i wrote this for my final paper in ap music theory back a couple of years when i was in school. i was searching through all my old papers at the same time i saw this post. so if you dont mind plagiarizing here you go.... John William Coltrane was an American saxophonist and composer. He was an amazing musician whose style and technique where the founding points of modern saxophone technique. He wrote many songs, some of which are the hardest compositions in music abroad. Coltrane's religion influenced his music profoundly, his greatest works where inspired by Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam John Coltrane was born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina. When Coltrane was in seventh grade, his grandparents and father died. This devastated the Coltrane family and forced his mother, aunt into work. At this point he started to practice around 12 hours a day when ever he could. Coltrane first played the alto horn (a mini tuba) but soon lost interest and switched to clarinet. He then changed instruments once again after hearing Charlie Parker (jazz giant of the late 40's and early 50's; Parker would late become one of Coltrane's all time biggest idols) playing the alto saxophone. (Ratliff, 2007, p. 45). In 1949, Coltrane joined Dizzy Gillespie's band playing lead alto sax. Playing lead alto sax helped him become known for his playing. Lead alto is most of the time the hardest saxophone part, when someone like Dizzy Gillespie asks you to play lead alto it is an honor. Coltrane stayed with Gillespie until the band broke up in 1950. At this time, Coltrane picked up the tenor saxophone, because he could only get work playing tenor. In 1951, Coltrane moved to Philadelphia, during this time he got addicted to heroin. Coltrane started studying with Mike Guerra at the Granoff School of Music (wikipedia.org/johncoltrane). His new teacher Mike Guerra was known for taking unknown musicians and turning them into stars. Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald are just some of the people he made famous. (Shiff, 1995, p. 2). After Coltrane finished his studies at Granoff, a man named Earl Bostic approached him with a spot in his band. Coltrane only spent a couple weeks in Bostic's band because he got in a fight with another band member (wikipedia.org/johncoltrane). In 1955, Coltrane joined Miles Davis's band. Miles Davis at the time was “The Coolest man on the planet†because of his groundbreaking recordings in the late 40's. Coltrane stayed with Davis until 1957 during this time Coltrane started to perfect his style. In 1957, Coltrane quit heroin, and went into a very spiritual time in his life where all his time was spent developing his music. Coltrane started to practice all day long, until his lip would bleed or he would pass out from exhaustion. He started to study from harp method books to increase his skill on the saxophone. The difficult harp exercises helped him develop incredible speed (wikipedia.org/johncoltrane). Coltrane left Davis and started working with Thelonious Monk. Monk was an exceptional piano player that would help make some of the best music that Coltrane had made. Monk also taught Coltrane about things in music that he had never seen before and told him how to produce multiphonics. Coltrane's next big step was leading his own band. His first record in his name was Blue Train. The band consisted of Curtis Fuller on trombone, Lee Morgan on trumpet, Paul Chambers on bass, Kenny Drew on piano and Philly Joe Jones on drums (wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Train_%28album%29). Blue Train was a success because of his lyrical playing along with the other great musicians. Coltrane's next album was Giant Steps featuring Tom Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums. Giant Steps is one of the most well known of Coltrane's work. The title song Giant Steps is an extremely hard song. The chord changes on Giant Steps are some of the hardest in jazz. His solos on Giant Steps are amazing; many people over the years have to emulate the sound that Coltrane achieved on this album (Schiff, 1995). A Love Supreme was another of Coltrane's groundbreaking albums; it was a four-part suite, recorded for Coltrane's s love of god. A Love Supreme is Coltrane's most soulful works. Time magazine rates A Love Supreme one of the “All-Time 100 Greatest Albumsâ€. A Love Supreme is not the most well known of Coltrane but it is by far the best (www.time.com). He used a method original to himself “sheets of sound†it was called this by Down Beat magazine critic Ira Gitler. Sheets of sound refer to how Coltrane would arpeggiate and play the harmonic minor rapidly, creating an even, well rounded, wall of sound (www.downbeat.com). Coltrane said “During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through musicâ€. Coltrane was not a man of one religion he studied Kabbala, Jiddu Krishnamurti, yoga, math, science, astrology, Hinduism, African history, Plato, Aristotle, and Islam. It was Islam, which helped him, quit drinking, and heroin. Coltrane was on a never-ending search for the religion that fit him best, he never found it. In the time, that he was searching for religion was when his music grew the most. His best pieces Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, Psalms, Blue Train, all came from the time when he started looking for religion (::: JOHNCOLTRANE.COM :::). On the search for religion in India Coltrane met Ravi Shankar (father Norah Jones), who then later became another one of his biggest idols. Shankar introduced Coltrane to the different types of Indian music and Hinduism (www.ravishankar.org). Coltrane used what Shankar had showed him about classical Indian music and applied it to jazz. Shankar and Coltrane became great friends, and when Coltrane's second son was born, he named him Ravi. Coltrane's son Ravi has recently picked up his own career playing saxophone and is on his way to becoming just as an amazing musician as his father was. John Coltrane died from liver cancer on July 17, 1967, at the age of 40. An interview by Albert Ayler told that Coltrane was consulting a Hindu meditative healer for his illness instead of regular medicine. The doctors later said that if he would have let them give him the medicine he needed, he would still alive (Ratliff, 2007, p 150). Coltrane was a saxophonist, composer, and virtuoso who wrote hundreds of songs, and inspired thousands of musicians. Coltrane's music to many people considered it a cacophony. In fact, Coltrane's later works Ascension, Meditations and the posthumous Interstellar Space are masterpieces. Coltrane has inspired hundreds of musicians from all different genres of music, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, the Stooges, The Doors, Erykah Badu, Mike Watt, and OutKast are just a few. If we can learn from what Coltrane did with what his music, and the way he lived each on of might be able to achieve something as great as he did with his music. Sources Wild, D. (2008). A Brief Biography of John Coltrane. dmusic-jazz.com [Online]. Available: John Coltrane: A Brief Biography John Coltrane Biography (2008) johncoltrane.com [Online] Available: ::: JOHNCOLTRANE.COM ::: John Coltrane (2008) Wikipedia.org [Online] Ratliff, B (2007). Coltrane. Union Square West, New York:Fsg Press. Pp.42-187 Schiff, R (1995). John Coltrane Solos. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard Pp.1-3 Downbeat Magazine. Downbeat.com [Online] Available: www.downbeat.com Time Magazine. Time.com Available: www.time.com Shankar, R (2008). My Biography. Ravishankar.com [Online] Available: ww.ravishankar.com