"the world according to john coltrane" traces john coltrane's musical growth from his roots in the black church and rhythm and blues through his forty years of life and beyond, culminating in a musical meeting between art ensemble of chicago saxophonist roscoe mitchell and dervish musicians in morocco's western sahara desert filmed in 1990. the film also includes extensive performance footage of coltrane some of which has never before been seen or heard. blistering … mehrconcert performances of "my favorite things" and "naima," filmed in europe, are among the film's discoveries. of great interest to coltrane scholars will be the recording of john coltrane while in the navy (1947) playing the alto saxophone (on charlie parker's "koko") - by far the earliest recording of the saxophonist that has yet surfaced. "the world according to john coltrane" is the first documentary on john coltrane to be made with the full cooperation of alice coltrane. the relationship between his music and his study of eastern spirituality is clarified by both alice and la monte young. while the former emphasizes her late husband's motivations and the relationship of his spiritual search to the ferment of the sixties, young offers insights into eastern musical theory and western psycho acoustics that provide solid basis for understanding the hypnotic quality so often noted in coltrane's music. "the world according to john coltrane" is a multi-faceted portrait of john coltrane's music and spirit and of the dimension of his impact, that ignores both conventional musical categories and the conventions of the standard musical documentary. weniger