John Coltrane.

Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina on September 23, 1926. He attended William Penn High School and later Combs College of Music in Philadelphia. There he absorbed diverse musical influences that informed his later jazz innovations.

Coltrane joined Miles Davis‘s group in 1955. He played tenor sax on Davis’s 1959 album Kind of Blue, which became one of the best-selling jazz albums. After leaving Davis, he formed his own quartet and recorded A Love Supreme, a landmark in avant-garde jazz. He collaborated with Thelonious Monk and befriended saxophonists Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter. Coltrane received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1980.

Coltrane married Juanita Grubbs and later Alice Macleod. His son Ravi Coltrane, born in 1965, became a jazz saxophonist. He was step-father to Michelle Coltrane. He was friends with saxophonists Benny Golson, Sonny Rollins, and Wayne Shorter. His cousin Mary Lyerly Alexander inspired the composition Cousin Mary.

Coltrane’s work reshaped jazz. Jazz history considers him the father figure of avant-garde jazz. Albums like A Love Supreme and Kind of Blue remain influential. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and, in 2007, a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation. The Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame inducted him in 1980. His music appears in films including Vanilla Sky 2001 and Zodiac 2007.