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{{Short description|American jazz saxophonist (1926–1967)}}
{{Redirect|Coltrane}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| image           = John Coltrane 1963 cropped ver2.jpg
| caption         = Coltrane in 1963
| name            = John Coltrane
| birth_name      = John William Coltrane
| alias           = Trane
| birth_date      = {{birth date|mf=yes|1926|9|23}}
| birth_place     = [[Hamlet, North Carolina]], U.S.
| death_date      = {{death date and age|1967|7|17|1926|9|23}}
| death_place     = [[Huntington, New York]], U.S.
| genre           = {{flatlist|
* [[Jazz]]
* [[hard bop]]
* [[spiritual jazz]]
* [[post-bop]]
* [[modal jazz]]
* [[avant-garde jazz]]
* [[free jazz]]
}}
| occupation      = {{hlist|Musician|composer|bandleader}}
| instrument      = {{Hlist|[[Tenor saxophone]]|[[soprano saxophone]]|[[alto saxophone]]|[[Western concert flute|flute]]|[[bass clarinet]]}}
| years_active    = 1945–1967
| label           = {{flatlist|
* [[Prestige Records|Prestige]]
* [[Blue Note Records|Blue Note]]
* [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]]
* [[Impulse! Records|Impulse!]]}}
| spouse = {{Unbulleted list|
* {{Marriage|Juanita Naima Coltrane|1953|1966|end=div}}
* {{Marriage|[[Alice Coltrane]]|1966}}}}
| website         = {{URL|johncoltrane.com}}
| module          = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
| allegiance   = United States
| branch       = [[United States Navy]]
| serviceyears = 1945–1946
| rank         = [[Seaman (rank)#United States|Seaman first class]]
| unit         = {{plainlist|
* [[Naval Station Pearl Harbor]]
* [[Pacific Fleet Band|Pacific Fleet Ceremonial Band]]
}}
| commands     = 
| battles      = {{tree list}}
* [[World War II]]
** [[Pacific War|Pacific Theater]]
{{tree list/end}}
| awards       = {{plainlist|
* [[American Campaign Medal]]
* [[Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal]]
* [[World War II Victory Medal]]
}}
}}
}}

'''John William Coltrane''' (September 23, 1926&nbsp;– July 17, 1967) was an American [[jazz]] saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the [[Jazz#Post-war jazz|history of jazz]] and 20th-century music.

Born and raised in [[North Carolina]], after graduating from high school Coltrane moved to [[Philadelphia]], where he studied music. Working in the [[bebop]] and [[hard bop]] idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of [[Modal jazz|modes]] and was one of the players at the forefront of [[free jazz]]. He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter [[Miles Davis]] and pianist [[Thelonious Monk]]. Over the course of his career, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension, as exemplified on his most acclaimed album ''[[A Love Supreme]]'' (1965) and others.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=John Coltrane A Love Supreme|magazine=Rolling Stone|url=https://www.rs500albums.com/100-51/66|access-date=November 7, 2022|archive-date=November 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221107043032/https://www.rs500albums.com/100-51/66|url-status=live}}</ref> Decades after his death, Coltrane remains influential, and he has received numerous posthumous awards, including a [[Pulitzer Prize Special Citations and Awards|special Pulitzer Prize]],<ref name=pulitzer>{{cite web |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2007-Special-Awards-and-Citations |title=The 2007 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Special Awards and Citations |access-date=June 29, 2009 |publisher=The Pulitzer Prizes |archive-date=January 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102051618/http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2007-Special-Awards-and-Citations |url-status=live }} With reprint of short biography</ref> and was even [[canonization|canonized]] by the [[African Orthodox Church]].

His second wife was pianist and harpist [[Alice Coltrane]].  The couple had three children: John Jr.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Son of jazz great Coltrane dies in car crash |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/08/09/Son-of-jazz-great-Coltrane-dies-in-car-crash/7353397713600/ |access-date=December 17, 2022 |work=United Press International |language=en |archive-date=October 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026100255/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/08/09/Son-of-jazz-great-Coltrane-dies-in-car-crash/7353397713600/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (1964–1982), a bassist; [[Ravi Coltrane|Ravi]] (born 1965), a saxophonist; and Oran (born 1967), a saxophonist, guitarist, drummer and singer.<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=272 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=294 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Berkman | first = Franya | title = Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane | publisher = Wesleyan University Press | year = 2010 | pages=47 }}</ref>

==Biography==
=== 1926–1945: Early life ===
[[File:U.S. Naval Reserve portrait of Johnny Coltrane edit.jpg|thumb|left|Coltrane's first recordings were made when he was a sailor]]
Coltrane was born in his parents' apartment at 200 Hamlet Avenue in [[Hamlet, North Carolina]], on September 23, 1926.<ref>DeVito et al., p. 1</ref> His father was John R. Coltrane<ref>DeVito et al., p. 2</ref> and his mother was Alice Blair.<ref name="DeVito et al., p. 3">DeVito et al., p. 3</ref> He grew up in [[High Point, North Carolina]], and attended [[William Penn High School (North Carolina)|William Penn High School]]. While in high school, Coltrane played [[clarinet]] and [[alto horn]] in a community band<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=J.C. |title=Chasin' the Trane |publisher=Da Capo |year=1976 |pages=14–17 }}</ref> before switching to the saxophone, after being influenced by the likes of [[Lester Young]] and [[Johnny Hodges]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=J.C. |title=Chasin' the Trane |publisher=Da Capo |year=1976 |pages=20 }}</ref><ref>Porter, pp. 30</ref> Beginning in December 1938, his father, aunt, and grandparents died within a few months of one another, leaving him to be raised by his mother and a close cousin.<ref>Porter, pp. 15–17</ref> In June 1943, shortly after graduating from high school, Coltrane and his family moved to Philadelphia, where he got a job at a [[sugar refinery]]. In September that year, for his 17th birthday, his mother bought him his first saxophone, an alto.<ref name="DeVito et al., p. 3"/> From 1944 to 1945, Coltrane took saxophone lessons at the Ornstein School of Music with Mike Guerra.<ref>Porter, pp. 33</ref> Between early to mid-1945, he had his first professional work as a musician: a "cocktail lounge trio" with [[piano]] and [[Electric guitar|guitar]].<ref>DeVito et al., p. 5</ref>

An important moment in the progression of Coltrane's musical development occurred on June 5, 1945, when he saw [[Charlie Parker]] perform for the first time. In a ''DownBeat'' magazine article in 1960 he recalled: "the first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes."

=== 1945–1946: Military service ===
To avoid being drafted by the Army, Coltrane enlisted in the Navy on August 6, 1945, the day the first U.S. atomic bomb was dropped on Japan.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://issuu.com/styletome/docs/osm|title=Orlando Style Magazine July/August 2016 Issue|date=June 28, 2016 |via=Issuu|access-date=January 11, 2017|archive-date=February 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204181932/https://issuu.com/styletome/docs/osm|url-status=live}}</ref> He was trained as an apprentice seaman at [[Sampson Air Force Base|Sampson Naval Training Station]] in upstate New York before he was shipped to Pearl Harbor,<ref name=":1" /> where he was stationed at Manana Barracks,<ref name="Porter1998">{{cite book |last=Porter |first=Lewis |title=John Coltrane: His Life and Music|url=https://archive.org/details/johncoltranehisl00port |url-access=registration |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=January 1998 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-10161-0 }}</ref> the largest posting of African American servicemen in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blackthen.com/john-coltrane-legendary-revolutionary-saxophonist-history-jazz-music/ |title=John Coltrane: Legendary and Revolutionary Saxophonist in the History of Jazz Music |website=Blackthen.com |date=May 27, 2018 |access-date=June 8, 2018 |archive-date=July 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708084417/https://blackthen.com/john-coltrane-legendary-revolutionary-saxophonist-history-jazz-music/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By the time he got to Hawaii in late 1945, the Navy was downsizing. Coltrane's musical talent was recognized and, when he joined the Melody Masters, the base swing band, he became one of the few Navy men to serve as a musician without having been granted musician's rating.<ref name=":1" /> Because the Melody Masters was an all-white band, Coltrane was treated as a guest performer to avoid alerting superior officers of his participation in the band.<ref name="Ratliff2008">{{cite book |last=Ratliff |first=Ben |title=Coltrane: The Story of a Sound |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3WNFheF9ycC&pg=PT12 |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=October 28, 2008 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-4299-9862-8 |pages=12– |archive-date=February 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208135308/https://books.google.com/books?id=K3WNFheF9ycC&pg=PT12 |url-status=live }}</ref> He continued to perform other duties when not playing with the band, including kitchen and security details. By the end of his service, he had assumed a leadership role in the band. His first recordings, an informal session in Hawaii with Navy musicians, occurred on July 13, 1946.<ref>DeVito et al., p. 367</ref> He played alto saxophone on a selection of jazz standards and bebop tunes.<ref>DeVito et al., pp. 367–368</ref> He was officially discharged from the Navy on August 8, 1946. He was awarded the [[American Campaign Medal]], [[Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal]] and the [[World War II Victory Medal]].

