John Coltrane Quartet

Born on September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Dakota, John Coltrane is a legendary figure in the world of jazz. His saxophone playing and inventive free-form style made him one of the genre's most influential players. Born in North Carolina, he moved to Philadelphia after graduating from high school and started playing professionally in bars after leaving the Navy in 1945. Honing his craft as a side man to Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis, his visionary style was established on his second album Blue Train (1957) and he scored an unexpected hit in 1961 with a version of 'My Favorite Things' from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. The track went on to become Coltrane's signature tune. While John Coltrane had played in different formations – including quartets - throughout his career, he introduced his ‘classic’ quartet in 1962: Jimmy Garrison on bass, McCoy Tyner on piano, and Elvin Jones on drums. The first quartet album for his new label, Impulse Records, was Africa/Brass (1961), although Reggie Workman played bass before the arrival of Garrison. The first album by the ‘classic’ line-up was 1962’s Coltrane ‘Live’ at the Village Vanguard. The now-classic album Ballads was issued in 1963, closely followed by another live album, Live at Birdland (1964). The final albums by his quartet remain some of his most popular. Crescent (1964), A Love Supreme (1965) and The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (1965) are now considered classic Coltrane releases. Feeling the desire to explore different avenues and move beyond the quartet format, John Coltrane expanded his band and recorded several more albums before his death of liver cancer on July 17, 1967.