John Coltrane – Naima (recorded December 2, 1959)

This beautiful love ballad was written to honor Coltrane's first wife Juanita Naima Grubbs, the final song to be recorded for his classic album Giant Steps.

Dec 03, 2023

Watch full video on Twitter.

View most updated version of this post on Substack.

On December 2, 1959, John Coltrane was at Atlantic Studios in New York City, recording his classic composition “Naima” (pronounced Nye-ee-ma).

Coltrane with his wife Juanita Naima Grubbs

Considered by many to be Coltrane’s greatest love song, it was named for Coltrane’s first wife Juanita Naima Grubbs. The two of them were married from 1955 until their breakup in 1963. This truly beautiful ballad was the final song to be recorded for Giant Steps, his album debut on Atlantic Records as leader, released in January, 1960.

Of all Coltrane’s works, he called “Naima” his favorite composition. It was the first of about a dozen times he would record it in coming years. The song’s slow, suspended chords imbued it with a haunting, emotional, unforgettable sound.

Coltrane played tenor sax on “Naima.” He was joined by Paul Chambers on bass, Wynton Kelly on piano, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Giant Steps was produced by Nesuhi Ertegun, the older brother of Atlantic co-founder and president Ahmet Ertegun.

When Coltrane met Juanita Naima Grubbs in 1953, she was working as a seamstress in a factory to support herself and her three-year-old daughter Saeeda. They were married in October, 1955, and left Philadelphia to move to New York City together the following year. His nickname for her was Nita.

Coltrane had joined Miles Davis’ quintet shortly before he and Nita were married. He played on seminal albums over the next two years as part of what was later dubbed Miles’ First Great Quintet. But his heroin and alcohol addictions were part of the reason Miles disbanded the Quintet in April, 1957.

At this point Coltrane had a spiritual awakening and decided to get clean. He returned to his mother’s house in Philadelphia, confined himself to a bedroom, and told Nita to bring him only water as he endured simultaneous withdrawal from both heroin and alcohol.

It worked, and in August, 1957, a transformed Coltrane moved with Nita and Saeeda into an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhatttan, at 103rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Around the time “Naima” was recorded, they were in the process of purchasing a house in St. Albans, Queens, located at 116-60 Mexico Street. They lived there until Coltrane moved out in the summer of 1963.

In 2020, for the 60th anniversary of Giant Steps, an official video was released on the history of “Naima,” which has become a modern jazz standard.