John W.Coltrane,innovative jazz legend,was born in Hamlet,NC,on September 23, 1926.Some of his famous songs were: “My Favorite Things,” “A Love Supreme,” and “Ascension.”Jazz Musician. Legendary and acclaimed jazz saxophone player, composer and a major figure in the evolution of the jazz styles known as bebop and free jazz. Along with saxophonist Charlie Parker, Coltrane is considered one of the most influential saxophonist in the history of jazz music. As an artist, he was always searching and seeking to take his music further in what he quite consciously viewed as a spiritual quest. Coltrane inspired many to play the soprano saxophone, an instrument rarely used in jazz until he began playing it. John William Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina in September of 1926 and grew up in nearby High Point. He was raised in the atmosphere of the Southern church, with a wealth of gospel music. He began playing the clarinet in a community band at the age of 13 and later switched to the alto saxophone during his final year of high school. After graduating in 1943, he and some friends moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Coltrane found a job in a sugar refinery and begin studying the saxophone at the Ornstein School of Music and Granoff Studies.
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