MHST 517C Selected Topics in Jazz History: John Coltrane
We will begin with the assumption that you have a basic knowledge of the artist. However, the course will proceed in chronological order, so that a picture of the artist and his development will emerge in any case. Dr. Porter’s publications will be important resources, but he will also share his more recent research. You will be exposed to a tremendous amount of material that is not publicly available. We will dig deep into unknown recordings, unedited session reels, unsolved biographical issues, and we will discuss stylistic issues using transcriptions, etc. Each student will engage in a major semester-long research project, which can involve transcriptions and analysis, archival research, conducting interviews, any combination of these, etc. In addition there will be weekly readings, possibly short writing assignments, and suggested, sometimes required, listening. This course is open to all majors.