=== 1946–1954: Immediate post-war career ===
After being discharged from the Navy as a seaman first class in August 1946, Coltrane returned to Philadelphia, where the city's bustling [[Music of Philadelphia#Jazz|jazz scene]] offered him many opportunities for both learning and playing.<ref name="Porter">{{cite book |last1=Porter |first1=Lewis |title=John Coltrane: His Life and Music |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0-472-10161-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/johncoltranehisl00port |date=January 1998 }}</ref> Coltrane used the [[G.I. Bill]] to enroll at the [[Granoff School of Music]], where he studied [[music theory]] with jazz guitarist and composer [[Dennis Sandole]].<ref>Porter, pp. 50–51</ref> He would continue to work under Sandole's tutelage from 1946 into the early 1950s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/08/nyregion/dennis-sandole-jazz-guitarist-and-an-influential-teacher-87.html|title=Dennis Sandole, Jazz Guitarist And an Influential Teacher, 87|first=Ben|last=Ratliff|date=October 8, 2000|access-date=June 7, 2022|website=[[The New York Times]]|archive-date=June 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607080418/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/08/nyregion/dennis-sandole-jazz-guitarist-and-an-influential-teacher-87.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Coltrane also took saxophone lessons with Matthew Rastelli, a saxophone teacher at Granoff, once a week for about two or three years. However, the lessons stopped when Coltrane's G.I. Bill funds ran out.<ref>Porter, p. 52</ref> After touring with [[King Kolax]], he joined a band led by [[Jimmy Heath]], who was introduced to Coltrane's playing by his former Navy buddy, trumpeter William Massey, who had played with Coltrane in the Melody Masters.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Joe |title=Musically Speaking |journal=The Mananan |date=October 30, 1945}}</ref> Although he started on alto saxophone, he switched to playing tenor saxophone in 1947 with [[Eddie Vinson]].<ref name="Alexander2010">{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Leslie M. |last2=Rucker |first2=Walter C. Jr. |title=Encyclopedia of African American History &#91;3 volumes&#93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uivtCqOlpTsC&pg=PA178 |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=February 9, 2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-774-6 |pages=178– |archive-date=February 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208135317/https://books.google.com/books?id=uivtCqOlpTsC&pg=PA178 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Coltrane called this a time when "a wider area of listening opened up for me. There were many things that people like [[Coleman Hawkins|Hawk [Coleman Hawkins]]] and [[Ben Webster|Ben [Webster]]] and [[Tab Smith]] were doing in the '40s that I didn't understand, but that I felt emotionally."<ref name="John Coltrane Biography">{{cite web |url=http://www.johncoltrane.com/biography.html |title=John Coltrane Biography |access-date=June 29, 2009 |date=May 11, 2007 |publisher=The John Coltrane Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151206193004/http://johncoltrane.com/biography.html |archive-date=December 6, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A significant influence, according to tenor saxophonist [[Odean Pope]], was the Philadelphia pianist, composer, and theorist [[Hasaan Ibn Ali]]. "Hasaan was the clue to ... the system that Trane uses. Hasaan was the great influence on Trane's melodic concept."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/02/there-was-no-end-to-the-music/ |title=There Was No End to the Music |last=Armstrong |first=Rob |date=February 8, 2013 |publisher=Hidden City Philadelphia |access-date=July 12, 2015 |archive-date=July 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713093848/http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/02/there-was-no-end-to-the-music/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Coltrane became fanatical about practicing and developing his craft, practicing "25 hours a day" according to [[Jimmy Heath]]. Heath recalls an incident in a hotel in San Francisco when after a complaint was issued, Coltrane took the horn out of his mouth and practiced fingering for a full hour.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yaf6TNfuDuk| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Yaf6TNfuDuk| archive-date=December 11, 2021 | url-status=live|title=John Coltrane's Work Ethic| date=July 6, 2016|via=YouTube|access-date=December 7, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Such was his dedication; it was common for him to fall asleep with the horn still in his mouth or practice a single note for hours on end.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEkIAQAAMAAJ&q=coltrane+asleep+horn|author=Woideck, Carl|title=The John Coltrane Companion: Five Decades of Commentary|publisher=Schirmer Books|page=29|year=1998|isbn=9780028647906|access-date=October 18, 2020|archive-date=March 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325000143/https://books.google.com/books?id=uEkIAQAAMAAJ&q=coltrane+asleep+horn|url-status=live}}</ref>

Charlie Parker, whom Coltrane had first heard perform before his time in the Navy, became an idol, and the two would occasionally play together in the late 1940s. He was a member of groups led by [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Earl Bostic]], and [[Johnny Hodges]] in the early to mid-1950s.

===1955–1957: Miles and Monk period===
In 1955, Coltrane was freelancing in Philadelphia while studying with Sandole when he received a call from trumpeter [[Miles Davis]]. Davis had been successful in the 1940s, but his reputation and work had been damaged in part by heroin addiction; he was again active and about to form a quintet. Coltrane was with this edition of the Davis band (known as the "[[Miles Davis Quintet|First Great Quintet]]"—along with [[Red Garland]] on piano, [[Paul Chambers]] on bass, and [[Philly Joe Jones]] on drums) from October 1955 to April 1957 (with a few absences). During this period Davis released several influential recordings that revealed the first signs of Coltrane's growing ability. This quintet, represented by two marathon recording sessions for [[Prestige Records|Prestige]] in 1956, resulted in the albums ''[[Cookin' with The Miles Davis Quintet|Cookin'<nowiki/>]]'', ''[[Relaxin' with The Miles Davis Quintet|Relaxin'<nowiki/>]]'', ''[[Workin' with The Miles Davis Quintet|Workin']]'', and ''[[Steamin' with The Miles Davis Quintet|Steamin']]''. The "First Great Quintet" disbanded due in part to Coltrane's heroin addiction.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/07/movies/critic-s-notebook-the-miracle-of-coltrane-dead-at-40-still-vital-at-75.html|title=CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; The Miracle of Coltrane: Dead at 40, Still Vital at 75|first=Ben|last=Ratliff|date=December 7, 2001|access-date=March 29, 2019|website=[[The New York Times]]|archive-date=March 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329150142/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/07/movies/critic-s-notebook-the-miracle-of-coltrane-dead-at-40-still-vital-at-75.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the later part of 1957, Coltrane worked with [[Thelonious Monk]] at New York's [[Five Spot Café]], and played in Monk's quartet (July–December 1957), but, owing to contractual conflicts, took part in only one official studio recording session with this group. Coltrane recorded many sessions for Prestige under his own name at this time, but Monk refused to record for his old label.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blackthen.com/john-coltrane-legendary-revolutionary-saxophonist-history-jazz-music/|title=John Coltrane: Legendary and Revolutionary Saxophonist in the History of Jazz Music|website=Blackthen.com|date=May 27, 2018|access-date=March 29, 2019|archive-date=March 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329123529/https://blackthen.com/john-coltrane-legendary-revolutionary-saxophonist-history-jazz-music/|url-status=live}}</ref> A private recording made by Juanita Naima Coltrane of a 1958 reunion of the group was issued by Blue Note Records as ''Live at the Five Spot—Discovery!'' in 1993. A high quality tape of a concert given by this quartet in November 1957 was found later, and was released by Blue Note in 2005. Recorded by [[Voice of America]], the performances confirm the group's reputation, and the resulting album, ''[[Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall]]'', is very highly rated.

''[[Blue Train (album)|Blue Train]]'', Coltrane's sole date as leader for Blue Note, featuring trumpeter [[Lee Morgan]], bassist [[Paul Chambers]], and trombonist [[Curtis Fuller]], is often considered his best album from this period. Four of its five tracks are original Coltrane compositions, and the title track, "[[Moment's Notice]]", and "[[Lazy Bird]]", have become standards.

===1958: Davis and Coltrane===
Coltrane rejoined Davis in December 1957 after he recovered from his addiction.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miles Davis and John Coltrane: Yin and Yang |url=https://www.jazzwise.com/features/article/miles-davis-and-john-coltrane-yin-and-yang |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=Jazzwise |language=en}}</ref> In October of that year, jazz critic [[Ira Gitler]] coined the term "[[sheets of sound]]"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.allaboutjazz.com/john-coltrane-sheets-of-sound.php|title=Jazz news: John Coltrane: Sheets of Sound|website=News.allaboutjazz.com|date=June 19, 2009|access-date=October 15, 2019|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620064049/https://news.allaboutjazz.com/john-coltrane-sheets-of-sound.php|url-status=live|url-access=registration}}</ref> to describe the style Coltrane developed with Monk and was perfecting in Davis's group, now a sextet. His playing was compressed, with rapid runs cascading in very many notes per minute. Coltrane recalled: "I found that there were a certain number of chord progressions to play in a given time, and sometimes what I played didn't work out in eighth notes, sixteenth notes, or triplets. I had to put the notes in uneven groups like fives and sevens in order to get them all in."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coltrane |first1=John |last2=DeMicheal |first2=Don |date=September 29, 1960 |title=Coltrane on Coltrane |journal=[[DownBeat]] |pages=27 }}</ref>

Coltrane stayed with Davis until April 1960, working with alto saxophonist [[Cannonball Adderley]]; pianists [[Red Garland]], [[Bill Evans]], and [[Wynton Kelly]]; bassist [[Paul Chambers]]; and drummers [[Philly Joe Jones]] and [[Jimmy Cobb]]. During this time he participated in the Davis sessions ''[[Milestones (Miles Davis album)|Milestones]]'' and ''[[Kind of Blue]]'', and the concert recordings ''[[Miles & Monk at Newport]]'' (1963) and ''[[Jazz at the Plaza Vol. I|Jazz at the Plaza]] (1958)''.

