Dennis Sandole; Mentored John Coltrane

Dennis Sandole, 87, jazz guitarist and teacher of such luminaries as John Coltrane. After teaching himself to play the guitar at age 19, Sandole played in a neighborhood band in Philadelphia. By the early 1940s, he was playing with major swing-era bands including those led by Charlie Barnet, Boyd Raeburn, Tommy Dorsey and Ray McKinley. He also recorded film soundtracks and played in recording sessions for Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday. As a teacher and writer, he became the mentor for jazz giant Coltrane from 1946 into the early 1950s. At Philadelphia’s Granoff Studios, Sandole specialized in teaching Coltrane and others music theory beyond chords and scales. Sandole taught advanced harmonic techniques, often creating his own exotic scales. He also wrote a popular book, “Guitar Lore,” in 1981. Although he spent much of his life teaching rather than performing, Sandole did record some of his own music, including “Modern Music from Philadelphia” in 1956. Last year, Cadence Jazz released “The Dennis Sandole Project,” containing parts of a jazz ballet/opera he wrote in the 1960s and 1970s called “Evenin’ Is Cryin.”’ On Saturday in Philadelphia.