Beginning in December 1938, his father, aunt, and grandparents died within a few months of one another, leaving him to be raised by his mother and a close cousin. While in high school, Coltrane played clarinet and alto horn in a community band before switching to the saxophone by the fall of 1940, after being influenced by the likes of Lester Young and Johnny Hodges. He grew up in High Point, North Carolina and attended William Penn High School. Biography 1926–1945: Early life Ĭoltrane's first recordings were made when he was a sailor.Ĭoltrane was born in his parents' apartment at 200 Hamlet Avenue in Hamlet, North Carolina, on September 23, 1926. (1964–1982), a bassist Ravi (born 1965), a saxophonist and Oran (born 1967), a saxophonist, guitarist, drummer and singer. His second wife was pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane. Decades after his death, Coltrane remains influential, and he has received numerous posthumous awards, including a special Pulitzer Prize, and was canonized by the African Orthodox Church. Over the course of his career, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension, as exemplified on his most acclaimed album A Love Supreme (1965) and others. He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was one of the players at the forefront of free jazz. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.īorn and raised in North Carolina, Coltrane moved to Philadelphia after graduating high school, where he studied music.

John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. John Coltrane Church, 2097 Turk Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94115 1982, San Francisco by African Orthodox Church

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