===1959–1961: Period with Atlantic Records===
At the end of this period, Coltrane recorded ''[[Giant Steps]]'' (1960), his <!-- album with Milt Jackson ("Bags & Trane") recorded first, but not issued until 1961. --> first released album as leader for [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]] that contained only his compositions.<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=145 }}</ref> The album's title track is generally considered to have one of the most difficult chord progressions of any widely played jazz composition,<ref>{{cite book | last = Nisenson | first = Eric |title =Ascension: John Coltrane And His Quest | publisher =Da Capo | year =2009 | pages=171 }}</ref> eventually referred to as [[Coltrane changes]].<ref>{{cite book | last =Berkman | first =David | title =The Jazz Harmony Book | publisher = Sher Music | year = 2013 | pages=145 }}</ref> His development of these cycles led to further experimentation with improvised melody and harmony that he continued throughout his career.<ref>{{cite book | last = Ratliff | first = Ben | author-link = Ben Ratliff | title = Coltrane: The Story of a Sound | publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux | year = 2007 | pages=52–53 }}</ref>
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Coltrane formed his first quartet for live performances in 1960 for an appearance at the Jazz Gallery in New York City.<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=173–178 }}</ref> After moving through different personnel, including [[Steve Kuhn]], [[Pete La Roca]], and [[Billy Higgins]], he kept pianist [[McCoy Tyner]], bassist [[Steve Davis (bassist)|Steve Davis]], and drummer [[Elvin Jones]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=178–180 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Ratliff | first = Ben | author-link = Ben Ratliff | title = Coltrane: The Story of a Sound | publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux | year = 2007 | pages=57–59 }}</ref> Tyner, a native of Philadelphia, had been a friend of Coltrane for some years, and the two men had an understanding that Tyner would join the band when he felt ready.<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=177 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Ratliff | first = Ben | author-link = Ben Ratliff | title = Coltrane: The Story of a Sound | publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux | year = 2007 | pages=58 }}</ref> ''[[My Favorite Things (John Coltrane album)|My Favorite Things]]'' (1961) was the first album recorded by this band.<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=180 }}</ref> It was Coltrane's first album on [[soprano saxophone]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Nisenson | first = Eric |title =Ascension: John Coltrane And His Quest | publisher =Da Capo | year =2009 | pages=212–213 }}</ref> which he began practicing while with Miles Davis.<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=180–182 }}</ref> It was considered an unconventional move because the instrument was more associated with earlier jazz.<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=181 }}</ref>

===1961–1962: First years with Impulse! Records===
[[File:JohnColtrane1961.jpg|upright|thumb|Coltrane in Amsterdam, 1961]]

In May 1961, Coltrane's contract with Atlantic was bought by [[Impulse! Records|Impulse!]].<ref name="Ratliff">{{cite book |last1=Ratliff |first1=Ben |title=Coltrane: The story of a Sound |url=https://archive.org/details/coltranestoryofs0000ratl |url-access=registration |date=2007 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |location=New York |isbn=978-0-374-12606-3 |edition=1st}}</ref> The move to Impulse! meant that Coltrane resumed his recording relationship with engineer [[Rudy Van Gelder]], who had recorded his and Davis's sessions for Prestige. He recorded most of his albums for Impulse! at Van Gelder's studio in [[Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey]].

By early 1961, bassist Davis had been replaced by [[Reggie Workman]], while [[Eric Dolphy]] joined the group as a second horn. The quintet had a celebrated and extensively recorded residency at the [[Village Vanguard]], which demonstrated Coltrane's new direction. It included the most experimental music he had played, influenced by Indian [[ragas]], [[modal jazz]], and [[free jazz]]. [[John Gilmore (musician)|John Gilmore]], a longtime saxophonist with musician [[Sun Ra]], was particularly influential; after hearing a Gilmore performance, Coltrane is reported to have said, "He's got it! Gilmore's got the concept!"<ref>{{cite journal |last=Corbett |first=John |title=John Gilmore: The Hard Bop Homepage |journal=[[DownBeat]]}}</ref> The most celebrated of the Vanguard tunes, the 15-minute blues "Chasin' the 'Trane", was strongly inspired by Gilmore's music.<ref name="kofsky">{{cite book |first=Frank |last=Kofsky |title=Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music: John Coltrane: An Interview |publisher=Pathfinder Press |year=1970 |page=235 }}</ref>

In 1961, Coltrane began pairing Workman with a second bassist, usually [[Art Davis (bassist)|Art Davis]] or [[Donald Garrett]]. Garrett recalled playing a tape for Coltrane where "I was playing with another bass player. We were doing some things rhythmically, and Coltrane became excited about the sound. We got the same kind of sound you get from the East Indian water drum. One bass remains in the lower register and is the stabilizing, pulsating thing, while the other bass is free to improvise, like the right hand would be on the drum. So Coltrane liked the idea."<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=198–199 }}</ref> Coltrane also recalled: "I thought another bass would add that certain rhythmic sound. We were playing a lot of stuff with a sort of suspended rhythm, with one bass playing a series of notes around one point, and it seemed that another bass could fill in the spaces."<ref name="wilmerinterview115">{{Cite book|title=Coltrane on Coltrane: The John Coltrane Interviews |last=Wilmer |first=Val |editor-last1=DeVito |editor-first1=Chris |chapter=Conversation with Coltrane |date=2010 |pages=115 |publisher=Chicago Review Press }}</ref> According to [[Eric Dolphy]], one night: "Wilbur Ware came in and up on the stand so they had three basses going. John and I got off the stand and listened."<ref name="wilmerinterview115" /> Coltrane employed two basses on the 1961 albums ''[[Olé Coltrane]]'' and ''[[Africa/Brass]]'', and later on ''[[The John Coltrane Quartet Plays]]'' and ''[[Ascension (John Coltrane album)|Ascension]]''. Both Reggie Workman and [[Jimmy Garrison]] play bass on the 1961 Village Vanguard recordings of "India" and "Miles' Mode".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1196907-Coltrane-The-Complete-1961-Village-Vanguard-Recordings |title=John Coltrane – The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings |website=Discogs |year=1997 |access-date=July 30, 2022 |archive-date=July 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730143947/https://www.discogs.com/release/1196907-Coltrane-The-Complete-1961-Village-Vanguard-Recordings |url-status=live }}</ref>

During this period, critics were divided in their estimation of Coltrane, who had radically altered his style. Audiences, too, were perplexed; in France he was booed during his final tour with Davis. In 1961, ''DownBeat'' magazine called Coltrane and Dolphy players of "anti-jazz" in an article that bewildered and upset the musicians.<ref name="kofsky" /> Coltrane admitted some of his early solos were based mostly on technical ideas. Furthermore, Dolphy's angular, voice-like playing earned him a reputation as a figurehead of the New Thing, also known as free jazz, a movement led by [[Ornette Coleman]] that was denigrated by some jazz musicians (including Davis) and critics. But as Coltrane's style developed, he was determined to make every performance "a whole expression of one's being".<ref>Nisenson, p. 179</ref>

===1962–1965: Classic Quartet period===
{{Listen|pos = right
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{{Anchor|Classic_Quartet}}In 1962, Dolphy departed and [[Jimmy Garrison]] replaced Workman as bassist. From then on, the "Classic Quartet", as it came to be known, with Tyner, Garrison, and Jones, produced searching, spiritually driven work. Coltrane was moving toward a more harmonically static style that allowed him to expand his improvisations rhythmically, melodically, and motivically. Harmonically complex music was still present, but on stage Coltrane heavily favored continually reworking his "standards": "Impressions", "My Favorite Things", and "I Want to Talk About You".

