Music Bibliography

Legendary Saxophonist, John William Coltrane who still continues to influence modern jazz even from the grave. Coltrane has contributed many styles of jazz whether it is contemporary, mainstream or classic jazz. Coltrane took pride in every aspect of his music career. A hugely influential jazz musician, Coltrane has been credited with converting modern jazz and with being the chief influence on successive generations of saxophonists.

John William Coltrane was born September 23, 1926 as an American saxophonist in Hamlet, North Carolina. His birthday is important because it is a day that has an important astrological significance (John Fraim). Coltrane died on Monday, July 17, 1967,of a liver ailment (Bill Cole) He grew up in privileged circumstances in High Point, during an era of racial segregration in a two-story frame house (Wikipedia). His mothers name is unknown, but she also loved music and wanted to pursue a career as an opera singer (Fraim). His father's name was John Robert Coltrane and he ran his own tailor shop, but his real true love was music. From reading about Coltrane anyone would be able to conclude that his parents were partial influences who inspired him to have a great appreciation for music.

Aside from his birth place and parents, Coltrane received an education at various schools. First he attended William Penn High School where he played in the school band. Coltrane began to play his first instrument in high school which was the clarinet. When his father and passed away, Coltrane and his mother then moved to Philadelphia. When he relocated to Philadelphia "he was accepted at the Ornstein School of Music, but his studies were interrupted when he was inducted into the Navy in 1945 and was sent to

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Hawaii" (Eric Nisension). Although he was inducted into the Navy that did not fully destroy his musical career because he played in the Navy band.

Although he was inducted into the Navy there were other artists who influenced his music career. Coltrane's first major influences were musicians in the Ellington and Basie bands (Fraim). His other influences were the Dorsey Brothers, Harry James and Glenn Miller. According to John Fraim, " Lester Young, who was a tenor soloist was the first true musical influence in Coltrane's life. In the year 1939, when Coltrane was only thirteen, his father died along with many others who succeeded his death. As a result of these death occurrences, his music was heavily influenced, especially music of the sixties.

Even though there were many influences in Coltrane deciding to pursue a music career, there were many groups that he played with. According to Cole, Coltrane first began to play in cocktail bars. The first band that Coltrane became a part of was the Joe Webb Blues Band with Cal Massey . I think that Coltrane was very blessed to be apart of these bands because there are many people today who try their best to become a part of a band or singing group and get pushed aside. After playing with Webb's band, he was priveleged the opportunity "to play with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson where he was persuaded to change from alto saxophone to tenor saxophone (Cole). In the year of 1947 he met Miles Davis and played with him and another contemporary, Sonny Rollins, in

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New York. Coltrane has recorded many jazz pieces when he was playing with Miles Davis. "Ah-Leu-Cha" and "Budo" were only two of the several pieces that Coltrane

recorded during his first stay with Miles Davis, who was beginning to record for Columbia "(Cole).

Aside from all of the bands that Coltrane played with, his talent led him to the creation of his own band. In the year of 1960, Coltrane formed his own group, which was a quartet . According to Wikipedia, "the lineup of the band was stabilized in the fall with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy