Editing John Coltrane (section)

===1967: Illness and death===
Coltrane died of [[liver cancer]] at the age of 40 on July 17, 1967, at [[North Shore LIJ Health System#Hospitals|Huntington Hospital]] on Long Island. His funeral was held four days later at [[St. Peter's Lutheran Church and School|St. Peter's Lutheran Church]] in New York City. The service was started by the [[Albert Ayler]] Quartet and finished by the [[Ornette Coleman]] Quartet.<ref>Porter, p. 293.</ref> Coltrane is buried at [[Pinelawn Cemetery]] in [[Farmingdale, New York|Farmingdale]], New York.

Biographer [[Lewis Porter]] speculated that the cause of Coltrane's illness was [[hepatitis]], although he also attributed the disease to Coltrane's heroin use at a previous period in his life.<!-- Is Porter attributing cancer to his heroin use or hepatitis? If the latter, which seems more likely, this sentence should be rewritten: "Biographer [[Lewis Porter]] speculated that the cause of Coltrane's illness was [[hepatitis]], which he attributed to Coltrane's heroin use earlier in his life." --><ref>Porter, p. 292.</ref> Frederick J. Spencer wrote that Coltrane's death could be attributed to his needle use "or the bottle, or both."<ref name="spencer6">{{cite book | last =Spencer, M.D. | first =Frederick J. | title =Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats | publisher =University Press of Mississippi| year = 2002 | pages=6 }}</ref> He stated that "[t]he needles he used to inject the drugs may have had everything to do with" Coltrane's liver disease: "If any needle was contaminated with the appropriate hepatitis virus, it may have caused a chronic infection leading to cirrhosis or cancer."<ref name="spencer6" /> He noted that despite Coltrane's "spiritual awakening" in 1957, "[b]y then, he may have had chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis... Unless he developed a primary focus elsewhere in later life and that spread to his liver, the seeds of John Coltrane's cancer were sown in his days of addiction."<ref>{{cite book | last =Spencer, M.D. | first =Frederick J. | title =Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats | publisher =University Press of Mississippi| year = 2002 | pages=7 }}</ref>

Coltrane's death surprised many in the music community who were unaware of his condition. Miles Davis said, "Coltrane's death shocked everyone, took everyone by surprise. I knew he hadn't looked too good ... But I didn't know he was that sick— or even sick at all."<ref>Porter, p. 290.</ref>