The criticism of the quintet with Dolphy may have affected Coltrane. In contrast to the radicalism of his 1961 recordings at the Village Vanguard, his studio albums in the following two years (with the exception of ''[[Coltrane (1962 album)|Coltrane]]'', 1962, which featured a blistering version of [[Harold Arlen]]'s "Out of This World") were much more conservative. He recorded an album of ballads and participated in album collaborations with [[Duke Ellington and John Coltrane|Duke Ellington]] and singer [[John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman|Johnny Hartman]], a baritone who specialized in ballads. The album ''[[Ballads (John Coltrane album)|Ballads]]'' (recorded 1961–62) is emblematic of Coltrane's versatility, as the quartet shed new light on standards such as "It's Easy to Remember". Despite a more polished approach in the studio, in concert the quartet continued to balance "standards" and its own more exploratory and challenging music, as can be heard on the albums ''[[Impressions (John Coltrane album)|Impressions]]'' (recorded 1961–63), ''[[Live at Birdland (1964 John Coltrane album)|Live at Birdland]]'' and ''[[Newport '63]]'' (both recorded 1963). ''Impressions'' consists of two extended jams including the title track along with "Dear Old Stockholm", "After the Rain" and a blues. Coltrane later said he enjoyed having a "balanced catalogue".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNZQCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Coltrane+later+said+he+enjoyed+having+a+%22balanced+catalogue.%22%22&pg=PT192|title=The History of Jazz and the Jazz Musicians|date=March 13, 2013|publisher=Lulu Press, Inc|access-date=March 29, 2019|via=Google Books|isbn=9781257544486|archive-date=March 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324235330/https://books.google.com/books?id=nNZQCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Coltrane+later+said+he+enjoyed+having+a+%22balanced+catalogue.%22%22&pg=PT192|url-status=live}}</ref>

On March 6, 1963, the group entered [[Van Gelder Studio]] in New Jersey and recorded a session that was lost for decades after its master tape was destroyed by Impulse! Records to cut down on storage space. On June 29, 2018, Impulse! released ''[[Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album]]'', made up of seven tracks made from a spare copy Coltrane had given to his wife.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/08/lost-1963-john-coltrane-album-discovered|title='A new room in the Great Pyramid': lost 1963 John Coltrane album discovered|last=Beaumont-Thomas|first=Ben|date=June 8, 2018|website=The Guardian|access-date=June 8, 2018|archive-date=June 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180608043850/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/08/lost-1963-john-coltrane-album-discovered|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/long-lost-john-coltrane-album-set-release/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/long-lost-john-coltrane-album-set-release/ |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Long-lost John Coltrane album set for release|last=Vincent|first=Alice|date=June 8, 2018|work=The Telegraph|access-date=June 8, 2018|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref> On March 7, 1963, they were joined in the studio by Hartman for the recording of six tracks for the ''[[John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman]]'' album, released that July.

Impulse! followed the successful "lost album" release with 2019's ''[[Blue World (album)|Blue World]]'', made up of a 1964 soundtrack to the film ''[[The Cat in the Bag]]'', recorded in June 1964.

The Classic Quartet produced its best-selling album, ''[[A Love Supreme]]'', in December 1964. A culmination of much of Coltrane's work up to this point, this four-part suite is an ode to his faith in and love for God. These spiritual concerns characterized much of Coltrane's composing and playing from this point onward—as can be seen from album titles such as ''Ascension'', ''Om'' and ''Meditations''. The fourth movement of ''A Love Supreme'', "Psalm", is, in fact, a musical setting for an original poem to God written by Coltrane, and printed in the album's liner notes. Coltrane plays almost exactly one note for each syllable of the poem, and bases his phrasing on the words. The album was composed at [[John Coltrane Home|Coltrane's home]] in [[Dix Hills, New York|Dix Hills]] on Long Island.

The quartet played ''A Love Supreme'' live only three times, recorded twice – in July 1965 at a concert in [[Antibes]], France, and in October 1965 in Seattle, Washington.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Porter |first1=Lewis |last2=DeVito |first2=Chris |last3=Fujioka |first3=Yasuhiro |last4=Wild |first4=David |last5=Schmaler |first5=Wolf |title=The John Coltrane Reference |year=2008 |publisher=Routledge |pages=733–735 }}</ref> A recording of the Antibes concert was released by [[Impulse! Records|Impulse!]] in 2002 on the remastered Deluxe Edition of ''A Love Supreme'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/John-Coltrane-A-Love-Supreme/release/2525657 |title=John Coltrane – A Love Supreme: Deluxe Edition |website=Discogs |access-date=July 19, 2020 |archive-date=February 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221005925/https://www.discogs.com/John-Coltrane-A-Love-Supreme/release/2525657 |url-status=live }}</ref> and again in 2015 on the "Super Deluxe Edition" of The Complete Masters.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/John-Coltrane-A-Love-Supreme-The-Complete-Masters/release/7847833 |title=John Coltrane – A Love Supreme (The Complete Masters): Super Deluxe Edition |website=Discogs |date=November 20, 2015 |access-date=July 19, 2020 |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224195531/https://www.discogs.com/John-Coltrane-A-Love-Supreme-The-Complete-Masters/release/7847833 |url-status=live }}</ref> A recently discovered second amateur recording titled "A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle" was released in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/10/john-coltrane-love-supreme/620348/ |title=You've Never Heard John Coltrane Like This Before |website=The Atlantic |date=October 9, 2021 |access-date=October 9, 2021 |archive-date=October 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009130701/https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/10/john-coltrane-love-supreme/620348/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===1965: Adding to the quartet and avant-garde jazz===
[[File:PharoahSanders.jpg|thumb|right|As Coltrane's interest in jazz became experimental, he added Pharoah Sanders (center; circa 1978) to his ensemble.]]
In his late period, Coltrane showed an interest in the [[avant-garde jazz]] of [[Ornette Coleman]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Richardson|first=Mark|title=New York Is Killing Me: Albert Ayler's Life and Death in the Jazz Capital|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/from-the-pitchfork-review/9857-new-york-is-killing-me-albert-aylers-life-and-death-in-the-jazz-capital/|work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=April 28, 2016|access-date=January 16, 2020|archive-date=January 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116133722/https://pitchfork.com/features/from-the-pitchfork-review/9857-new-york-is-killing-me-albert-aylers-life-and-death-in-the-jazz-capital/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Albert Ayler]],<ref name="beta">{{cite web|last=Beta|first=Andy|title=Astral Traveling: The Ecstasy of Spiritual Jazz|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/pitchfork-essentials/9724-astral-traveling-the-ecstasy-of-spiritual-jazz/|work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=September 25, 2015|access-date=January 16, 2020|archive-date=June 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605212901/https://pitchfork.com/features/pitchfork-essentials/9724-astral-traveling-the-ecstasy-of-spiritual-jazz/|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Sun Ra]]. He was especially influenced by the dissonance of Ayler's trio with bassist [[Gary Peacock]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Whitehead|first=Kevin|title=Albert Ayler: Testifying The Breaking Point|url=https://www.npr.org/2001/05/08/1122654/avant-garde-made-easy-albert-ayler|publisher=[[NPR]]|date=May 8, 2001|access-date=January 16, 2020|archive-date=April 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404135917/https://www.npr.org/2001/05/08/1122654/avant-garde-made-easy-albert-ayler|url-status=live}}</ref> who had worked with [[Paul Bley]], and drummer [[Sunny Murray]], whose playing was honed with [[Cecil Taylor]] as leader. Coltrane championed many young free jazz musicians such as [[Archie Shepp]],<ref name="bray">{{cite web|last=Bray|first=Ryan|title=Jazz Legend Archie Shepp Reflects On John Coltrane's Quest For Musical Freedom|url=https://consequence.net/2016/03/jazz-legend-archie-shepp-reflects-on-john-coltranes-quest-for-musical-freedom/|work=[[Consequence of Sound]]|date=March 2, 2016|access-date=January 16, 2020|archive-date=July 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706091141/https://consequenceofsound.net/2016/03/jazz-legend-archie-shepp-reflects-on-john-coltranes-quest-for-musical-freedom/|url-status=live}}</ref> and, under his influence, Impulse! became a leading free jazz label.

After ''A Love Supreme'' was recorded, Ayler's style became more prominent in Coltrane's music. A series of recordings with the Classic Quartet in the first half of 1965 show Coltrane's playing becoming abstract, with greater incorporation of devices like [[multiphonics]], use of overtones, and playing in the [[altissimo]] register, as well as a mutated return of Coltrane's sheets of sound. In the studio, he all but abandoned soprano saxophone to concentrate on tenor. The quartet responded by playing with increasing freedom. The group's evolution can be traced through the albums ''[[The John Coltrane Quartet Plays]]'', ''[[Living Space (album)|Living Space]]'', ''[[Transition (John Coltrane album)|Transition]]'', ''[[New Thing at Newport]]'', ''[[Sun Ship]]'', and ''[[First Meditations]]''.

In June 1965, he went into Van Gelder's studio with ten other musicians (including Shepp,<ref name="aceves">{{cite web|last=Aceves|first=Rusty|title=A Look Back At John Coltrane's Ascension|url=https://www.sfjazz.org/onthecorner/look-back-john-coltranes-ascension|work=[[SFJAZZ Center]]|date=January 27, 2017|access-date=January 16, 2020|archive-date=July 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730021616/https://www.sfjazz.org/onthecorner/look-back-john-coltranes-ascension|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Pharoah Sanders]],<ref name="aceves"/> [[Freddie Hubbard]],<ref name="aceves"/> [[Marion Brown]], and [[John Tchicai]]<ref name="aceves"/>) to record ''[[Ascension (John Coltrane album)|Ascension]]'', a 38-minute piece that included solos by young avant-garde musicians.<ref name="bray"/> The album was controversial primarily for the collective improvisation sections that separated the solos. After recording with the quartet over the next few months, Coltrane invited Sanders to join the band in September 1965. While Coltrane frequently used [[overblowing]] as an emotional exclamation-point, Sanders "was involved in the search for 'human' sounds on his instrument,"<ref>{{cite book | last = Wilmer | first = Val | author-link = Val Wilmer | title =As Serious as your Life | publisher =Serpent's Tail | year =2018 | pages=43 }}</ref> and drastically expanding the vocabulary of his horn by employing [[multiphonic]]s, [[Growling (wind instruments)|growling]], and "high register squeals [that] could imitate not only the human song but the human cry and shriek as well."<ref>{{cite book | last = Anderson | first =Iain | title =This Is Our Music: Free Jazz, the Sixties, and American Culture | publisher =University of Pennsylvania Press | year =2007 | pages=111 }}</ref> Regarding Coltrane's decision to add Sanders to the band, [[Gary Giddins]] wrote "Those who had followed Coltrane to the edge of the galaxy now had the added challenge of a player who appeared to have little contact with earth."<ref>{{cite book | last =Giddins | first =Gary | author-link = Gary Giddins | title =Visions of Jazz: The First Century | publisher =Oxford University Press | year =1998 | pages=488 }}</ref>

===1965–1967: The second quartet===
[[File:Rashied Ali.jpg|thumb|Percussionist Rashied Ali (pictured in 2007) augmented Coltrane's sound.]]

