Listening to John Coltrane
Today Noah and I were looking at a book that featured a saxophonist so I put on John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things after we read it. It’s one of my favorite pieces of music; it’s so joyous. If you haven’t heard it, I beg you to go get it from the library because your life won’t be complete if you never hear it. I’m not exaggerating. Well, maybe I am a little but not by much.
Afterwards we listened to Betty Carter doing her exhilarating, exulting and just plain fast rendition (less than 2 minutes) of My Favorite Things and Noah had fun trying to move his feet as fast as her voice.
I was introduced to the brilliance of John Coltrane and Betty Carter (not to mention Dinah Washington singing “We’ll Take Manhattan” and Ella Fitzgerald singing with Louis Armstrong) when I was working at Katzinger’s here in town. Katzinger’s is a New York-style deli that was inspired by Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor. In fact, the guys from Zingerman’s consulted with them when Steve and Diane Warren (and a friend) decided to open a deli in Columbus. I worked in the retail section where we sold the specialty (never gourmet, we weren’t supposed to call it gourmet) foods. I learned about olive oils and cheeses, balsamic vinegar (we had one bottle that cost about $80) and pates. I also learned how to slice smoked salmon very, very thin. The secret is a sharp, flexible fish knife. I got so good at it that I could slice off huge transparent sheets as long as the fish itself.
Mostly it was a great job and I worked there for more than two years while I was in college and then when I dropped out of college. We were encouraged to be as funky as we wanted to be and then there was this terrific soundtrack. Also the food was pretty damn good.
One day a man came in wearing a gorgeous gray suit. He looked depressed. While he was waiting for his sandwich (probably a #32, smoked turkey, ham, scallion cream cheese, tomato, honey mustard on rye — ask for it grilled) he tuned in to the background music, which happened to be Blue Trane. I remember he looked at my boss, Steve, who was taking orders and he said, “Do you mind turning up The Trane?” Steve did and the man sat in a corner of the deli with his eyes shut just listening. When the song was over he took his sandwich and left looking different somehow, as if his own personal sun had finally come out. I was so impressed that I started listening more closely whenever John Coltrane was on the CD player.
I’m glad I did. Part of Noah’s religious education will include listening to A Love Supreme.
p.s. If you go to the John Coltrane web site via this link and have shockwave installed on your browser, you’ll be able to hear him play. You can even choose from five different songs, alas, none of them are My Favorite Things. Turn up your speakers and enjoy.
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