User talk:104.3.36.247

This is a response to the entry on John Coltrane and the Wikipedia author's interpretation of Lewis Porter's comments about his death. I begin this response by stating that I have been a physician for 40 years and that I am the author of "Coltrane: A Biography" a biography of John Coltrane that was published in 1975. I would like to address this statement attributed to Lewis Porter about Coltrane's death that is in this Wikipedia article,

"Biographer Lewis Porter suggested that the cause of Coltrane's illness was hepatitis, although he also attributed the disease to Coltrane's heroin use."

Lewis Porter is not a physician. To his credit he consulted with multiple individuals to try to get an understanding of the medical correlates of the liver cancer that took Coltrane's life. In spite of his best efforts he made some errors in interpreting what he was told. For example, he was told and wrote in his book that liver cancer does not cause abdominal pain which is patently false. Nonetheless, with respect to the notion asserted in the Wikipedia article that Coltrane might have died of hepatitis I don't see anywhere in Porter's account where he says this. In his book Porter reveals his discussion with a psychiatrist in which hepatitis was mentioned. But he never says that hepatitis was the cause of death.

As for LSD there is an unverified report that Coltrane used LSD once. This report was attributed to Donald Garrett, a bassist. There are no other reports of Coltrane's use of illicit drugs and alcohol after 1957 when he had his "spiritual awakening" One time use, if it occurred, does not make one a "user" i.e. one who uses drugs on a repeated basis. Yet amazingly, many have taken this report and gone on to characterize Coltrane as a chronic user. They have even attributed some of his significant musical achievements to the use of LSD. This is reckless, unethical and not supported by evidence. The fact is that the progression of Coltrane's music from one stage to the next is entirely logical. Each musical development has its antecedents in previous work that can be clearly seen. There is no evidence of a drug induced epiphany. There is evidence of a spiritually driven desire to be close to God. He told his first wife Naima, that after A Love Supreme, 90% of the time he was playing he was praying. His second wife, Alice related how Coltrane would meditate, study and practice intensely. From the time of Coltrane's youth to the end of his physical life the evidence generated from those who knew him, his own statements and his work shows that he was innately committed to achieving spiritual fulfillment for himself and for all of humanity. The evidence shows that his music came from his prayer, meditation, intellectual brilliance, and desire to explore the regions beyond that which was known. As he said, "... I think the main thing a musician would like to do is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe."

Cuthbert Simpkins MD 09/22/2019  104.3.36.247 (talk) 19:55, 22 September 2019 (UTC)