By late 1965, Coltrane was regularly augmenting his group with Sanders and other free jazz musicians. [[Rashied Ali]] joined the group as a second drummer. This was the end of the quartet. Claiming he was unable to hear himself over the two drummers, Tyner left the band shortly after the recording of ''[[Meditations (John Coltrane album)|Meditations]]''. Jones left in early 1966, dissatisfied by sharing drumming duties with Ali and stating that, concerning Coltrane's latest music, "only poets can understand it".<ref>{{cite book | last = Thomas | first = J.C. | title = Chasin' the Trane | publisher = Da Capo | year = 1976 | pages=207 }}</ref> In interviews, Tyner and Jones both voiced their displeasure with the music's direction; however, they would incorporate some of the intensity of free jazz in their solo work. Later, both musicians expressed tremendous respect for Coltrane: regarding his late music, Jones stated: "Well, of course it's far out, because this is a tremendous mind that's involved, you know. You wouldn't expect Einstein to be playing jacks, would you?"<ref>{{cite book | last = Porter | first = Lewis | author-link = Lewis Porter | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music | publisher = The University of Michigan Press | year = 1999 | pages=267 }}</ref> Tyner recalled: "He was constantly pushing forward. He never rested on his laurels, he was always looking for what's next... he was always searching, like a scientist in a lab, looking for something new, a different direction... He kept hearing these sounds in his head..."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/mccoy-tyner-talks-about-john-coltrane-and-the-recording-of-a-love-supreme/ |title=The A Love Supreme Interviews: pianist McCoy Tyner |last=Maita |first=Joe |date=November 8, 2001 |website=Jerry Jazz Musician |access-date=September 20, 2023 }}</ref> Jones and Tyner both recorded tributes to Coltrane, Tyner with ''[[Echoes of a Friend]]'' (1972) and ''[[Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane]]'' (1987), and Jones with ''[[Live in Japan 1978: Dear John C.]]'' (1978) and ''[[Tribute to John Coltrane "A Love Supreme"]]'' (1994).

There is speculation that in 1965 Coltrane began using [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]],<ref>Porter, pp. 265–266</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=John Coltrane: Divine Wind|journal=The Wire |date=January 30, 2008 |first=Howard |last=Mandel |issue=221 |url=http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/539/?pageno=5|access-date=June 29, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090929010714/http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/539/?pageno=5|archive-date=September 29, 2009}}</ref> informing the "cosmic" transcendence of his late period. [[Nat Hentoff]] wrote: "it is as if he and Sanders were speaking with 'the gift of tongues' – as if their insights were of such compelling force that they have to transcend ordinary ways of musical speech and ordinary textures to be able to convey that part of the essence of being they have touched."<ref name="meds_liner">{{cite AV media notes |title=Meditations |author=John Coltrane |type=liner notes |year=1966 |publisher=Impulse! |id=A-9110}}</ref> After the departure of Tyner and Jones, Coltrane led a quintet with Sanders on tenor saxophone, his second wife [[Alice Coltrane]] on piano, Garrison on bass, and Ali on drums. When touring, the group was known for playing long versions of their repertoire, many stretching beyond 30 minutes to an hour. In concert, solos by band members often extended beyond fifteen minutes.

The group can be heard on several concert recordings from 1966, including ''[[Live at the Village Vanguard Again!]]'' and ''[[Live in Japan (John Coltrane album)|Live in Japan]]''. In 1967, Coltrane entered the studio several times. Although pieces with Sanders have surfaced (the unusual "To Be" has both men on flute), most of the recordings were either with the quartet minus Sanders (''[[Expression (album)|Expression]]'' and ''[[Stellar Regions]]'') or as a duo with Ali. The latter duo produced six performances that appear on the album ''[[Interstellar Space]]''. Coltrane also continued to tour with the second quartet up until two months before his death; his penultimate live performance and final recorded one, a radio broadcast for the Olatunji Center of African Culture in New York City, was eventually released as [[The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording|an album]] in 2001.

===1967: Illness and death===
Coltrane died of [[liver cancer]] at the age of 40 on July 17, 1967, at [[North Shore LIJ Health System#Hospitals|Huntington Hospital]] on Long Island. His funeral was held four days later at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City. The service was started by the [[Albert Ayler]] Quartet and finished by the [[Ornette Coleman]] Quartet.<ref>Porter, p. 293</ref> Coltrane is buried at Pinelawn Memorial Park in [[Farmingdale, New York|Farmingdale]], New York.

Biographer [[Lewis Porter]] speculated that the cause of Coltrane's illness was [[hepatitis]], although he also attributed the disease to Coltrane's heroin use at a previous period in his life.<!-- Is Porter attributing cancer to his heroin use or hepatitis? If thehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyright_violations latter, which seems more likely, this sentence should be rewritten: "Biographer [[Lewis Porter]] speculated that the cause of Coltrane's illness was [[hepatitis]], which he attributed to Coltrane's heroin use earlier in his life." --><ref>Porter, p. 292</ref> Frederick J. Spencer wrote that Coltrane's death could be attributed to his needle use "or the bottle, or both."<ref name="spencer6">{{cite book | last =Spencer, M.D. | first =Frederick J. | title =Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats | publisher =University Press of Mississippi| year = 2002 | pages=6 }}</ref> He stated that "[t]he needles he used to inject the drugs may have had everything to do with" Coltrane's liver disease: "If any needle was contaminated with the appropriate hepatitis virus, it may have caused a chronic infection leading to cirrhosis or cancer."<ref name="spencer6" /> He noted that despite Coltrane's "spiritual awakening" in 1957, "[b]y then, he may have had chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis{{nbsp}}... Unless he developed a primary focus elsewhere in later life and that spread to his liver, the seeds of John Coltrane's cancer were sown in his days of addiction."<ref>{{cite book | last =Spencer, M.D. | first =Frederick J. | title =Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats | publisher =University Press of Mississippi| year = 2002 | pages=7 }}</ref>

Coltrane's death surprised many in the music community who were unaware of his condition. Miles Davis said, "Coltrane's death shocked everyone, took everyone by surprise. I knew he hadn't looked too good{{nbsp}}... But I didn't know he was that sick— or even sick at all."<ref>Porter, p. 290</ref>

==Artistry==
Coltrane started out on alto saxophone, but in 1947, when he joined [[King Kolax]]'s band, he switched to [[tenor saxophone]], the instrument he became known for playing.<ref name="Ruhlmann">{{cite web |last1=Ruhlmann |first1=William |title=John Coltrane |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-coltrane-mn0000175553/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=November 25, 2018 |archive-date=June 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615113442/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-coltrane-mn0000175553/biography |url-status=live }}</ref> In the early 1960s, during his contract with [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]], he also played [[soprano saxophone]].<ref name="Ruhlmann" />

Assistant music editor at ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' John Lewis assessed, "By 1962, Coltrane had developed a brand of [[modal jazz]] that invoked Indian and Arabic scales while maintaining an impassioned [[Spirituality|spiritual]] focus. As he [[Speaking in tongues|spoke in tongues]] on tenor and soprano saxophone, his now legendary Fab Four rumbled beneath him, playing [[hard bop]] that pushed towards [[Indian folk music|India]] and [[African folk music|Africa]], toward [[Soul music|soul]], [and] even toward [[Psychedelic music|psychedelia]]."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=John |title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die |publisher=Universe Publishing |year=2005 |publication-date=January 1, 2005 |pages=78}}</ref>

His preference for playing melody higher on the range of the tenor saxophone is attributed to his training on alto horn and clarinet. His "sound concept", manipulated in one's vocal tract, of the tenor was set higher than the normal range of the instrument.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Secret of John Coltrane's high notes revealed
| author= Roger Highfield
| author-link= Roger Highfield
| date= 12 June 2011
|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/3324621/Secret-of-John-Coltranes-high-notes-revealed.html|access-date=January 31, 2023|website=The Daily Telegraph|archive-date=June 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220617072659/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/3324621/Secret-of-John-Coltranes-high-notes-revealed.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Coltrane observed how his experience playing the soprano saxophone gradually affected his style on the tenor, stating "the soprano, by being this small instrument, I found that playing the lowest note on it was like playing ... one of the middle notes in the tenor ... I found that I would play ''all over'' this instrument ... And on tenor, I hadn't always played all over it, because I was playing certain ideas which would just run in certain ranges ... By playing on the soprano and becoming accustomed to playing from that low B-flat on up, it soon got so when I went to tenor, I found myself doing the same thing ... And this caused ... the willingness to change and just try to play... as much of the instrument as possible."<ref>{{cite book |last=Kofsky |first=Frank |editor-last=DeVito |editor-first=Chris |title=Coltrane on Coltrane: The John Coltrane Interviews |publisher=A Cappella |date=2010 |pages=306 |chapter=Interview with John Coltrane }}</ref>

