About Us
John Coltrane Turns
100
Coltrane’s relentless work ethic and spiritual drive on both tenor and soprano saxophones fueled a remarkable progression in style over the course of his career.
Coltrane’s relentless work ethic and spiritual drive on both tenor and soprano saxophones fueled a remarkable progression in style over the course of his career.
Emortal Magazine
I knowthat there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world. I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.
John Coltrane, 1964
I knowthat there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world. I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.
John Coltrane, 1964
September, 2026 celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of John Coltrane, one of the most influential figures in saxophone playing and modern jazz. Like Miles Davis, who was also born a hundred years ago, Coltrane had a profound impact on virtually every aspect of jazz, and his legacy continues to shape the way the music is played and understood today. Generations of saxophonists have followed the path he helped define. Nearly six decades after his death, Coltrane does not resemble a legend frozen in a museum. His music continues to resonate with improvisers, hip-hop producers, contemporary composers and an audience seeking something more from art than mere entertainment. The centenary thus commemorates not just a great saxophonist but also measures the strength of a body of work that, from Giant Steps to A Love Supreme, transformed virtuosity into a spiritual quest.
His legend is stone solid: planted firmly in our culture as that of any 20th century musical giant. His saxophone sound—brooding, searching, dark—is still one of the most recognizable in modern jazz. His influence stretches over styles and genres and transcends cultural boundaries. To Coltrane, a musician was a message-giver; making music was an endeavor tied to a larger, greater good. “I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music,” Coltrane wrote in 1964 in a letter to his listeners, telling of a prayer to God. In 1966, less than a year before his death, he stated: “I know that there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world. I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.”
At the end of ’64, Coltrane recorded A Love Supreme, a musical offering in gratitude for his spiritual re-awakening in ’57, the year he rid himself of his drug habit. It was a four-part suite, the first of a series of larger works that held to a higher intent and focus. It was carefully composed and planned in September ’64, just after the birth of his first son John Jr. with his new wife, the Detroit-born, bebop-enthused Alice Coltrane—née McLeod.