This book 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 L. Lott, Anthony Brown, Herman Gray, Emmett G. Price III, Tammy L. Kernodle, Salim Washington, Eric D. Jackson, T. J. Anderson, Yusef Lateef, Billy Taylor, Olly Wilson, and George Russell--and containing 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.