The man who created these all-too-human ballets led a life outwardly uneventful, at least by the standards of the best-seller list. He fled the Soviet Union in 1924, settling first in Europe and then in New York City, where he started a dance school and a series of ballet companies. For the rest of his days, he made and rehearsed dances. That was all there was to it, he claimed. Asked on one occasion by a journalist to sum up his life, he replied, “It’s all in the programs.”
—All In The Dances: A Brief Life of George Balanchine, by Terry Teachout
My only conversation with Coltrane took place in 1963 when he was appearing with his quartet at a Cleveland jazz club called Leo’s Casino. I was the Cleveland correspondent for Down Beat and I was assigned to interview him.
“Why?” asked Coltrane on the telephone.
I allowed that he must be tired of interviews.
“Shouldn’t I be?” he asked. “I can’t explain anything. It’s all in the music. Come to the club and hear the music.”
—Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers, by Doug Ramsey