Musicians - John Coltrane

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	Musicians - John Coltrane

John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

Though he was active before 1955, his prime years were between 1955 and 1967, during which time he reshaped modern jazz and influenced successive generations of other musicians. Coltrane's recording rate was astonishingly prolific, such that many albums did not appear until years after they were recorded.

He is regarded as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians, and one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century. Along with tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Sonny Rollins, Coltrane fundamentally altered expectations for the instrument.

Early life and career

Born in Hamlet, North Carolina, Coltrane grew up in High Point in an era of racial segregation. During his seventh-grade school year, Coltrane experienced three deaths in his close-knit family; he lost his aunt, his grandfather, and his father. Coltrane began playing music and practicing obsessively at about this time.

His early life was influenced by a traditional Southern upbringing; the heavy emphasis on religion especially affected his later musical career. Coltrane began playing clarinet early on, but became interested in jazz and soon switched to alto saxophone. Coltrane moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 1943, and was inducted into the Navy in 1945, where he played in a Hawaii-based Navy band, returning to civilian life in 1946. At this time, he had brief contacts with Charlie Parker, who became a dominant influence on his playing.

Coltrane worked at a variety of jobs in the late 1940s until he joined Dizzy Gillespie's big band in 1949 as an alto saxophonist. He stayed with Gillespie through the big band's breakup in May 1950 and switched to tenor saxophone during his subsequent spell in Gillespie's small group, staying until April 1951, when he returned to Philadelphia.

In early 1952, Coltrane joined Earl Bostic's band. In 1953, after a stint with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, he joined Johnny Hodges's small group, which was active during Hodges's four-year sabbatical from Duke Ellington's orchestra). Coltrane stayed with Hodges until mid-1954.

Miles, Monk and early record dates as leader

Although there are recordings of Coltrane from as early as 1946, he received little recognition until 1955.

Coltrane, now nicknamed "Trane," was freelancing in Philadelphia in the summer of 1955 when he received a call from trumpeter Miles Davis. Davis, whose success during the late forties had dissipated during several years of heroin abuse, had cleaned up, become active, and was now ready to form a quintet. Legend has it that tenor man Sonny Rollins, Davis's preferred saxophonist, vanished temporarily to ensure that Coltrane was appointed in his place. With a few absences, Coltrane was with this edition of the Davis band (known as the "First Classic Quintet" to distinguish it from Miles's later group with Wayne Shorter) from October 1955 through April 1957, a period which saw influential recordings from Davis and the first signs of Coltrane's growing ability.

This trend-setting group, best represented by two marathon recording sessions for Prestige in 1956, disbanded in mid-April, partially due to Coltrane's persistent heroin use. Coltrane would go on to adopt some of Davis's leadership traits for his future groups, such as allowing his musicians to solo with little interference, eschewing bandstand banter or tune indentification, and remaining detached (although not hostile, which couldn't always be said of his prickly boss), both with his audience and the press. Coltrane's style at this point was loquacious, and critics dubbed his playing angry and harsh. (Critic?) Harry Frost called Coltrane's solos "extended double-time flurries notable for their lack of direction." In the early part of 1957, Coltrane succeeded in kicking heroin. He simultaneously experienced a spiritual epiphany that would lead him to concentrate wholly on the development of his music. During the latter part of 1957, Coltrane worked with Thelonious Monk at New York's Five Spot Cafe during a legendary six-month gig. Unfortunately, this association was not extensively documented, and the best-recorded evidence demonstrating the compatibility of Coltrane with Monk, a concert at Carnegie Hall on November 29, 1957, was only discovered and issued in 2005 by Blue Note. (A previously released Monk/Coltrane album on Blue Note, Live at the Five Spot – Discovery! is fascinating but poorly recorded.) His extensive recordings as a sideman and as a leader for Prestige have a mixed reputation. Blue Train, his sole date as leader for Blue Note, is widely considered his best album from this period.

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Musicians - John Coltrane

Early life and career

Miles, Monk and early record dates as leader

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