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JOHN COLTRANE
BIOGRAPHY
John William
Coltrane
was
born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina to John and
Alice Coltrane. He grew up in High Point, North Carolina, his
parents served to be a source of Coltrane's interest in music,
his mother studied music and his father, a tailor, played the
clarinet, violin, and various other instruments. Both of
Coltrane's grandfathers were ministers and it was through
their worship services that he began to build his roots.
In high school, at
the age of 15, Coltrane began playing and studying the E-flat
alto horn, the clarinet, and the saxophone while listening to
such artists as Woody Herman, Lester Young and Thelonious
Monk. In 1943, Coltrane moved to Philadelphia and studied
under Mike Guerra at The Granoff Studios and The Ornstein
School of Music. Mr. Granoff said of Coltrane: "Very,
very, few students ... could do improvisations as this young
man did. From the very moment that he learned his instrument,
he wanted to revolutionize it."
While enrolled in
school, Coltrane also worked at the local sugar refinery. In
1945, during World War II, he was inducted into the Navy.
While in the Navy, Coltrane played with the US Navy Band.
Coltrane returned to
Philadelphia and civilian life in 1946, and began working in
local bars and clubs around established musicians Jimmy Heath,
Howard McGhee, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and Joe
Webb. That same year, Coltrane performed in a show with Dizzy
Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He joined Dizzy Gillespie's big
band in 1949, and stayed with Gillespie through the band's
breakup in May 1950. Now on a tenor saxophone, he worked with
Gillespie's small group until April 1951, when he returned to
Philadelphia.
In early 1952 he
joined Earl Bostic's band, and in 1953 he began to work with
Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Smith and Bud Powell, staying until mid
1954. Despite his impressive performances and his first big
gig, Coltrane lived his next few years in depression, drugs
and alcohol;
however, he gathered the strength to seek rehabilitation. He
later converted to Islam and got his life together. Life was
back to normal for Coltrane, but he reverted back to using
drugs and eventually lost his job. Recognizing his addiction,
Hodges recommended that Coltrane get professional guidance.
The marriage of Coltrane in 1955 to Naima provided a special
someone in his life.
It was later in
1957, while working with the infamous Miles Davis, that
Coltrane began to make his mark. Coltrane was freelancing in
Philadelphia in the summer of 1955 when he received a call
from trumpeter Miles Davis. Davis, whose success during the
late forties had been followed by several years of decline,
was again active, and was about to form a quintet. When he
first joined the quintet, some wondered what Davis saw in
Coltrane. Davis saw something very unique and special in the
way Coltrane played the saxophone. In some aspects, Coltrane
did things similar to Charlie Parker. In addition, he explored
new ways of playing chords using an anguished tone and
multi-notes. He was also playing rhythmically complex solos
that were long and more extended than any that had been heard
in jazz.
The people who first
heard Coltrane's style were disturbed and confused by the
complexity of his style and his desire to push beyond the
limit and norms of jazz. "Trane", as he began to be
called, was creating a new style. Coltrane did not stay with
Davis for long. He was terminated from the band because of his
drug addiction, later, he again kicked his habit and joined up
with Thelonious Monk. During his performances with Monk,
Coltrane further developed his tenor sound by applying Monk's
concepts of discords and sounding notes to his saxophone. His
time with Monk concluded with the recording of the album
"Blue Train."
In 1958, John
Coltrane rejoined Miles Davis, at which time he added even
more chord combinations at high speeds. This period of his
style of playing was described by Jazz writer Ira Gitler as
"sheets of sound."
During this time, he participated in such seminal Davis
sessions as "Milestones" and "Kind of
Blue" and recorded his own influential session, notably
"Giant Steps."
In 1960, John
Coltrane left Miles Davis for the last time, and decided to
form his own group. The John Coltrane Quartet became one of
the most creative groups in jazz history. This group included
pianist McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones on drums, Jimmy Garrison on
bass and Coltrane on saxophone. This time further enhanced
Coltrane's growth as a musician and bandleader. While
traveling from Baltimore one night, he discovered someone had
left a horn in the car. Before the musician came to pick it
up, Coltrane had begun to play it and was utterly fascinated;
this marked a change in his style and musical career. The
instrument was a soprano saxophone, at that time a lost
instrument to jazz.
By January 1966, the
classic John Coltrane Quartet was no more. The internal
tension of Coltrane's quest for new directions had brought
Tyner and Jones to depart. Coltrane began to try new
instrumentations by adding additional homs, a second drummer
and a bassist. Trane formed a new band consisting of younger,
less known musicians who he both learned from and taught:
Alice McLeod (soon-to-be Alice Coltrane) replaced McCoy Tyner
on the piano. Pharaoh Sanders (permanent second saxophonist),
and Rashied Ali (replaced Jones).
Because of his
increasing popularity and style, Down Beat Magazine named
him the top tenor saxophonist and top miscellaneous
instrumentalist (soprano saxophone) for the year. He was also
noted for his lengthy irnprovisa6ons, some averaging more than
45 minutes. During this period, Coltrane also performed with
Duke Ellington and singer Johnny Hartman. "My Favorite
Things" is one of Coltrane's most important recordings
and was a marker for his fame as one of the most influential
artists in jazz.
By now, meditation
had become important to Coltrane, his playing became more
intense, critics said that his rapid-fire approach
demonstrated that he could not play chords and notes in a
conventional way. However, he proved them wrong with an album
entitled
"Ballads." In this album, Coltrane demonstrates his
classical schooling and ability to fully use the saxophone
through beautiful and serene love songs. The last group, which
included Coltrane's wife, Alice on piano, Rashied Ali on drums
and bassist Jimmy Garrison is represented in recordings of
concerts in Japan and a variety of small group sessions fi7om
early 1967.
Although there are
recordings of John Coltrane from as early as 1946, his career
spans the twelve years between 1955 and 1967, during which
time he reshaped modern jazz and influenced generations of
other musicians. Coltrane performed constantly during most of
his career, up until perhaps the last few months of his life.
Coltrane's music moved through many styles during the last
twelve years of his life and although he had a considerable
audience during his lifetime, some jazz journalists had
trouble keeping up.
His growth as a
musician reflected his search for meaning in life. This
religious tone is rooted in his music, and the titles of his
later recordings show the change: "Spiritual",
"A Love Supreme", "Om", "Vigil".
These titles illustrate the spiritual "air" about
Coltrane and his music. Coltrane's spirituality was based on a
belief that all things in life are united, that all things
come from a common essence, and it was this essence that
united things. He searched for this and tried to illustrate it
in his music. He once stated "My music is the spiritual
expression of what I am - my faith, my knowledge, my
being." His 1965 hit "A Love Supreme" is a
dedication to that faith. This song represents Coltrane's
testament to his life, music, and world.
On July 17, 1967, at
Huntington Hospital in Long Island, New York, musical genius,
composer, bandleader and musician, John William Coltrane died
of a liver ailment at the age of forty. At the funeral
services, Cal Massey read from Trane's poem, "A Love
Supreme" in place of the eulogy, and musicians Ornette
Coleman and Albert Ayler composed and performed compositions.
When John Coltrane was put to rest, a crowd of more than a
thousand musicians, fans, and loved ones attended the
services. |
