John Coltrane was an African American saxophonist and composer born in Hamlet, North Carolina, on September 23, 1926, and raised partly in nearby High Point. After moving to Philadelphia in 1943 and serving in the Navy in the closing days of World War II, he developed his craft through years of work in jazz and rhythm-and-blues groups, using the G.I. Bill to continue his musical education.
Playing with Miles Davis brought wider recognition. His official biography also records a heroin habit acquired by 1951 that stayed with him for six years, and a nine-month firing from Davis's band in 1957, after which Coltrane quit the drug cold turkey. That same summer he performed and studied with pianist Thelonious Monk, an experience his biographer describes as among the most significant of his career.
Coltrane's recordings included Blue Train, Giant Steps, recorded in 1959 and released the following January, and his interpretation of "My Favorite Things," recorded in October 1960 and released in 1961, a waltz-time reading of the Broadway show tune that became his biggest commercial success and his first recorded outing on soprano saxophone. His classic quartet brought together pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones. Their work joined intensive preparation with room for musical exploration.
Recorded in a single session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, A Love Supreme expressed Coltrane's spiritual concerns through a four-part suite performed by that quartet. His final period on the Impulse label brought a quintet with Garrison, his wife, pianist Alice Coltrane, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and drummer Rashied Ali. He continued performing and recording until weeks before his death on July 17, 1967.
