Talk:Sheets of sound

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[edit] Some suggestions for development

Sorry, I'm turning into one of those people who carps on talk pages instead of editing, but I find myself reading articles on subjects to which I'm not qualified to contribute. In the hope that someone more knowledgeable than I can pick this up, then, here are some thoughts for improvement.

I'm not convinced by some of the assertions in para 2. Did Coltrane really learn multiphonics from Monk? It seems unlikely, since Monk was a pianist; more likely he heard them being played by blues saxophonists and the hard bop players who were influenced by them. Does Coltrane attribute his long solos to Monk? Maybe Monk encouraged it, I'm not sure, but very extended solos certainly aren't typical of Monk's own style. We need some quotes from interviews or books that support and clarify these statements.

I'd also like to see one or more musical examples here. I don't understand what it means to 'arpeggiate three chords simultaneously' (unless it means 'play a scale', or use a Slonimsky-like pattern to build arpeggios on the notes of another arpeggio). I'm also not sure what the 'three-on-one chord approach' is, unless it's the old ii-V-I substitution.

I think it's also worth discussing the relationship between the style that's generated by playing substitute chord sequences on top of each chord, as described in this article, and Coltrane's late style which dispenses with chord changes but retains many of the same features. It's common for 'sheets of sound' to be applied to the later music too, although the harmonic motivation has gone, or at least changed dramatically. Ornette