Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews biographies of two musicians who transcended jazz, and to whom recognition was slow in coming: James P. Johnson, born in 1894, and Alice Coltrane, born in 1937. TONYA MOSLEY, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. There are two fat, new biographies of composers and pianists born 43 years apart. Their music transcended jazz, but recognition for their work was slow - James P. Johnson, born in 1894, and Alice Coltrane, born in 1937. Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead reviews both books. (SOUNDBITE OF JAMES P. JOHNSON'S "ROSETTA") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: James P. Johnson on "Rosetta," 1939. In the 1920s, Johnson was the foremost proponent of stride piano, the style that transformed ragtimes, oompah beats and tidy syncopations into more flexibly propulsive jazz piano. His buoyant touch and phrasing influenced Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Art Tatum, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk and many of their admirers.…