nt figure in the bebop movement. Bebop was a style of jazz, popular during the late thirties and forties. It incorporated faster tempos, and more complex phrases than the jazz of earlier years. For the first time in many years, Coltrane felt some sense of stability in his life. However, after a two-year stint with Gillespie, Coltrane was asked to leave because of his unreliability due to his heroin addiction. Again, Coltrane was reduced to “walking the bar”, and playing in seedy clubs. Depressed and dejected, his addiction grew. It was during this time that Coltrane became very interested in eastern philosophies. “When he was not studying or playing he spent most of his time reading and attempting to satisfy his growing philosophical curiosity about life. It was an inborn curiosity to a certain extent, but one that had also developed from events from his early life such as his religious upbringing, and the early deaths of the most important men in his life.” Life was getting back on track for him, as he finally felt the influence of positive forces. At this time, he met Naima, a Moslem woman, and an able musician. More than anyone, she was able to help Coltrane pick up the broken pieces of his life. They were soon married. In the mid-fifties, he was invited to play with Miles Davis and his quintet. The collaboration that developed would change his life. Miles Davis had received acclaim at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1955. Davis was dubbed the rising star of the new avant-garde movement, cool jazz. Cool jazz was a striking contrast to the more traditional jazz popular during the forties. It emphasized experimentation with chords, keys, and modes, improvising on scales rather than on sequences of chords, producing music that at times was very bizarre. This new movement was the beginning of an experimental stage of jazz that was very popular during the sixties. The partnership between Davis and Coltrane proved to b...
