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 impulse!), he appeared as a sideman on many albums, performing with other major figures in jazz such as Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. 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 Alice Coltrane; their son Ravi Coltrane (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'.