The Blues Sentence: A Topology of John Coltrane’s Blues Heads

Abstract

As a towering figure in music in the twentieth century, John Coltrane has made innumerable contributions. One of the most significant aspects of his career are his blues compositions and improvisations. Many of Coltrane’s written blues heads, as well as his opening and closing solo choruses, follow sentential structures. Somewhat surprisingly, this particular part of his output has been left underexplored in existing research projects. In hopes of also contributing to a fairly recent discussion that centers around efforts to revamp the sentential paradigm, I introduce the formal type of the “blues sentences,” and contrast it with the riff blues, and other designs. Moreover, I also introduce the riff-sentence hybrid and the two subcategories of through-composed blues types (a) line-driven melodies and (b) modular melodies. In the effort to establish a sentential perspective, I do not dismiss traditional bar form readings but rather supplement my interpretations with them in order to highlight the respective advantages and disadvantages.