Help me understand John Coltrane .... seriously.

Trane is an acquired taste. Don’t listen to him because others tell you he’s a genius. His later albums reflected the great physical pain he was in from his cancer. Very hard to listen to.

Have you listened to much jazz? There are so many great players to listen to before you’re ready for Trane. Here are some recommendations for jazz to listen to if you’re not a jazz player yourself and are just beginning to listen.

Anything by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Check out this track from the late 70’s. The people who have played with the Messengers is a Who’s Who of modern jazz.
Early (before 1956) Miles Davis - "Miles and Horns"
Dexter Gordon
Phil Woods
Lester Young
Sonny Rollins
Charlie Parker
Sonny Stitt
Scott Hamilton
Woody Shaw

After you’ve listened to at least 3 full albums of each of these guys, THEN go back and listen to Trane playing Giant Steps and see if that makes better sense to you.

Tenor Madness

So many comments about Coltrane "not being an easy listen" or "taking time to digest", or something in that direction. It seems that many like to work hard.

I enjoy Kind Of Blue, not too often, own A Love Supreme (I tried, at least), and tried to convince myself there is something to other Miles Davis’ albums and that A Love Supreme is really great. Eventually, I admitted to myself I am a peasant who likes some other things more.

One of them being Tenor Madness by Sonny Rollins mentioned in the post above.

skyscraper,

Now when you mentioned it, have you ever bought Let It Bleed SACD? It was a topic from many months ago.

erik_squires,

Have you ever figured Frank Sinatra out? That one is a mystery to me on the level of John Coltrane to you.