John Coltrane

American saxophonist and jazz composer (born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina, USA; died July 17, 1967 in Huntington, Long Island, New York, USA (aged 40) from liver cancer).
Coltrane’s early recordings caught a musician in the confines of bebop and hardbop, but his enduring legacy primarily rests on the modal jazz pioneered by his classic quartet (1961-65) and by free jazz explorations late in his career. Extensively recorded as a leader (mainly for ), he appeared as a sideman on many albums, performing with other major figures in jazz such as and . As his life progressed, his music and outlook became increasingly spiritual. Posthumously, he was proclaimed as a saint in 1969 by the African Orthodox Saint John Coltrane Church in San Francisco.

Coltrane’s second wife was pianist ; their son (born 1965) is also a saxophonist. Coltrane received a posthumous “Special Citation” from the Pulitzer Prize Board in 2007 for his ‘masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz’.