Proponents of different jazz styles have always argued

that their predecessors, musical style did not include

essential characteristics that define jazz as jazz. Thus,

1940’s swing was belittled by beboppers of the 1950’s,

(5)who were themselves attacked by free jazzers of the

1960’s. The neoboppers of the 1980’s and 1990’s attacked

almost everybody else. The titanic figure of Black saxo-

phonist John Coltrane has complicated the arguments made

by proponents of styles from bebop through neobop

(10)because in his own musical journey he drew from all those

styles. His influence on all types of jazz was immeasurable.

At the height of his popularity, Coltrane largely abandoned

playing bebop, the style that had brought him fame, to

explore the outer reaches of jazz.

(15) Coltrane himself probably believed that the only essential

characteristic of jazz was improvisation, the one constant

in his journey from bebop to open-ended improvisations on

modal, Indian, and African melodies. On the other hand,

this dogged student and prodigious technician—who

(20)insisted on spending hours each day practicing scales from

theory books-was never able to jettison completely the

influence of bebop, with its fast and elaborate chains of

notes and ornaments on melody.

Two stylistic characteristics shaped the way Coltrane

(25)played the tenor saxophone, he favored playing fast runs

of notes built on a melody and depended on heavy, regu-

larly accented beats. The first led Coltrane to "sheets of

sound." where he raced faster and faster, pile-driving notes

into each other to suggest stacked harmonies. The second

(30)meant that his sense of rhythm was almost as close to rock

as to bebop.

Three recordings illustrate Coltrane’s energizing explor-

ations. Recording Kind of Blue with Miles Davis, Coltrane

found himself outside bop, exploring modal melodies. Here

(35)he played surging, lengthy solos built largely around

repeated motifs-an organizing principle unlike that of

free jazz saxophone player Ornette Coleman, who modu-

lated or altered melodies in his solos. On Giant Steps,

Coltrane debuted as leader, introducing his own composi-

(40)tions. Here the sheets of sound, downbeat accents, repe-

titions, and great speed are part of each solo, and the

variety of the shapes of his phrases is unique. Coltrane’s

searching explorations produced solid achievement. My

Favorite Things was another kind of watershed. Here

(45)Coltrane played the soprano saxophone, an instrument

seldom used by jazz musicians. Musically, the results were

astounding. With the soprano’s piping sound, ideas that had

sounded dark and brooding acquired a feeling of giddy

fantasy.

(50) When Coltrane began recording for the Impulse! label,

he was still searching. His music became raucous, physical.

His influence on rockers was enormous, including Jimi

Hendrix, the rock guitarist, who following Coltrane, raised

the extended guitar solo using repeated motifs to a kind of

rock art form.

21.The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) discuss the place of Coltrane in the world of jazz

and describe his musical explorations

(B) examine the nature of bebop and contrast it with

improvisational jazz

(C) analyze the musical sources of Coltrane’s style

and their influence on his work

(D) acknowledge the influence of Coltrane’s music on

rock music and rock musicians

(E) discuss the arguments that divide the proponents

of different jazz styles