Editing John Coltrane (section)

=== 1926–1945: Early life ===
{{stack|[[File:U.S. Naval Reserve portrait of Johnny Coltrane edit.jpg|thumb|upright|Coltrane's first recordings were made when he was a sailor]]}}

Coltrane was born in his parents' apartment at 200 Hamlet Avenue in [[Hamlet, North Carolina]], on September 23, 1926.<ref>DeVito et al., p. 1.</ref> His father was John R. Coltrane<ref>DeVito et al., p. 2.</ref> and his mother was Alice Blair.<ref name="DeVito et al., p. 3">DeVito et al., p. 3.</ref> He grew up in [[High Point, North Carolina]], and attended [[William Penn High School (North Carolina)|William Penn High School]]. While in high school, Coltrane played [[clarinet]] and [[alto horn]] in a community band<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=J.C. |title=Chasin' the Trane |publisher=Da Capo |year=1976 |pages=14–17 }}</ref> before switching to the saxophone, after being influenced by the likes of [[Lester Young]] and [[Johnny Hodges]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=J.C. |title=Chasin' the Trane |publisher=Da Capo |year=1976 |pages=20 }}</ref><ref>Porter, pp. 30.</ref> Beginning in December 1938, his father, aunt, and grandparents died within a few months of one another, leaving him to be raised by his mother and a close cousin.<ref>Porter, pp. 15–17.</ref> In June 1943, shortly after graduating from high school, Coltrane and his family moved to Philadelphia, where he got a job at a [[sugar refinery]]. In September that year, his 17th birthday, his mother bought him his first saxophone, an alto.<ref name="DeVito et al., p. 3"/> From 1944 to 1945, Coltrane took saxophone lessons at the Ornstein School of Music with Mike Guerra.<ref>Porter, pp. 33.</ref> Between early to mid-1945, he had his first professional work as a musician: a "cocktail lounge trio" with [[piano]] and [[Electric guitar|guitar]].<ref>DeVito et al., p. 5.</ref>

An important moment in the progression of Coltrane's musical development occurred on June 5, 1945, when he saw [[Charlie Parker]] perform for the first time. In a ''DownBeat'' magazine article in 1960 he recalled: "the first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes."