Decades after his death, Coltrane remains influential, and he has received numerous posthumous awards, including a special Pulitzer Prize, and was canonized by the African Orthodox Church. 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. He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was one of the players at the forefront of free jazz. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.īorn and raised in North Carolina, Coltrane moved to Philadelphia after graduating from high school, where he studied music. John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer.
