The Annotated Afterlife

27. Supreme Justice

Illustration
I don't know how many of these I can do, and still claim I hardly ever comment on the illustrations! Anyway, I asked the AI for a picture of John Coltrane dressed as Jesus Christ, and this is what I got. Bam, done. One of the easiest pictures ever.

Quote
It's by jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler, about his friend and mentor, John Coltrane. It suggests that he thought Coltrane had come to Earth for a particular spiritual mission, and was possibly an avatar, like Dennis will be. Julian seems to agree with this assessment in the story.

John Coltrane
In this chapter, John Coltrane is revealed to be the Supreme Justice of the Universe. John Coltrane was a very spiritual, and very intense, jazz saxophonist active from the 1940s to the 1960s. His spiritual beliefs were universal, and he said he believed in all religions.

In real life, he was posthumously worshipped as a god, then less controversially, as a saint, by the St John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church in San Francisco, so it didn't seem out of character for him to be the Supreme Justice of the Universe. This Episcopalian church is still active, and holds five-hour jazz sessions each Sunday, interspersed with liturgy, sermons, and fellowship.

He is one of Julian's favourite jazz musicians – something which Julian also gave to his alter ego on The Mighty Boosh, Howard Moon. I chose John Coltrane to be the Supreme Justice for this reason, and because his initials are J.C., to suggest a link with Jesus Christ.

It was quite difficult to bring John Coltrane to life, as he isn't exactly a familiar or recognisable celebrity. I spent a lot of time watching and listening to him being interviewed on YouTube videos (unfortunately no longer available, but you can hear audio recordings). He was very fascinating; a highly charismatic man, yet self-effacing and softly spoken. Getting that balance between the sense of his innate power, and his lack of ego was the hardest part.

For Reasons!
When John Coltrane looks at Julian, he immediately identifies him as Noel's soulmate, and "a living soul brought to the Waystation, for reasons you know not."

This is a major clue for the reader that all the mistakes and mix-ups Julian has experienced were no random events or coincidences. His coming to the Waystation while still alive was orchestrated as part of a higher plan, and if Pauline didn't know something about it, I'll eat my hat.

Note that John Coltrane says "for reasons", not "for what reason". The reasons why this happened will become gradually clearer. Time to get those notebooks out again!