John William Coltrane (1926 - 1967)

Born 23 Sep 1926 in Hamlet, Richmond, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Died 17 Jul 1967 at age 40 in Huntington, Suffolk County, New York, United States

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Biography

John Coltrane is Notable.

John William Coltrane, also known as "Trane," was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and was later at the forefront of free jazz.^[1]

Son of John Robert and Alice Blair Coltrane, he was born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina.^[2][3]

He was married twice. In 1955, Coltrane married Juanita Grubbs, later called Naima. She was a Muslim convert who greatly influenced his spirituality. She had a five-year-old daughter named Antonia, later named Syeeda. Coltrane adopted Syeeda.^[1]

In 1957, he experienced a spiritual awakening either before or while kicking his long-time heroin addiction, which profoundly changed the course of his life and his music. He began to see music as a mystical conduit to well-being, and to explore ways to harness and utilize the unifying emotional power of music.^[1]

He had three sons with his second wife, musician Alice Coltrane,

• John Jr. (1964-1982)
• Ravi (1965)
• Oranyan "Oran" (1967)^[1]

In 1967 he was forty years old when he died^[4] of cancer. He was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2007. He was also canonized by the the African Orthodox Church.^[1]

In 1966, a journalist asked John Coltrane what he’d like to be in five years. His response proved to be prophetic: “A saint.” Thanks to the Reverend Franzo Wayne King and the African Orthodox Church, Coltrane can rest easy. Founded in 1982, the Church of Saint John Will-I-Am Coltrane encourages its followers to know God through weekly “sound baptisms” focusing on their patron saint’s later albums.

Keeping with the Church’s stated mission to "help followers recognize sound as the preexisting wisdom of God," Coltrane has been incorporated into the beliefs of African Orthodox Christianity not through worshiping the man himself, but rather through studying "the divine nature of John Coltrane as he ascended to oneness with God through sound."^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Wikipedia contributors, "John Coltrane," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Coltrane&oldid=1080980333 (accessed April 20, 2022).
2. ↑ "North Carolina Birth Index, 1800-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VCSG-F13 : 8 December 2014), Jno Coltrane in entry for Jno M Coltrane, 23 Sep 1926; from "North Carolina, Birth and Death Indexes, 1800-2000," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing vol. 14, p. 142, Richmond, North Carolina, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X338-3SG : accessed 18 November 2017), John Coltrane in household of William Blair, High Point, Guilford, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 55, sheet 13B, line 95, family 271, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1695; FHL microfilm 2,341,429.

   William Blair Head M 70 North Carolina

   Alace Blair Wife F 70 North Carolina

   John Coltrane Son-in-law M 31 North Carolina

   Allace Coltrane Daughter F 31 North Carolina

   John Coltrane Grandson M 3 North Carolina

4. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J26S-VWY : 8 January 2021), John Coltrane, Jul 1967; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
5. ↑ Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, San Francisco, California, website

See also:

• https://www.biography.com/people/john-coltrane-9254106
• Find A Grave: Memorial #218
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWQD-7TW : accessed 26 February 2018), John Cottram in household of Bettie Lyerly, Ward 2, High Point, High Point Township, Guilford, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 41-81, sheet 9B, line 70, family 187, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2921.
• John Coltrane U.S. Postal Stamp
• Wikipedia: John Coltrane
• Wikidata: Item Q7346, en:Wikipedia
• https://www.npr.org/2021/02/02/961773250/saint-coltrane-the-church-built-on-a-love-supreme
• https://www.coltranechurch.org/
• https://www.facebook.com/ColtraneChurch/