Toward the end of his career, he experimented with flute in his live performances and studio recordings (''[[Live at the Village Vanguard Again!]]'', ''[[Expression (album)|Expression]]''). After Eric Dolphy died in June 1964, his mother gave Coltrane his flute and bass clarinet.<ref name="Cole">{{cite book |last1=Cole |first1=Bill |title=John Coltrane |date=2001 |publisher=Da Capo Press |location=New York |isbn=030681062X |page=158 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

According to drummer Rashied Ali, Coltrane had an interest in the drums.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/08/rashied_ali_1935_-_2009_multi.html |title=Rashied Ali (1935–2009), multi-directional drummer, speaks |last=Mandel |first=Howard |date=August 13, 2009 |website=artsjournal.com |access-date=September 4, 2020 |quote=[Coltrane] was in a drummer thing. He just wanted to free himself from playing these strict changes. The bass player and the piano player would lay these chords down, you know, and he played just about everything he could play on these chords. He played 'em upside down. He'd turn 'em around. He played 'em sideways. He did just about everything he could to 'em. And playing with the drums he didn't have to deal with chord changes and keys and stuff like that. So he was free to play however he wanted to play. There were times I played with Trane, he had a battery of drummers, like about three conga players, guys playing batas, shakers and barrels and everything. On one of his records he did that. At the Village Vanguard, live, we had a whole bunch of drummers plus the traps. And then sometimes he would have double traps. Like in Chicago, I played double traps with a young drummer coming up there, named Jack DeJohnette. |archive-date=August 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823014237/https://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/08/rashied_ali_1935_-_2009_multi.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He would often have a spare drum set on concert stages that he would play.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/08/rashied_ali_1935_-_2009_multi.html |title=Rashied Ali (1935–2009), multi-directional drummer, speaks |last=Mandel |first=Howard |date=August 13, 2009 |website=artsjournal.com |access-date=September 4, 2020 |quote=[Coltrane] loved drums so much, if we would have a second set of drums on the stage, sometimes he would come up there and play them. I mean, he would sit behind the drums and play with the band, you know. He really had something about drums that he loved. |archive-date=August 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823014237/https://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/08/rashied_ali_1935_-_2009_multi.html |url-status=live }}</ref> His interest in the drums and his penchant for having solos with the drums resonated on tracks such as "Pursuance" and "The Drum Thing" from ''[[A Love Supreme]]'' and ''[[Crescent (John Coltrane album)|Crescent]]'', respectively. It resulted in the album ''[[Interstellar Space]]'' with Ali.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/rashied-ali-rashied-ali-by-hank-shteamer.php |title=Rashied Ali |last=Jazz |first=All About |website=All About Jazz |date=March 31, 2003 |access-date=March 16, 2018 |archive-date=March 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316231059/https://www.allaboutjazz.com/rashied-ali-rashied-ali-by-hank-shteamer.php |url-status=live }}</ref> In an interview with [[Nat Hentoff]] in late 1965 or early 1966, Coltrane stated: "I feel the need for more time, more rhythm all around me. And with more than one drummer, the rhythm can be more multi-directional."<ref name="meds_liner" /> In an August 1966 interview with [[Frank Kofsky]], Coltrane repeatedly emphasized his affinity for drums, saying "I feel so strongly about drums, I really do."<ref>{{cite book |last=Kofsky |first=Frank |editor-last=DeVito |editor-first=Chris |title=Coltrane on Coltrane: The John Coltrane Interviews |publisher=A Cappella |date=2010 |pages=294 |chapter=Interview with John Coltrane }}</ref> Later that year, Coltrane would record the music released posthumously on ''[[Offering: Live at Temple University]]'', which features [[Rashied Ali|Ali]] on drums supplemented by three percussionists.

Coltrane's tenor ([[Selmer Mark VI]], serial number 125571, dated 1965) and soprano (Selmer Mark VI, serial number 99626, dated 1962) saxophones were auctioned on February 20, 2005, to raise money for the John Coltrane Foundation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://drrick.com/trane/trane.htm|publisher=drrick.com|title=John Coltrane's Saxophones|access-date=April 7, 2011|archive-date=January 31, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131055543/http://drrick.com/trane/trane.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Although he rarely played alto, he owned a prototype Yamaha alto saxophone given to him by the company as an endorsement in 1966. He can be heard playing it on live albums recorded in Japan, such as ''Second Night in Tokyo'', and is pictured using it on the cover of the compilation ''[[Live in Japan (John Coltrane album)|Live in Japan]]''. He can also be heard playing the Yamaha alto on the album ''[[Stellar Regions]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Coltrane – Owned & Stage Played Alto Saxophone With Full Documentation |date=March 22, 2013 |url=https://recordmecca.com/item-archives/john-coltrane-owned-stage-played-alto-saxophone-with-full-documentation/ |publisher=Recordmecca |access-date=July 4, 2018 |archive-date=July 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729035929/http://recordmecca.com/item-archives/john-coltrane-owned-stage-played-alto-saxophone-with-full-documentation/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Personal life and religious beliefs==
===Upbringing and early influences===
Coltrane was born and raised in a Christian home. He was influenced by religion and spirituality beginning in childhood. His maternal grandfather, the Reverend William Blair, was a minister at an [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]]<ref name="Porter5-6">Porter, pp. 5–6</ref><ref>Lavezzoli, p. 270</ref> in [[High Point, North Carolina]], and his paternal grandfather, the Reverend William H. Coltrane, was an A.M.E. Zion minister in [[Hamlet, North Carolina]].<ref name="Porter5-6"/> Critic Norman Weinstein observed the parallel between Coltrane's music and his experience in the southern church,<ref name="Weinstein">{{cite book |last1=Weinstein |first1=Norman C. |title=A Night in Tunisia: Imaginings of Africa in Jazz |date=1933 |publisher=Hal Leonard |isbn=0-87910-167-9 |page=61 }}</ref> which included practicing music there as a youth.

===First marriage===
In 1955, Coltrane married Naima (née Juanita Grubbs). Naima Coltrane, a Muslim convert, heavily influenced his spirituality. When the couple married, she had a five-year-old daughter named Antonia, later named Syeeda. Coltrane adopted Syeeda. He met Naima at the home of bassist Steve Davis in Philadelphia. The love ballad he wrote to honor his wife, "Naima", was Coltrane's favorite composition. In 1956, the couple left Philadelphia with their six-year-old daughter and moved to New York City. In August 1957, Coltrane, Naima and Syeeda moved into an apartment on 103rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue in New York. A few years later, John and Naima Coltrane purchased a home at 116–60 Mexico Street in [[St. Albans, Queens]].<ref name="PorterDeVito2013">{{cite book |last1=Porter |first1=Lewis |last2=DeVito |first2=Chris |last3=Wild |first3=David |title=The John Coltrane Reference |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvlVu9XCoxUC&pg=PA323 |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=April 26, 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-11257-8 |pages=323– |archive-date=February 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208135307/https://books.google.com/books?id=IvlVu9XCoxUC&pg=PA323 |url-status=live }}</ref> This is the house where they would break up in 1963.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/06/john-coltrane-naima.html |title=John Coltrane: Naima |website=JazzWax.com|date=June 15, 2009 |access-date=January 16, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121195221/http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/06/john-coltrane-naima.html |archive-date=January 21, 2017}}</ref>

About the breakup, Naima said in J. C. Thomas's ''Chasin' the Trane'': "I could feel it was going to happen sooner or later, so I wasn't really surprised when John moved out of the house in the summer of 1963. He didn't offer any explanation. He just told me there were things he had to do, and he left only with his clothes and his horns. He stayed in a hotel sometimes, other times with his mother in Philadelphia. All he said was, 'Naima, I'm going to make a change.' Even though I could feel it coming, it hurt, and I didn't get over it for at least another year." But Coltrane kept a close relationship with Naima, even calling her in 1964 to tell her that 90 percent of his playing would be prayer. They remained in touch until his death in 1967. Naima Coltrane died of a heart attack in October 1996.

