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Rating: 
Summary: Good source for stuff about Coltrane
Review: I enjoyed reading this book not only for it's comments on Coltrane but about the detail of his projects with other great musicians. It has a detailed recording list (includes dates, times, people involved, etc.)
Rating: 
Summary: A Biography for musicians
Review: This book is great for people who love jazz and have a knowledge of music notation. It reads like a college thesis, but goes into depth about actual musical passages and techniques. A must read for anyone who wants to know what made Coltrane tick in a musical sense and not just how many times he quit heroin or found jesus.
Rating:
Summary: Newby Jazz Musician
Review: This book is highly informative to anyone who would like to dive into Coltrane. Knowing little to nothing about the man, his work, or Jazz in general I found this book to be very satisfying. There is theory, but not to much too bore. It moves well from talking about Coltrane's motivations as a musician to his practice habits to other musicians around him. I'm not a critic (don't always trust critics), but I made an effort to write because I really think this one of the better music books I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Newby Jazz Musician
Review: This book is highly informative to anyone who would like to dive into Coltrane. Knowing little to nothing about the man, his work, or Jazz in general I found this book to be very satisfying. There is theory, but not to much too bore. It moves well from talking about Coltrane's motivations as a musician to his practice habits to other musicians around him. I'm not a critic (don't always trust critics), but I made an effort to write because I really think this one of the better music books I've ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: somewhat disconnected and overly pedantic treatise
Review: This is a vain attempt to link Coltrane's musical development to the writings of an obscure African professor named fela Sowande. While Sowande's writings introduce every chapter they often bear little relation to what is contained within the chapter itself. While there is some very interesting analysis of Coltrane's solos on some of his better known recordings overall the effect of this seems to be disjointed. Even chronologically there seems to be no discernable pattern . The book is heavy on music so for a reader who is not grounded in music theory this is a bad choice. Even musicians , for whom the book is directed, will find that the analysis is interesting but lacks an overall theme and at times it seems like nothing more than the the ramblings of a pedantic musicologist.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but one-dimensional to Coltrane
Review: This is the second book on Coltrane that I have read and, while interesting, it has some failings that make it a better choice as the second or third book that an interested party should read. By deifying Colttrane throughout and treating his every move as perfect one does not get to experience the human side of this great artist whose struggle to become the genius that he was is, in my opinion, far more interesting than the idea that any failings on his part are usually the fault of inferior sidemen and economic circumstances. The emphasis on the work of Fela Sowande is interesting in its own right and I am inclined to find his writings purely for their own merits. The structuring of Coltrane's life around these observations is, unfortunately, a backward construction that fails horribly. Often seeming poorly researched, this book assumes far too much about what may have been influencing Coltrane at various points in his carrer. Interesting, but read a more objective study first.Also, the omission (or worse, maligning of) white musicians who had an impact on the works of Coltrane and his earlier sideman gigs (notably Bill Evans) is a dis-service to the spirit of the music
Rating:
Summary: a weak book about a great musician
Review: This reads like an academic's thesis which got published without ever being edited for publication. Conversational on one page, professorially pedantic on the next, straining throughout in its effort to contextualize all of Coltrane's work in the writings of Fela Sowande; this is not an especially fun or insightful read. The book's lack of focus extends to even the placement of photographs, which appear throughout the book with no relationship to the choronology of the text. The best passages are Cole's personal recollections of Coltrane, in particular his recount of Coltrane practicing with a friend in a hotel room. For those sections alone, the book is worthwhile for dedicated Coltrane fans. But newcomers to Coltrane about would do far better to pick up Eric Nisenson's "Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest."
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