John Coltrane biography

Synopsis

Early Years

A revolutionary and groundbreaking jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926, in Hamlet, North Carolina.

It's far from an overstatement to say that Coltrane was destined to be a musician. He was surrounded by music as a child. His father, John R. Coltrane, kept his family fed as a tailor, but had a passion for music. He played several instruments, and his interests fueled his son's love for music.

Coltrane's first exposure to jazz came through the records of Count Basie and Lester Young. By the age of 13, Coltrane had picked up the saxophone, and almost from the moment he first started playing, it was apparent he had a talent for it. The young musician loved to imitate the sounds of Charlie Parker and Johnny Hodges.

Family life took a tragic turn in 1939 when Coltrane's father, grandparents and uncle died, leaving the household to be run by his mother, Alice, who found work as a domestic servant. Financial struggles defined this period for Coltrane, and eventually his mother and few other family members moved to New Jersey in the hopes of finding a better paycheck. Coltrane remained in North Carolina, living with family friends until he graduated from high school.

In 1943, he too moved north, to Philadelphia to make a go of it as a musician. For a short time he studied music at the Granoff Studios as well as the Ornstein School of Music. But with the country in the throes of war, Coltrane was called to duty and served a year in a Navy band in Hawaii. It was during his service, in fact, that Coltrane made his first recording, with a quartet of fellow sailors.

Early Music Career

Upon his return to civilian life in the summer of 1946, Coltrane landed back in Philadelphia, where, over the next several years, he proceeded to hook up with a number of jazz bands.

One of the earliest was a group led by Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, with whom Coltrane played tenor sax. Later he hooked up with Jimmy Heath's band, where the young musician began to fully explore his experimental side.

Then in the fall of 1949 Coltrane signed on with a big band led by Dizzy Gillespie, remaining with the group for the next year and a half.

Coltrane had started to earn a name for himself. But as the 1950s took a shape, he also began to experiment with drugs, mainly heroin. His talent earned him jobs, but his addictions often ended them prematurely. In 1954, Duke Ellington brought him on to temporarily replace Johnny Hodges, but soon fired him because of his drug dependency.

Playing With Miles

A year after losing a position in Ellington's band, Coltrane rebounded with another big break when Miles Davis asked him to join his group, the Miles Davis Quintet. It was a huge recognition of Coltrane's talent and offered the saxophonist the kind of musical and mental space he needed.

Davis encouraged Coltrane to push his experimental boundaries. More important, the sober Davis held him accountable for his drug habits.

Armed with a new record contract from Columbia Records, Davis led his band into the studio. The next several years proved fruitful for the band, with albums such as The New Miles Davis Quintet (1955) and 'Round About Midnight (1957). He also played on Davis' seminal album Kind of Blue (1959).

Solo Career

In 1957 Davis fired Coltrane, who'd failed to give up heroin. Whether that was the exact impetus for Coltrane finally getting sober isn't certain, but the saxophonist finally did kick his drug habit. He played a six-month stint with Thelonious Monk and then embarked on a solo career.

By this period, Coltrane had created a definite sound of his own. Part of it was defined by an ability to play several notes at once, creating what would be later dubbed as his "sheets of sound."

Coltrane described it this way: "I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once.”

By 1960 Coltrane had his own band, a quartet that included pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones. The group, known as the John Coltrane Quartet, produced some of jazz's most enduring albums, including Giant Steps (1960) and My Favorite Things (1961).

The latter album especially catapulted Coltrane to stardom. Over the next several years Coltrane was lauded—and, to a smaller degree, criticized—for his sound. His albums from this period included Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (1963), Impressions (1963) and Live at Birdland (1964).

But it was 1965's A Love Supreme that may just be Coltrane's most acclaimed record. The album garnered the saxophonist two Grammy awards, for performance and jazz composition.

Final Years & Impact

In 1964 Coltrane married jazz pianist Alice McCloud, who'd go on to play in his band. Coltrane wrote and recorded a considerable amount of material over the final two years of his life. In 1966 he recorded his final two albums to be released while he was alive, Kulu Se Mama and Meditations. The album Expression was finalized just one day before his death. He died from liver cancer on July 17, 1967.

Coltrane's impact on the music world was considerable. He revolutionized jazz music with his experimental techniques and showed a deep reverence for sounds from other cultures, including Africa and Latin America.

In 1992 Coltrane was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His work continues to be a part of soundtracks for movies and television, so much so that in 1999 Universal Studios named a street on the Universal lot in his honor. In 1995, the United States Postal Service recognized the late musician with a commemorative stamp. More important, Coltrane's sound has inspired generations of newer jazz musicians.

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