Edited by prominent musician and scholar Leonard Brown, John Coltrane and Black America's Quest for Freedom: Spirituality and the Music is a timely exploration of Coltrane's sound and its spiritual qualities that are rooted in Black American music-culture and aspirations for freedom. A wide-ranging collection of essays and interviews featuring many of the most eminent figures in Black American music and jazz studies and performance --Tommy Lee Lott, Anthony Brown, Herman Gray, Emmett G. Price III, Tammy Kernodle, Salim Washington, Eric Jackson, TJ Anderson ,Yusef Lateef, Billy Taylor, Olly Wilson, George Russell, and a never before published interview with Elvin Jones -- the book examines the full spectrum of Coltrane's legacy. Each work approaches this theme from a different angle, in both historical and contemporary contexts, focusing on how Coltrane became a quintessential example of the universal and enduring qualities of Black American culture.

Foreword by T.J. AndersonPreface by Leonard Brown1.You Have To Be Invited - Leonard Brown2. In His Own Words - Leonard Brown3. John Coltrane and the Practice of Freedom - Herman Gray4. John Coltrane As the Personification of Spirituality In Black Music - Anthony Brown5. Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Alice Coltrane and the Redefining of the Jazz Avante Garde - Tammy Kernodle6. When Bar Walkers Preach: John Coltrane and The Crisis of the Black Intellectual - Tommy Lee Lott7. "Don't Let the Devil (Make You) Lose Your Joy": A Look at Late Coltrane - Salim Washington8. The Spiritual Ethos in Black Music and its Quintessential Exemplar, John Coltrane - Emmett G. Price III9. Somebody Please Say, Amen! - Eric Jackson10. Masters on A Master Introduction: Anthony Brown's and Leonard Brown's Interviews with Olly Wilson, Yusef Lateef and Billy Taylor11. Conversation with Olly Wilson12. Conversation with Yusef Lateef13. Conversation with Billy Taylor14. Coda: George Allen Russell on John Coltrane's Legacy