A Tribute to John Coltrane

 

118 Underhill Street, now designated a historic property, is where he lived for most of the years he spent here. Religion, faith and the musical expressions of spirituality filled the home providing the seeds that would nurture the young John Coltrane.

 

He went to the Leonard Street Elementary School and joined the newly formed community band somewhere around the age of 12. He had started on saxophone and switched to clarinet. Even then, he practiced; practiced more than most kids. It was at this time that the Coltrane family suffered the death of his father, his grandfather, grandmother and a little more than a year later, the death of an uncle. Music grew to sustain the young Coltrane through these extremely difficult times. 

 

He became a member of the newly formed William Penn High School band. Today the school is named Penn-Griffin School of the Arts. Coltrane stayed in High Point until he finished school while his mother and aunt moved to Philadelphia, PA for better work opportunities. He joined them after graduating in 1943 and began a study of the saxophone in earnest. After a stint in the Navy during World War II (he was part of the band) Coltrane performed with the big bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Hodges and Ear Bostic; recorded with Miles Davis, and studied with Thelonious Monk. Being in Miles’ band lifted Coltrane to national recognition and international exposure. 

 

Battling a drug addiction that led to his being fired from the band and kicking that habit on his own, Coltrane became intensely productive. He took numerous recording gigs as a sideman, recorded his first album as a leader, Coltrane on Prestige Records and debuted his gift as a composer on the Blue Note release Blue Train. He also returned to the Miles Davis band and helped pioneer modal jazz, contributing as The tenor saxophonist on the 1959 Kind of Blue, with Julian “Cannonball” Adderley on alto sax, pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. It is widely regarded as a masterpiece and the best selling jazz album of all time.  John Coltrane struck out on his own, leaving the Miles Davis band and Prestige Records to sign with Atlantic Records. His Atlantic discography includes the important Giant Steps, and My Favorite Things, an album whose title cut yielded a huge commercial hit for Coltrane who reimagined the show tune playing the soprano sax for the first time. 

 

Few knew of his illness (liver cancer) or its severity, so when John Coltrane passed away on July 17, 1967 it sent shock waves around the world.