I hope you get a chance to check out this YouTube video, an audio/visual collage I put together in tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and John Coltrane ... feel free to share!
As James Taylor once sang:
Let us turn our thoughts today To Martin Luther King And recognize that there are ties between us All men and women Living on the Earth
I love the music of King's speech, a music that underscores the humanity of the content. And I hear the same in John Coltrane. So I put them together, left lots of room for chance, and this is how it turned out. Thank you, Martin; thank you, John.
Words: Martin Luther King Jr. - excerpt from Memphis, April 3, 1968
Music: John Coltrane - excerpt from Psalm, from the album A Love Supreme
John Coltrane - saxophone
McCoy Tyner - piano
Jimmy Garrison - bass
Elvin Jones - drums
Audio/visual collage: Fred Simon - January 2014
Thanks, Grateful Fred
Posted on: 24 January 2014 by joerand
Fred,
Although I've heard some of his music, I'm not all too familiar with Coltrane. I have heard this speech before. Constructively, I think the music you selected seems melancholy relative to the triumphant speech of Dr. King. The song does, however, give the feel of a long, arduous journey as the the Civil Rights Movement continues to be. So if that is your intent, it is fitting.
Posted on: 24 January 2014 by fred simon
Thanks, Joe. A few thoughts ... given that MLK's speech was delivered the night before he was killed, and given that he makes several references to having the feeling that his days are numbered but that he's spiritually prepared, I felt that the somewhat melancholy yet reverential tone of Coltrane's "Psalm" was a good fit; also, the end of the track does rise in triumph in unison with "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." It helps to know that Psalm is one movement of Trane's masterpiece A Love Supreme, and MLK was all about a love supreme. And, as Joni Mitchell once sang, "there's comfort in melancholy."
Further, I hear a lot of similarity in Trane's music and in the music of MLK's oratory ... that actually was the main impetus for the mashup. Check out the confluence at the word "seen" at :46 ... that was a very happy accident, but really speaks to what moved me to create this collage.
Posted on: 24 January 2014 by bishopla
Amazing Fred, being very familiar with "A Love Supreme" and the meaning behind "Psalm" it's a perfect match.
Thanks,
Larry
Posted on: 24 January 2014 by joerand
Thanks for the insights, Fred. I'll listen with that perspective in mind .
.