This is great, thank you! Whilst of course the music speaks volumes for itself, I’m interested if he did any writings on these topics? (aside from love supreme liner notes)… maybe interviews also? I’m just so curious to hear how he distilled and articulated these ideas away from the instrument also
At a panel discussion, host Bill T Jones asked, “Was Coltrane an academic?” Reggie Workman responded, “He was always reading. Does anyone here know about Joe Brazil? Joe Brazil had a car full of books that he brought to my school in Brooklyn.” Before recording “Om” Coltrane had been reading from Brazil’s 6 versions of the Bhavagad Gita.
While so interesting, as everything about the man is, I find it disappointing and even demoralizing that there is never any mention (that I've ever found) of Trane including matriarchal religion in his studies, i.e. earth-centric religion vs sky-centric religion. In my humble opinion, the earth religions are the original spiritual traditions and it makes me very sad if he didn't consider them on his journey to spiritual enlightenment. I find it a huge indiscretion. So much for giant steps.
Thank you Linda for sharing this. I really resonate with the spirit of your comment because it comes from a place of wanting Coltrane’s spiritual search to feel complete, and wanting to see earth-centered, matriarchal traditions honored as fully as the sky-oriented ones that show up more visibly in the historical record.
What the scholarship shows is that Coltrane’s search was radically plural, but also uneven in what left a documentary trail. The traditions he explicitly studied—Christian mysticism, Hinduism, Vedanta, yoga, the teachings of Krishnamurti, Yogananda, and Gandhi—are the ones most strongly represented in the surviving interviews, liner notes, and testimony from family, collaborators, and scholars. For instance, Carl Clements documents Coltrane’s sustained engagement with Indian philosophy, yoga practice, and modal/drone concepts during the early–mid ’60s. Similarly, Arun Nevader frames Coltrane’s spiritual journey as grounded in a universalist, metaphysical pursuit of Self-realization rather than alignment with any single doctrine. And his own A Love Supreme text makes clear that he understood his devotion as something that transcended particular religious categories altogether.
But absence in the written record is not synonymous with rejection. Coltrane’s vision of spirituality was intentionally porous, syncretic, and non-dogmatic. His universalism—what Franya Berkman calls his “appropriation of universality”—was driven by a desire to dissolve boundaries between traditions rather than rank them. In that sense, nothing about his documented path rules out deep resonance with earth-centered or matriarchal cosmologies; we simply lack explicit statements or interviews where he names those traditions directly.
It’s also worth remembering that Coltrane’s spiritual expansion accelerated in the final years of his life. By 1967, when he planned six months of immersive study in India, his trajectory was still widening. We don’t know how his inquiry would have evolved had he lived longer. That’s part of the heartbreak—and the mystery—of his story.
So I hear your disappointment, and I think it comes from wanting Coltrane’s reach to extend into traditions that speak to your own grounding and truth. The good news is that his method of seeking; a deep listening, a dissolving of boundaries, an honoring of spirit in sound all aligns very closely with the ethos of many earth-centered traditions, even if he didn’t explicitly study them by name.
If anything, his legacy invites us to continue the search he began, expanding it into realms he didn’t have the time to explore and bringing those traditions into the musical, spiritual, and scholarly conversation where they absolutely belong.
Fascinating, insightful, and well-researched. Curious whether a complete list of books from Coltrane’s library is available- would love to see more examples like the ones mentioned here.
Coltrane’s connection to George Russell and his metaphysical conception of music would be interesting to explore as well. The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization was a massive inspiration for Coltrane and Miles. Reading it sometimes feels like it was written using the same kind of universal, spiritual, and philosophical approach to music that so inspired Coltrane.
I recently read a book by an author named Kieran Fox about the spiritual journey of Albert Einstein. Lots of parallels to Coltrane's journey. Like Coltrane, Einstein saw his craft and work (in his case mathematics, physics) as a way to connect to the universe. Craft as an embodiment of views and sentiment... thanks for a good behind the scenes look at a treasured artist.
