John William Coltrane was a groundbreaking jazz saxophonist and composer during the 1940s and '50s. He was born in 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina. By his teens, Coltrane had picked up the alto saxophone and displayed immediate talent.
He was called to duty and enlisted in the Navy, where he performed and made his first recording with a quartet of fellow sailors. Upon return to civilian life, he studied at the Granoff School of Music and joined a number of jazz bands, including Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Jimmy Heath's band, and Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington's big band. During the 1950s, he began to use drugs. He rebounded during the mid-'50s when he joined the group, the Miles Davis Quintet.
Coltrane's A Love Supreme, released in 1965, is his most recognized record. The work was nominated for two Grammys and is considered a hallmark album by jazz historians. He died at 40 years old from liver cancer in 1967.
John Coltrane had an immense impact on the music world, revolutionizing jazz with his innovative techniques. He received a 1981 Grammy posthumously for Bye Bye Blackbird and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992. In 2007, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded him a special posthumous citation. His work continues to be a major inspiration for newer generations of artists.