===1957 "spiritual awakening"===
In 1957, Coltrane had a religious experience that may have helped him overcome the heroin addiction<ref>Porter, p. 61</ref><ref name="Lavezzoli271"/> and alcoholism<ref name="Lavezzoli271">Lavezzoli, p. 271</ref> he had struggled with since 1948.<ref>Lavezzoli, pp. 272–273</ref> In the liner notes of ''A Love Supreme'', Coltrane states that in 1957 he experienced "by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jindustry.com/xtra/coltrane/html/saintjohn.html
| title= John Coltrane's liner notes to ''A Love Supreme'' | date=December 1964 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608155911/http://www.jindustry.com/xtra/coltrane/html/saintjohn.html |archive-date=June 8, 2011|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Further evidence of this universal view can be found in the liner notes of ''Meditations'' (1965) in which Coltrane declares, "I believe in all religions."<ref name="Lavezzoli286">Lavezzoli, p. 286</ref>

===Second marriage===
In 1963, he met pianist [[Alice Coltrane|Alice McLeod]].<ref name="Lavezzoli281">Lavezzoli, p. 281</ref> He and Alice moved in together and had two sons before he became "officially divorced from Naima in 1966, at which time [he] and Alice were immediately married."<ref name="Lavezzoli286"/> John Jr. was born in 1964, Ravi in 1965, and Oranyan ("Oran") in 1967.<ref name="Lavezzoli286"/> According to the musician Peter Lavezzoli, "Alice brought happiness and stability to John's life, not only because they had children, but also because they shared many of the same spiritual beliefs, particularly a mutual interest in Indian philosophy. Alice also understood what it was like to be a professional musician."<ref name="Lavezzoli286"/>

===Spiritual influence in music, religious exploration===
After ''A Love Supreme'', many of the titles of his songs and albums had spiritual connotations: ''Ascension'', ''Meditations'', ''Om'', ''Selflessness'', "Amen", "Ascent", "Attaining", "Dear Lord", "Prayer and Meditation Suite", and "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost".<ref name="Lavezzoli286"/> His library of books included ''[[The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna]]'', the [[Bhagavad Gita]], and [[Paramahansa Yogananda]]'s ''[[Autobiography of a Yogi]]''. The last of these describes, in Lavezzoli's words, a "search for universal truth, a journey that Coltrane had also undertaken. Yogananda believed that both Eastern and Western spiritual paths were efficacious, and wrote of the similarities between [[Krishna]] and Christ. This openness to different traditions resonated with Coltrane, who studied the [[Qur'an]], the [[Bible]], [[Kabbalah]], and [[astrology]] with equal sincerity."<ref>Lavezzoli, pp. 280–281</ref> He also explored [[Hinduism]], [[Jiddu Krishnamurti]], [[African history]], the philosophical teachings of [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]],<ref>{{cite web |title= John Coltrane, "A Love Supreme" and GOD |author= Emmett G. Price III |url= http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coltrane/article_003.htm |publisher= allaboutjazz.com |access-date= October 9, 2008 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090103101749/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coltrane/article_003.htm |archive-date= January 3, 2009 |df= mdy-all }}</ref> and [[Zen Buddhism]].<ref>Lavezzoli, pp. 286–287</ref>

In October 1965, Coltrane recorded ''[[Om (John Coltrane album)|Om]]'', referring to the [[Om|sacred syllable in Hinduism]], which symbolizes the infinite or the entire universe. Coltrane described ''Om'' as the "first syllable, the primal word, the word of power".<ref>Porter, p. 265</ref> The 29-minute recording contains chants from the Hindu ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]''<ref>Lavezzoli, p. 285: "Coltrane and one or two other musicians begin and end the piece by chanting in unison a verse from chapter nine ("The Yoga of Mysticism") of the ''Bhagavad Gita'': Rites that the [[Vedas]] ordain, and the rituals taught by the scriptures: all these I am, and the offering made to the ghosts of the fathers, herbs of healing and food, the mantram, the clarified butter. I the [[oblation]], and I the flame into which it is offered. I am the sire of the world, and this world's mother and grandsire. I am he who awards to each the fruit of his action. I make all things clean. I am ''Om!''"</ref> and the Buddhist ''[[Tibetan Book of the Dead]]'',<ref>Nisenson, p. 183</ref> and a recitation of a passage describing the primal verbalization "om" as a cosmic/spiritual common denominator in all things.

===Study of world music===
Coltrane's spiritual journey was interwoven with his investigation of world music. He believed in not only a universal musical structure that transcended ethnic distinctions, but also being able to harness the mystical language of music itself. His study of Indian music led him to believe that certain sounds and scales could "produce specific emotional meanings." According to Coltrane, the goal of a musician was to understand these forces, control them, and elicit a response from the audience. He said, "I would like to bring to people something like happiness. I would like to discover a method so that if I want it to rain, it will start right away to rain. If one of my friends is ill, I'd like to play a certain song and he will be cured; when he'd be broke, I'd bring out a different song and immediately he'd receive all the money he needed."<ref>Porter, p. 211</ref>

== Veneration ==
{{Infobox saint
| name      = Saint John Coltrane
| image = JohnColtraneWiki.jpg
| caption = Coltrane icon at St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1926|9|23}}
| birth_place = Hamlet, North Carolina, US
| death_date = {{death date and age |1967|07|17|1926|09|23}}
| death_place = Huntington, New York, US
| venerated_in = [[African Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]]{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}
| feast_day        = December 8 (AOC)
| canonized_date   = 1982
| canonized_place  = St. John Coltrane Church, 2097 Turk Blvd, San Francisco, California 94115
| canonized_by     = [[African Orthodox Church]]<ref name="Church"/>
| patronage = All artists
}}

After Coltrane's death, a congregation called the Yardbird Temple in San Francisco began worshipping him as God incarnate.<ref name="Sunday">{{cite news |last=Freedman |first=Samuel G. |title=Sunday religion, inspired by Saturday nights |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/us/01religion.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=December 1, 2007 |archive-date=July 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701004730/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/us/01religion.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The group was named after [[Charlie Parker|Charlie "Yardbird" Parker]], whom they equated to [[John the Baptist]].<ref name="Sunday" /> The congregation became affiliated with the [[African Orthodox Church]]; this involved changing Coltrane's status from a god to a saint.<ref name="Sunday" /> The resultant [[St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church]], San Francisco, is the only African Orthodox church that incorporates Coltrane's music and his lyrics as prayers in its liturgy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://elvispelvis.com/jazzchurch.htm |title=The Jazz Church |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060812213403/http://elvispelvis.com/jazzchurch.htm |archive-date=August 12, 2006 |first=Gordon |last=Polatnick |website=Elvispelvis.com}}</ref>

Rev. F. W. King, describing the African Orthodox Church of Saint John Coltrane, said "We are Coltrane-conscious...God dwells in the musical majesty of his sounds."<ref>{{cite web|last=Hyena|first=Hank|title=The Church of St. John Coltrane: Jazz and German Tourists|url=https://www.sfgate.com/music/article/The-Church-of-St-John-Coltrane-Jazz-and-German-3003904.php|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|date=June 16, 1998|access-date=May 15, 2020|archive-date=May 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507073710/http://articles.sfgate.com/1998-06-16/music/17722625_1_saint-john-coltrane-patron-saint-black-jesus|url-status=live}}</ref>

Samuel G. Freedman wrote in ''The New York Times'' that {{blockquote|...&nbsp;the Coltrane church is not a gimmick or a forced alloy of nightclub music and ethereal faith. Its message of deliverance through divine sound is actually quite consistent with Coltrane's own experience and message. ... In both implicit and explicit ways, Coltrane also functioned as a religious figure. Addicted to heroin in the 1950s, he quit cold turkey, and later explained that he had heard the voice of God during his anguishing withdrawal. ... In 1966, an interviewer in Japan asked Coltrane what he hoped to be in five years, and Coltrane replied, "a saint".<ref name="Sunday" />}}

[[File:Coltranechurch1k.jpg|thumb|Musicians at St John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, San Francisco 2009]]
Coltrane is depicted as one of the 90 saints in the Dancing Saints icon of St.&nbsp;Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. The icon is a {{convert|3000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} painting in the Byzantine iconographic style that wraps around the entire church rotunda. It was executed by Mark Dukes, an ordained deacon at the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church who painted other icons of Coltrane for the Coltrane Church.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saintgregorys.org/worship/art_section/243/ |title=The Dancing Saints |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218030246/http://www.saintgregorys.org/worship/art_section/243 |archive-date=December 18, 2010 |publisher=Saint Gregory's of Nyssa Episcopal Church}}</ref> Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey, included Coltrane on its list of historical black saints and made a "case for sainthood" for him in an article on its website.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forministry.com/USNJECUSASBECS/SaintJohnColtrane.dsp |title=John Coltrane: The case for sainthood |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510123849/http://www.forministry.com/USNJECUSASBECS/SaintJohnColtrane.dsp |archive-date=May 10, 2009 |url-status=dead |access-date=April 3, 2011 |website=St.&nbsp;Barnabas Episcopal Church}}</ref>

Documentaries about Coltrane and the church include [[Alan Klingenstein]]'s ''[[The Church of Saint Coltrane (1996)|The Church of Saint Coltrane]]'' (1996),<ref name="Church">{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/436615/The-Church-of-Saint-Coltrane/overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230083800/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/436615/The-Church-of-Saint-Coltrane/overview |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 30, 2012 |title=The Church of Saint Coltrane |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |year=2012 |access-date=April 16, 2012}}</ref><ref name="huffpost">{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-klingenstein |title=Alan Klingenstein |website=HuffPost |date=February 5, 2008 |access-date=April 16, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222203656/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-klingenstein/ |archive-date=December 22, 2015}}</ref> and a 2004 program presented by [[Alan Yentob]] for the [[BBC]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diverse.tv/programme.aspx?id=67 |year=2004 |series=BBC documentary |title=Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church |website=Diverse.tv |access-date=October 10, 2006 |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927082308/http://www.diverse.tv/programme.aspx?id=67 |url-status=live }} ''See also wikipedia article:'' [[Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church]]</ref>

==Selected discography==
{{Main|John Coltrane discography}}
The discography below lists albums conceived and approved by Coltrane as a leader during his lifetime. It does not include his many releases as a sideman, sessions assembled into albums by various record labels after Coltrane's contract expired, sessions with Coltrane as a sideman later reissued with his name featured more prominently, or posthumous compilations, except for the one he approved before his death. See main discography link above for full list.