This is great, thank you! Whilst of course the music speaks volumes for itself, I’m interested if he did any writings on these topics? (aside from love supreme liner notes)… maybe interviews also? I’m just so curious to hear how he distilled and articulated these ideas away from the instrument also
At a panel discussion, host Bill T Jones asked, “Was Coltrane an academic?” Reggie Workman responded, “He was always reading. Does anyone here know about Joe Brazil? Joe Brazil had a car full of books that he brought to my school in Brooklyn.” Before recording “Om” Coltrane had been reading from Brazil’s 6 versions of the Bhavagad Gita.
While so interesting, as everything about the man is, I find it disappointing and even demoralizing that there is never any mention (that I've ever found) of Trane including matriarchal religion in his studies, i.e. earth-centric religion vs sky-centric religion. In my humble opinion, the earth religions are the original spiritual traditions and it makes me very sad if he didn't consider them on his journey to spiritual enlightenment. I find it a huge indiscretion. So much for giant steps.
Thank you Linda for sharing this. I really resonate with the spirit of your comment because it comes from a place of wanting Coltrane’s spiritual search to feel complete, and wanting to see earth-centered, matriarchal traditions honored as fully as the sky-oriented ones that show up more visibly in the historical record.
What the scholarship shows is that Coltrane’s search was radically plural, but also uneven in what left a documentary trail. The traditions he explicitly studied—Christian mysticism, Hinduism, Vedanta, yoga, the teachings of Krishnamurti, Yogananda, and Gandhi—are the ones most strongly represented in the surviving interviews, liner notes, and testimony from family, collaborators, and scholars. For instance, Carl Clements documents Coltrane’s sustained engagement with Indian philosophy, yoga practice, and modal/drone concepts during the early–mid ’60s. Similarly, Arun Nevader frames Coltrane’s spiritual journey as grounded in a universalist, metaphysical pursuit of Self-realization rather than alignment with any single doctrine. And his own A Love Supreme text makes clear that he understood his devotion as something that transcended particular religious categories altogether.
But absence in the written record is not synonymous with rejection. Coltrane’s vision of spirituality was intentionally porous, syncretic, and non-dogmatic. His universalism—what Franya Berkman calls his “appropriation of universality”—was driven by a desire to dissolve boundaries between traditions rather than rank them. In that sense, nothing about his documented path rules out deep resonance with earth-centered or matriarchal cosmologies; we simply lack explicit statements or interviews where he names those traditions directly.
It’s also worth remembering that Coltrane’s spiritual expansion accelerated in the final years of his life. By 1967, when he planned six months of immersive study in India, his trajectory was still widening. We don’t know how his inquiry would have evolved had he lived longer. That’s part of the heartbreak—and the mystery—of his story.
So I hear your disappointment, and I think it comes from wanting Coltrane’s reach to extend into traditions that speak to your own grounding and truth. The good news is that his method of seeking; a deep listening, a dissolving of boundaries, an honoring of spirit in sound all aligns very closely with the ethos of many earth-centered traditions, even if he didn’t explicitly study them by name.
If anything, his legacy invites us to continue the search he began, expanding it into realms he didn’t have the time to explore and bringing those traditions into the musical, spiritual, and scholarly conversation where they absolutely belong.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I will consider it.
Fascinating, insightful, and well-researched. Curious whether a complete list of books from Coltrane’s library is available- would love to see more examples like the ones mentioned here.
Coltrane’s connection to George Russell and his metaphysical conception of music would be interesting to explore as well. The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization was a massive inspiration for Coltrane and Miles. Reading it sometimes feels like it was written using the same kind of universal, spiritual, and philosophical approach to music that so inspired Coltrane.
I recently read a book by an author named Kieran Fox about the spiritual journey of Albert Einstein. Lots of parallels to Coltrane's journey. Like Coltrane, Einstein saw his craft and work (in his case mathematics, physics) as a way to connect to the universe. Craft as an embodiment of views and sentiment... thanks for a good behind the scenes look at a treasured artist.
For what it's worth, Coltrane is known to have read British philosopher A.J. Ayer's "Language, Truth and Logic".
Mr Primack, where is Coltrane's interest.in Kaballah, and Plato and Aristotle, documented? Thanks, John Schott
I found a paper once that claimed Coltrane wasn’t “intellectual” or even anti-intellectual. Some of the most obtuse nonsense I’ve ever read.
Outstanding article, Brett. I knew he studied Eastern philosophy, Bhagavad Gita, but didn’t know he also read Kabbalah..Fascinating
Him & Elvis.