Help me understand John Coltrane .... seriously.

efort,

"Sit in the dark listen to love supreme and you’ll get it"

Trying, after many years, right now. I hope I catch it.

Eric, lot of good advice here. I started to think, can’t much of the discussion be applied to classical music as well as jazz? 20 years ago I could not ‘get’ Mahler or Shostakovich, but as I listen now, with a 20 year more educated (experienced?) ear they are wonderful!

Agree with "My Favorite Things" and "Naima." Both are available on Atlantic's "Best of John Coltrane" album. Especially love "My Favorite Things."

One of the first albums I ever bought, way back in the early 70s.

Turned me into a music lover.

I know how your feel, I experienced the same thing when getting into Jazz . So what I did was listen to some of his recordings that I knew the melody and then listened to Johns version. Although he is pretty much all over the map when he plays and how he interprets the song, one can still appreciate the way he does it. What really got me into John was listening to Miles Davis  Kind of Blue- a very basic Jazz lp that everyone, at any level of Jazz can listen to and get into.. I never get tired of listening to that album!
 Happy listening!!