John Coltrane
A saxophonist from North Carolina and Philadelphia who came up with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, led one of the great jazz quartets, and recorded Giant Steps (1960) and A Love Supreme (1965).
Philadelphia, Davis and Monk
John William Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina on September 23, 1926, grew up in North Carolina and High Point, and moved to Philadelphia in June 1943. He first heard Charlie Parker on June 5, 1945, enlisted in the Navy that August, served in Hawaii and was discharged in August 1946. He studied in Philadelphia with Dennis Sandole, played with King Kolax and Jimmy Heath, and took up the tenor saxophone in 1947 with Eddie Vinson.
In October 1955 he joined Miles Davis's first great quintet with Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, and the 1956 Prestige albums Cookin', Relaxin', Workin' and Steamin' come from that band. In the second half of 1957 he played in Thelonious Monk's quartet, recorded Blue Train for Blue Note in 1958, and rejoined Davis for Milestones and Kind of Blue, staying until April 1960. In 1959 he signed with Atlantic, and Giant Steps appeared in February 1960.
The quartet and Impulse!
In May 1961 Coltrane signed with Impulse!. His classic quartet of 1962 to 1965 was McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums; before that he had a residency at the Village Vanguard in 1961 with Eric Dolphy and Reggie Workman. The records of this period include Africa/Brass (1961), Ballads and Impressions (1963), Crescent (1964), and A Love Supreme, recorded in December 1964 and released in 1965, followed by Ascension, recorded in June 1965. There were also collaborations, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane and John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman in 1963, and Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane for Prestige.
From September 1965 he added Pharoah Sanders, and a second quartet with Alice Coltrane on piano, Garrison and Rashied Ali replaced Tyner and Jones by early 1966. He recorded Expression and Interstellar Space in 1967 and died on July 17, 1967, aged 40, in Huntington, New York. Posthumous releases include Sun Ship, Stellar Regions and, in 2018, Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album. Honors include a DownBeat Hall of Fame place in 1965, a posthumous Grammy for the solo on "Bye Bye Blackbird" in 1982, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award, and a special Pulitzer Prize in 2007 citing his masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz. The John Coltrane House in Philadelphia became a National Historic Landmark in 1999, and the St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in San Francisco was founded in 1982. The estate is marking 2026, the centenary of his birth, with a program called Coltrane 100.
Albums
- Giant Steps 1960 · Atlantic
The first Atlantic album Coltrane led, with seven pieces recorded in 1959, among them the title tune and "Naima".
Songs
- Giant Steps Giant Steps · 1960
The title track of Giant Steps: a tune whose key centers move by major thirds, long used as a test of a player's command of changes.
Sources
- John Coltrane, Wikipedia
- John Coltrane discography, Wikipedia
- Giant Steps, Wikipedia
- John Coltrane, The John Coltrane estate