Join WKCR on Monday, September 23 as we conduct our annual all-day tribute to John Coltrane on the 98th anniversary of his birth.
Born on September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina, Coltrane received his earliest music training in a community band while still in high school, on clarinet and alto horn. He switched to saxophone (alto at first) after hearing musicians like Lester Young and Johnny Hodges, and was particularly influenced by Charlie Parker. After he finished high school, Coltrane moved with his family to Philadelphia, and continued his musical studies before enlisting in the Navy in 1945. There, he continued playing clarinet and alto sax, making his first recording on the latter during a session in Hawaii with Navy musicians, on July 13, 1946. He returned to Philadelphia after his time in the Navy; it was at this point, in the late 1940s, that he made the switch to tenor saxophone, and also began practicing fanatically (which would become Coltrane’s disposition throughout his life and the source of many stories from musicians who observed it). During the 1950s, Coltrane recorded extensively on a number of different sessions with numerous jazz titans such as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis. He made his first group leader recording in 1957 for Prestige, named “Coltrane,” followed soon after by his only ever Blue Note release “Blue Train.” Throughout his career and with every release, Coltrane’s style progressed more and more, finally becoming something that could not be definitively labeled. His 1965 release “A Love Supreme” is by many considered one of the greatest albums of all time.
To this day, John Coltrane remains one of the most influential musicians to have ever lived. WKCR is excited to honor not only his unique and exceptional legacy, but his spirit––which is captured in various forms in his over 100 hours of recorded music, and which will undoubtedly live on forever. Follow WKCR on Instagram (@wkcr) and Twitter (@WKCRFM) for further updates. Online listening is available 24/7 at wkcr.org via our web stream.
