John William Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, on September 23, 1926. Two months later, his family moved to High Point, North Carolina, where he lived in a fairly well-off part of town. He grew up in a southern black family that was deeply religious, and very traditional. Coltrane was raised exposed to music since both of his parents were musicians. His father played the violin and ukulele, and his mother was a member of the church choir. Coltrane in his early teens played the clarinet, but with little interest in it. It was the alto saxophone sound produced by Johnny Hodges playing in the Duke Ellington band on the radio that inspired him to drop the clarinet and begin playing the alto saxophone. Coltrane with the alto saxophone immediately became a co

His life then once again reached bottom with drugs and alcohol taking over. After realizing the danger he was facing he made the very difficult choice of music over drugs. He went through a painful alcoholic withdrawal for two-weeks locked in his room. After finally leaving his room, he was over his addiction and was motivated to chase his musical life in a new approach. Coltrane was said to have recuperated himself with the faith of God.

In the mid-sixties, Coltrane began talking LSD on a regular basis as an aide to link himself better with his music. The public at the time as well as many jazz musicians claimed his music to be too radical and too far-out. Probably because it was too complex and maybe too “genius” for people to understand (same as bebop when it first came out.) By late 1966 Coltrane began to feel bad and realized his health was fading. He was beginning sense the end of his life and by 1967 he stopped performing. Due to a bad pain in his stomach, Coltrane was taken to a hospital and was defiant after being ordered to stay. His life finally came to an end on a Monday morning on July 17 from liver cancer.

He began his career in the late 1940’s playing with several different rhythm and blues groups in small bars and clubs around Philadelphia. At bars, it was a common practice at this time for musicians to “walk the bar”, which was to walk on top of the bar while playing their instrument. During the time of every night gigs in bars and clubs, Coltrane became very depressed and turned to heroin. Heroin was a very popular drug among black musicians in the forties (i.e. Charlie Parker who dried out his veins with heroine by the age of 35.)

rato.) It was said that Coltrane was able to play the scales of the saxophone at speeds that no other musician had ever reached creating a very intense musical feel. After several recordings with the Miles Davis Quintet, in 1956 Coltrane was again fired from the band because of his heroine addiction (he eventually joined up with Gillepsie again soon afterwards.)

In 1939, at age thirteen, Coltrane experienced several tragedies that left behind a lasting impression on him and a great impact on the music of his later years. Within a year, his father, his uncle, and his minister all passed

Some topics in this essay:
John Coltrane, Middle East, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Melody Makers, Davis Quintet, Gillespie Parker, Thelonius Monk, North Carolina, Blue Train, miles davis, jazz musicians, jazz music, thelonius monk, john coltrane, alto saxophone, saxophone players, bars clubs, miles davis quintet, davis quintet, musical ideas cultures, style playing, influence saxophone players, incorporation musical ideas, john william coltrane,