John Coltrane
Tenor Sax Solo on
I Could Write a Book

About

John Coltrane's tenor sax solo is the second of three solos on this recording, following Miles Davis on trumpet. Spanning two choruses of the 32-bar ABAC form in E♭ at a vigorous 227 BPM with a swing feel, Coltrane follows with two tenor saxophone choruses of greater density and harmonic complexity, his rapidly evolving style pushing against the boundaries of the chord changes. All soloists on this recording ended their solo by repeating the last 4 bars of the form as many times as they wanted. Coltrane did it 3 times for 12 total extra bars.

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