Ernie's Giant Steps

Ernie was a very generous guy with the things that he'd stolen from other people. An accomplished liar with violent tendencies, he also had a knack for walking out on a tab, explaining later that he'd received a phone call and had to leave immediately. We all gathered around in slack jawed wonder to read the article in the paper about him getting arrested for kidnapping a woman (who loved him, he said) after she scrawled out a help message on a bathroom window during a pee stop. It's incredible the people who come into your lives, no?

John Coltrane kicked heroin in the late fifties just before he rejoined Miles Davis and shortly afterwards he recorded his first full album of original songs called Giant Steps. He went on to develop a deep spirituality and record some of the most uplifting and emotional albums culminating in A Love Supreme, his love song to a higher power. He devoted his life to his music and to delivering healing through his instrument. He was quoted as saying "...as I look upon the world, I feel all men know the truth. The truth itself does not have any name on it. And each man has to find it for himself, I think."

That night, seven or eight years ago now, I was walking home through the market and had agreed to let Ernie sleep on my couch. He was just weird to me then, not a criminal. I can not even begin to explain why he jumped into that trash dumpster, except that maybe his own demons were driving him home, but I heard him yelling something at me and I went to check on him. He stood up and displayed his catch. He said, "Who is it?" and I said, "He's a sax player. Jazz." He looked at it as if he was trying to figure out how much he could sell it for and, when he decided that he probably couldn't get anything for it, he tossed it to me. "You can have it."

When I think about how John Coltrane's message of love and transcendental worship came to me, I remember a Buddhist saying about how, out of a pile of shit, a flower will grow. Or, if you prefer a Christian take on things, I could say, "The Lord works in mysterious ways.", but there are very few of us who believe that Coltrane is God.