Shakespeare, Coltrane, Bob Marley

Bob Marley

John Coltrane

William Shakespeare

What is the connection?

What do artists do?

As apprentices, they develop several aspects of their thinking at once.

They develop skills to master the basics of their crafts.
They improve these skills to move them forward.

They analyze what they experience in the art form and then try to add something new to it.

They experience life – in their time, in their given society –and then create art that speaks to their audiences, and reflect their own observations.

Coltrane had a long apprentice ship – in Philadelphia and then in NYC.

Marley had a long apprenticeship in in Jamaica – starting out as a Ska and Doo Wop singer – before he became the master song writer and singer we know.

Not much is known about Shakespeare’s apprenticeship – in fact there are 10 years of his life called The Lost Years –

But we can see an evolution of his writing during his brief 20 years of creating.

His early plays show a skilled craftsman. His middle and late period plays are the works of a stunning genius.

What is the connection between these artists? They each reacted specifically to their own world, but drew conclusions that are absolutely universal – and allow people anywhere in the world to react to them – and each of us can grow in bringing their art into our own lives.