Proponents of different jazz styles have always argued that their predecessor''s musical style did not include essential characteristics that define jazz as jazz. Thus, 1940''s swing was belittled by beboppers of the 1950''s who were themselves attacked by free jazzes of the 1960''s. The neoboppers of the 1980''s and 1990''s attacked almost everybody else. The titanic figure of Black saxophonist John Coltrane has complicated the arguments made by proponents of styles from bebop through neobop because in his own musical journey he drew from all those styles. His influence on all types of jazz was immeasurable. At the height of his popularity, Coltrane largely abandoned playing bebop, the style that had brought him fame, to explore the outer reaches of jazz.

不同的爵士乐风格的支持者一贯认为他们前辈的音乐风格没有包括那些使爵士乐之所以成为爵士乐的本质特征。这样，二十世纪五十年代的比波普派轻视二十世纪四十年代的摇摆音乐派，而他们自己又受到二十世纪六十年代的自由爵士派的抨击。二十世纪八十至九十年代的新比波普派几乎对任何其他人都进行抨击。而黑人萨克斯管巨匠约翰?科尔特兰尼使这些从比波普派到新比波普派的支持者所提出的主张更加复杂化，因为在他自己的音乐例程中，他经历了所有这些风格。他对所有爵士音乐的风格的影响是不可估量的。在他的时期，科尔特兰尼基本上放弃了比波普风格的演奏以便探索爵士乐更深的处延，然而正是比波普风格的演奏使得他成名。

Coltrane himself probably believed that the only essential characteristic of jazz was improvisation, the one constant in his journey from bebop to open-ended improvisations on modal, Indian, and African melodies. On the other hand, this dogged student and prodigious technician &mdash who insisted on spending hours each day practicing scales from theory books &mdash was never able to jettison completely the influence of bebop, with its fast and elaborate chains of notes and ornaments on melody.

科尔特兰尼自己可能认为爵士乐的本质特征就是即兴创作，这是他从比波普风格到对形式音乐、印度音乐、非洲音乐的自由即兴演奏的历程中一直没有改变的。另一方面，这个顽强的学生和异常的技巧家每天花几个小时用以练习理论书籍上的曲谱，从未能完全抛弃比波普的影响，在他的旋律中可以找到带有比波普特点的快速和精细的音符以及修饰效果。

Two stylistic characteristics shaped the way Coltrane played the tenor saxophone: he favored playing fast runs of notes built on a melody and depended on heavy, regularly accented beats. The first led Coltrane to sheets of sound” where he raced faster and faster, pile-driving notes into each other to suggest stacked harmonies. The second meant that his sense of rhythm was almost as close to rock as to bebop.

有两种风格特征影响了科尔特兰尼演奏男高音萨克斯管的方式：他喜欢对建立于一种旋律上的音符进行快速的演奏，同时也依赖于强有力的、有规律的重音节奏。前者引导科尔特兰尼走向“片状声响”的境界，在那里科尔特兰尼的演奏越来越快，将音符成堆互相累放起来以表达一种堆叠起来的和谐感。而后者意味着，他的节奏感之接近于摇滚乐几乎就像其接近于比波普风格一样。

Three recordings illustrate Coltrane''s energizing explorations. Recording Kind of Blue with Miles Davis, Coltrane found himself outside bop, exploring modal melodies. Here he played surging, lengthy solos built largely around repeated motifs &mdash an organizing principle unlike that of free jazz saxophone player Ornette Coleman, who modulated or altered melodies in his solos. On Giant Steps, Coltrane debuted as leader, introducing his own compositions. Here the sheets of sound, downbeat accents, repetitions, and great speed are part of each solo, and the variety of the shapes of his phrases is unique. Coltrane''s searching explorations produced solid achievement. My Favorite Things was another kind of watershed. Here Coltrane played the soprano saxophone, an instrument seldom used by jazz musicians. Musically, the results were astounding. With the soprano''s piping sound, ideas that had sounded dark and brooding acquired a feeling of giddy fantasy.

三张唱片为科尔特兰尼富有活力的探索提供了证明。和马尔斯?戴维斯合作录制《有几分忧伤》时，科尔特兰尼发现他已离开了波普风格，对形式音乐进行探索。在这中间，他演奏那些跌宕起伏的冗长的独奏，而这些独奏基本上是围绕着一个重复主题展开的。该种主题是用以组织其音乐的原则，它和自由派爵士乐萨克斯管演奏家奥尼迪?科尔曼采用的组织方式不同。后面这位音乐家在他的独奏中会对其旋律进行调节改变。在《大踏步》中，科尔特兰尼初次以领导者角色出现，对他自己的作品进行了介绍。在这中间，“片状声响”、强拍重音、重复回旋和极快的速度组成了每一段独奏的各个部分，各乐章的形式的多样性是的。科尔特兰尼深刻的探索获得了稳固的成就。《我的钟爱之物》是另一种意义上的分水岭。在这里，科尔特兰尼演奏了爵士乐演奏家很少使用的女高音萨克斯管，所产生的音乐上的效果是惊人的。伴随着女高音萨克斯管的尖音，那些显得昏暗及带有沉思意味的主题获得了一种令人眼花缭乱的梦幻感觉。

When Coltrane began recording for the Impulse! Label, he was still searching. His music became raucous, physical. His influence on rockers was enormous, including JimiHendrix, the rock guitarist, who, following Coltrane, raised the extended guitar solo using repeated motifs to a kind of rock art form.

当科尔特兰尼开始为冲动唱片公司进行音乐录制时，他仍然在探索。他的音乐变得沙哑而感性。摇滚乐手受到他的巨大影响，其中包括吉米?亨德瑞克斯这位吉它手。后者仿效科尔特兰尼，使基于重复主题的大段吉他独奏上升成为一种摇滚艺术形式。