I read Henry Rollins' column in the LA Weekly, this week he wrote one which started with this. I just liked it even though I don't exactly get Coltrane!
'I am the first to admit that I am perhaps too much of a reeking-of-patchouli-oil, looking-for-a-tree-to-hug optimist when it comes to the power, majesty and unrivaled brilliance of music. I dig genius and am in awe of a soaring intellect like Michelangelo, but as cool as he was, what Coltrane did for music is just as incredible as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In my opinion, music is humankind's finest achievement.
I am never more sure of humanity's bright future than when I go to see bands play. Witnessing all these young people drawn by the music, I conclude there is no way they will be suckered into intellectual dead ends like racism or homophobia. Ever since I played on the first Lollapalooza tour in 1991, I always thought that music was the way out of ignorance's darkness. Every day on that tour, I checked out the thousands of people and knew things were changing for the better. Twenty years later, I am still convinced I am right.'