Help me understand John Coltrane .... seriously.

Maybe start with something easy: Ballads, W/ Johnny Hartman, Coltrane & Ellington. Blue Train, Prestige recordings w/ Red Garland, Elmo Hope, Mal Waldron, etc. I have a hard time understanding why some people don't understand John Coltrane. I started buying his records when I was 18, loved them so much that for a couple months 25% of my net pay went to buying Trane LPs. It could be that if someone hasn't "gotten" Coltrane by a certain age, that's just something that's not going to happen. It's music that's understood on an automatic, intuitive level, not something that's an intellectual exercise, such as calculus. If your tastes run to Steely Dan, Eagles, F. Mac's Rumours, the odds aren't too great that Coltrane's your bag. That's just how it is, straight, no chaser.

I would also avoid starting with a Love Supreme.  I would suggest the stuff with Miles Davis (Kinda Blue), Johnny Hartman and one of my favorite tunes, Equinox which is based on the blues progression.
I think people feel they have to like certain artists to truly be fans of Jazz but you really don’t. Don’t force it, like what you like.  Like a friend of mine said, Coltrane is not casual listening.

Yes, Equinox is nice. I tried recalling that songs the other day to suggest, but kept drawing a blank trying to remember it. His collaboration with Johnny Hartman is my least favorite Coltrane album, so you're excused from listening to it Erik..You still haven't mentioned what if any jazz you do like or prefer. If you do enjoy the Eagles, you might as well shoot your turntable, and get it over with. Love,

Mike

I"m totally with the people who say start with early Coltrane.  I say start with Kind of Blue (Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, and more), which is *the* most famous jazz album of all time for good reason.  If you've not heard it before, you're losing out.  The John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman is a good second album. Then move onto Blue Train and then Giant Steps after that.  You should be totally hooked on Coltrane by then.  Coltrane is sublime, just pure sublime.

There is a huge difference between early Coltrane and later Coltrane.  Early Coltrane is pretty easy to grasp.  Later Coltrane goes way outside and is not everyone's cup of tea, including me.  I disagree with those who say start with A Love Supreme, it's too outside for most newbie jazz listeners.  Later Coltrane IS another language and it takes some advanced jazz language skills to grasp it.

If you develop a taste for Cannonball Adderley after listening to Kind of Blue, I recommend the Cannonball album, Somethin' Else.

To keep it simple, Coltrane on Atlantic is easier on the ears than the later material on ABC/Dunhill/MCA. In music theory classes way back when, the tune Spiral off of Giant Steps was offered an an example of defining a physical shape/attribute with sound. If you like that, the rest of the album should interest you, followed by the My Favorite Things album.