5 Things to Know About Coltrane's "Sheets of Sound"
- Critic Ira Gitler coined the phrase in the liner notes for Coltrane’s Soultrane album.
- It describes Coltrane’s late-1950s playing style, characterized by rapid, dense runs of notes.
- The term stuck because it vividly captures the overwhelming, cascading quality of his solos.
- It remains the standard descriptor for that period of Coltrane’s work, decades later.
- The phrase refers specifically to his approach before his later, more modal and free-jazz explorations.