YouTube is the truth.
I didn’t really know JOHN COLTRANE until an English professor of mine handed me a CD called ‘Giant Steps’ after I had written a poem about Harlem and jazz. There was an avant garde Hip-Hop party in the city called Giant Steps and they would feature live bands from time to time. Back then I was enrolled in the school of architecture at City College. The English class in creative writing was an elective I had chosen to fill my schedule. I don’t think I ever took writing seriously before that class and this professor would not be bothered with students who did not take their craft seriously. He told us a story about how JOHN COLTRANE slept with his saxophone on a chair beside him and how he was prone to wake up in the middle of the night and just begin playing the horn because he had a vision in his sleep. No longer addicted to alcohol or heroin, COLTRANE was obsessive about his music.
JOHN COLTRANE played the saxophone like his very existence depended on it. I should say that he worked his saxophone because for COLTRANE there was no play involved. Listening to him reminds me of why I have been writing my story. I recognize that my time here is limited and finite. There are so many people that I need to thank and praise for helping me realize my humanity. I’m still not sure if I will have the chance to thank them all. I will use my writing as my gift from AUM to give thanks for this life I have lived.
