John Coltrane
Tenor Sax Solo on
Tenor Madness

About

John Coltrane's tenor sax solo is the opening of 4 solos on this recording, followed by Sonny Rollins on tenor sax. Spanning seven choruses of the 12-bar Blues form at an up-tempo 180 BPM with a swing feel in B♭, the solo runs approximately 1:56. Coltrane, who plays first, delivers seven choruses that reveal the intense, searching quality of his improvisation during this pivotal period, his lines probing the blues changes with a harmonic sophistication that foreshadowed his revolutionary work to come. John Coltrane was 29 to 30 years old at the time of this 1956 recording.

John Coltrane was 29 to 30 years old at the time.