John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina and grew up in a musical household. After serving in the Navy, he moved to Philadelphia and began playing in rhythm and blues bands before joining the groups of Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Hodges, and most importantly, Miles Davis.
Coltrane's work with Miles Davis's legendary quintet in the late 1950s made him a star, but it was his own recordings that made him a deity. Giant Steps (1960) introduced harmonic innovations so complex they became known as "Coltrane changes." My Favorite Things (1961) reimagined a show tune as a transcendent meditation. A Love Supreme (1965) was a four-part spiritual suite that became one of the greatest albums ever recorded.
In his final years, Coltrane pushed even further into free jazz and spiritual exploration, creating music of almost overwhelming intensity and beauty. He died of liver cancer at 40, having compressed several lifetimes of innovation into a single, blazing career.
"I want to be a force for real good. In other words, I know that there are bad forces... I want to be the opposite force."— John Coltrane
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