===Prestige and Blue Note records===
* ''[[Coltrane (1957 album)|Coltrane]]'' (debut solo LP; 1957)
* ''[[Blue Train (album)|Blue Train]]'' (1958)
* ''[[John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio]]'' (1958)
* ''[[Soultrane]]'' (1958)

===Atlantic records===
* ''[[Giant Steps]]''  (1960)
* ''[[Coltrane Jazz]]'' (1961)
* ''[[My Favorite Things (John Coltrane album)|My Favorite Things]]'' (1961)
* ''[[Olé Coltrane]]'' (1961)

===Impulse! Records===
* ''[[Africa/Brass]]''  (1961)
* ''[[Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard|"Live" at the Village Vanguard]]''  (1962)
* ''[[Coltrane (1962 album)|Coltrane]]''  (1962)
* ''[[Duke Ellington & John Coltrane]]'' (1963)
* ''[[Ballads (John Coltrane album)|Ballads]]'' (1963)
* ''[[John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman]]'' (1963)
* ''[[Impressions (John Coltrane album)|Impressions]]'' (1963)
* ''[[Live at Birdland (John Coltrane album)|Live at Birdland]]'' (1964)
* ''[[Crescent (John Coltrane album)|Crescent]]'' (1964)
* ''[[A Love Supreme]]'' (1965)
* ''[[The John Coltrane Quartet Plays]]'' (1965)
* ''[[Ascension (John Coltrane album)|Ascension]]'' (1966)
* ''[[New Thing at Newport]]'' (1966)
* ''[[Meditations (John Coltrane album)|Meditations]]'' (1966)
* ''[[Live at the Village Vanguard Again!]]'' (1966)
* ''[[Kulu Sé Mama]]'' (1967)
* ''[[Expression (album)|Expression]]'' (1967)

==Sessionography==
{{main|List of John Coltrane recording sessions}}

==Awards and honors==
[[File:ColtraneH.jpg|thumb|220px|John Coltrane House, 1511 North Thirty-third Street, Philadelphia]]

In 1965, Coltrane was inducted into the ''Down Beat'' [[Down Beat|Jazz Hall of Fame]]. In 1972, ''A Love Supreme'' was certified gold by JASRAC for selling over half a million copies in Japan. This album was certified gold in the United States in 2001. In 1982 he was awarded a posthumous Grammy for Best Jazz Solo Performance on the album ''[[Bye Bye Blackbird (John Coltrane album)|Bye Bye Blackbird]]'', and in 1997 he was awarded the [[Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award]].<ref name="John Coltrane Biography"/> In 2002, scholar [[Molefi Kete Asante]] named him one of his [[100 Greatest African Americans]].<ref>Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). ''100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia''. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. {{ISBN|1-57392-963-8}}</ref> He was awarded a [[Pulitzer Prize Special Citations and Awards|special Pulitzer Prize]] in 2007 citing his "masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz."<ref name=pulitzer/> He was inducted into the [[North Carolina Music Hall of Fame]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|title=2009 Inductees|url=https://northcarolinamusichalloffame.org/2009-inductees/|publisher=North Carolina Music Hall of Fame|access-date=September 10, 2012|archive-date=March 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322222813/https://northcarolinamusichalloffame.org/category/inductees/2009-inductees/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A former home, the [[John Coltrane House]] in Philadelphia, was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1999. His last home, the [[John Coltrane Home]] in the [[Dix Hills]] district of Huntington, New York, where he resided from 1964 until his death, was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on June 29, 2007.

French drummer, composer and singer [[Christian Vander (musician)|Christian Vander]], founder of the band [[Magma (band)|Magma]], regards Coltrane as his greatest musical inspiration, and dedicated his 2011 album ''John Coltrane L'Homme Suprême'' to him as a tribute.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Christian |last=Vander |url=https://www.seventhrecords.com/CVANDER/A36/html/english.htm |title=John Coltrane, l'homme suprême |work=Seventh Records |access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>

== In media ==
A documentary on Jazz was made in 1990 by fellow musician [[Robert Palmer (American writer)|Robert Palmer]], called ''[[The World According to John Coltrane]]''.

''[[Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary]]'', is a 2016 American film directed by John Scheinfeld.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://variety.com/2017/film/festivals/john-coltrane-documentary-chasing-trane-release-date-1202010181/|title=John Coltrane Documentary 'Chasing Trane' Gets Release Date |first=Dave |last=McNary |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=March 16, 2017 |issn=0042-2738|access-date=December 13, 2017|archive-date=February 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212083403/https://variety.com/2017/film/festivals/john-coltrane-documentary-chasing-trane-release-date-1202010181/|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
* {{cite book|ref=DFSW
 | last1 = DeVito
 | first1 = Chris
 | last2 = Fujioka
 | first2 = Yasuhiro
 | last3 = Schmaler
 | first3 = Wolf
 | last4 = Wild
 | first4 = David
 | title = The John Coltrane Reference
 | publisher=Routledge
 | year = 2008
 | isbn = 978-0-415-97755-5
}}
* {{cite book|ref=Lavezzoli
 | last = Lavezzoli
 | first = Peter
 | title = The Dawn of Indian Music in the West
 | publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group
 | year = 2006
 | isbn = 0-8264-1815-5
}}
* {{cite book
 | ref = Nisenson
 | last = Nisenson
 | first = Eric
 | author-link = Eric Nisenson
 | title = Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest
 | publisher = Da Capo Press
 | year = 1995
 | isbn = 0-306-80644-4
 | url = https://archive.org/details/ascensionjohncol00nise
 }}
* {{cite book|ref=Porter
 | last = Porter
 | first = Lewis
 | author-link = Lewis Porter
 | title = John Coltrane: His Life and Music
 | publisher=University of Michigan Press
 | year = 1999
 | isbn = 0-472-08643-X
}}

==Further reading==
{{Library resources box|by=no|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|lcheading=John Coltrane}}
* {{cite book|last=Baham |first=Nicholas III|title=The Coltrane Church: Apostles of Sound, Agents of Social Justice|publisher=McFarland|year=2015|isbn=978-0786494965|orig-year=2015}}
* {{cite book|last=Kahn|first=Ashley|others=Elvin Jones|author-link=Ashley Kahn|title=A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2003|isbn=0-14-200352-2|orig-year=2002|url=https://archive.org/details/lovesupremestory00kahna}}
* Margry, Peter Jan  and Wojcik, Daniel. (2017) "A Saxophone Divine. The Transformative Power of Saint John Coltrane's Jazz Music in San Francisco's Fillmore District', in: V. Hegner and P. J. Margry (editors), ''Spiritualizing the City: Agency and Resilience of the Urban and Urbanesque Habitat.'' Milton Park: Routledge, 169–194.
* {{cite book|last=Simpkins|first=Cuthbert|author-link=Cuthbert Ormond Simpkins|title=Coltrane: A Biography|location=New York|publisher=Herndon House Publishers|year=1989|isbn=0-915542-82-X|orig-year=1975}}
* {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=J.C.|title=Chasin' the Trane|location=New York|publisher=Da Capo|year=1975|isbn=0-306-80043-8|url=https://archive.org/details/chasintranemusic00thoma}}
* {{cite book|last=Woideck|first=Carl|title=The John Coltrane Companion|location=New York|publisher=Schirmer Books|year=1998|isbn=0-02-864790-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/johncoltranecomp0000unse}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|wikt=no|commons=Category:John Coltrane|b=no|n=no|q=John Coltrane|s=no|v=no|species=no|voy=no|d=Q7346|display=John Coltrane}}
* {{official website}}
* {{discogs artist}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110518072814/http://www.infography.com/content/736735270236.html John Coltrane] infography
* [https://www.mossiehigh.com/Coltrane/ John Coltrane] discography
* [https://www.coltranechurch.org/ Coltrane Church Website] site
* [https://www.colby.edu/music/honors/Bertholf.pdf John Coltrane] 1957 Carnegie Hall performance in transcription and analysis
* [https://jazztimes.com/features/tributes-and-obituaries/john-coltrane-images-of-trane/ John Coltrane] ''Images of Trane'' by Lee Tanner in ''Jazz Times'', June 1997
* [https://www.johncoltrane.com/interviews John Coltrane Interviews from 1958–1966]
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2721805/#:~:text=John%20Coltrane%20was%20a%20major,and%20Steve%20Lacy%20in%202004 National Library of Medicine, The lost years: The impact of cirrhosis on the history of jazz]

{{John Coltrane|state=expanded}}
{{Alice Coltrane}}
{{Ravi Coltrane}}
{{PulitzerPrize SpecialCitations Arts}}
{{Portal bar|Jazz|Biography|Music|Saints}}
{{Authority control}}

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