Sheets of sound

Sheets of sound was a term coined in 1958 by DownBeat magazine jazz critic Ira Gitler to describe a new style of jazz by saxophone musician John Coltrane. The term also refers to a period of Coltrane's music between 1958-1960.

Quotes

• As he learned harmonically from Davis and Monk, and developed his mechanical skills, a new more confident Coltrane emerged. He has used long lines and multinoted figures within these lines, but in 1958 he started playing sections that might be termed 'sheets of sound'.
  • Ira Gitler, "Trane On The Track" DownBeat (1958).

• While he was with Miles [Davis], Coltrane was tagged with the phrase 'sheets of sound.' Jazz critic Ira Gitler had first used it. These 'sheets of sound' were multinote hailstorms of dense textures that sound like a simultaneous series of waterfalls. 'His continuous flow of ideas without stopping really hit me,' Gitler said. 'It was almost superhuman. The amount of energy he was using could have powered a spaceship.'
  • Nat Hentoff, New liner notes for Giant Steps (Deluxe edition, September 1997).