Happy birthday to the Legendary John Coltrane. Born on this day, September 23, 1926.

Coltrane was only 40 years old when he died of liver cancer.

When you consider his short career;

• Starting with Dizzy in 1949
• His apprenticeship with Miles through the mid 1950’s to Kind of Blue,
• His first solo album in 1957,
• His collaboration with Monk after Miles, Giants Steps in 1960 [My favourite album of his]
• Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard in 1961, with the blistering, ferocious, torrential “Chasin the Trane”,
• The Classic Quartet and A Love Supreme in 1965,
• Coltrane’s Meteoric Ascension [ released 1965 ] into Interstellar Space [recorded in 1967, before his death, but not released until 1974].

He once said the following about creativity:

“Innovators always seek to revitalize, extend and reconstruct the status quo in their given fields… Quite often they are the rejects, outcasts, sub-citizens, etc. of the very societies to which they bring so much sustenance.”

Coltrane’s body of work is unparalleled, legendary, and historic.

Trane revolutionised what started in a span of only 10 years. Only 10 years of his professional career, he created magic.

We can only imagine where “Trane” might have taken the world next.