ali while losing Tyner and Jones. Coltrane died of liver cancer at the relatively young age of 40.
COLUMBIA
Probably the oldest and longest-lasting name of any record label, Columbia’s roots extend back as far as the late 1880s, when it was created as a subsidiary of the American Graphophone Company in Washington, D.C. During the 1910s through the 1930s, the Columbia catalog included many noted jazz artists, including the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Bessie Smith, King Oliver, Paul Whiteman, Jack Teagarden, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. In 1938, the label was purchased by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). During the 1940s, CBS also counted several dance bands among its artists, including the bands of Woody Herman and Count Basie, and also other artists including Billie Holiday. The label signed and recorded a tremendous number of rock-and-roll and popular music artists throughout the last half of the century but still served as a home for many famous jazz artists, including Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Wynton Marsalis. Columbia was purchased by Sony in 1987 but remains active today. See also EPIC.
COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM (CBS)
Record label and company. See also COLUMBIA; ELECTRICAL AND MUSICAL INDUSTRIES (EMI).
COMBO
A term that refers to a small jazz ensemble or music group, it is a shortened form of the word combination. The term most often applies to a jazz group with more than four members, but less than a traditional big band.
COMMODORE
An American record label and company established in 1938 in New York. Artists included Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday, and Jelly Roll Morton.
COMPING
A term used to refer to the harmonic and/or rhythmic accompaniment provided by ensemble members (typically piano, guitar, bass, and drum set) for soloists. The term is short for accompaniment or complement.
CONCORD
An American record label and company established in 1973 in Concord, California. Artists included older swing musicians such as Warren Vaché and Scott Hamilton.
CONDON, EDDIE (1905–1973)
A jazz guitarist, banjoist, and bandleader, Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana, and began performing professionally as a banjo player at the age of 16. Based in Chicago for most of the 1920s, he played with jazz artists including cornetist Bix Beiderbecke and trombonist Jack Teagarden. Along with Red McKenzie, he formed the Chicago Rhythm Kings in 1925. Condon moved to New York City in 1928 and began arranging jazz sessions for various record labels, sometimes playing with artists he brought to the studios, including Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller. He regularly organized racially integrated recording sessions, something that was rare at the time. He began a long association with Milt Gabler and Commodore Records beginning in 1938. Condon did a series of nationally popular radio broadcasts from New York’s Town Hall from 1944 to 1945, the recordings of which still survive and have been reissued on the Jazzology label.
Condon ran his own New York jazz club, Eddie Condon’s, from 1945 to 1967. During the 1950s Condon did a series of important recordings with early jazz musicians including Bobby Hackett on cornet, Wild Bill Davidson, Peanuts Hucko, Pee Wee Russell, Budd Freeman, and Ralph Sutton, among others. Condon toured and appeared at festivals until 1971.
CONGA
An Afro-Cuban drum with a barrel-shaped shell, played by striking the head with the fingers or the open palm. Chano Pozo, playing with Dizzy Gillespie in the late 1940s, was instrumental in introducing the conga to jazz music. See also AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ; CLAVE.
CONNIFF, RAY (1916–2002)
A trombonist, Ray Conniff played with various dance bands in the 1930s and 1940s, including the bands of Artie Shaw and Harry James. In the late 1950s, Conniff gave up the trombone for arranging. His group, the Ray Conniff Singers, was very successful during the later 1950s and the 1960s.
CONQUEROR
A record label that began issuing records in 1928 and was discontinued in 1942.
CONTACT
Record label and company founded in 1964 in New York. It released material by artists including Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young.
CONTEMPORARY
A record label and company founded in 1951 in Los Angeles by Lester Koenig. Artists included Art Pepper, Chet Baker, Ornette Coleman, Harold Land, Art Farmer, Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor, and many others.
CONTINENTAL
A record label and company founded in the mid-1940s. Artists included Cozy Cole and Mary Lou Williams.
CONTINUUM
A quintet that included Slide Hampton,