Editing John Coltrane (section)

=== 1946–1954: Immediate post-war career ===
After being discharged from the Navy as a seaman first class in August 1946, Coltrane returned to Philadelphia, where the city's bustling [[Music of Philadelphia#Jazz|jazz scene]] offered him many opportunities for both learning and playing.<ref name="Porter">{{cite book |last1=Porter |first1=Lewis |title=John Coltrane: His Life and Music |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0-472-10161-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/johncoltranehisl00port |date=January 1998 }}</ref> Coltrane used the [[G.I. Bill]] to enroll at the [[Granoff School of Music]], where he studied [[music theory]] with jazz guitarist and composer [[Dennis Sandole]].<ref>Porter, pp. 50–51.</ref> Coltrane would continue to be under Sandole's tutelage from 1946 into the early 1950s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/08/nyregion/dennis-sandole-jazz-guitarist-and-an-influential-teacher-87.html|title=Dennis Sandole, Jazz Guitarist And an Influential Teacher, 87|first=Ben|last=Ratliff|date=October 8, 2000|access-date=June 7, 2022|website=[[The New York Times]]|archive-date=June 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607080418/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/08/nyregion/dennis-sandole-jazz-guitarist-and-an-influential-teacher-87.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Coltrane additionally took saxophone lessons with Matthew Rastelli, a saxophone teacher at Granoff, once a week for about two or three years, but the lessons stopped when Coltrane's G.I. Bill funds ran out.<ref>Porter, pp. 52.</ref> After touring with [[King Kolax]], he joined a band led by [[Jimmy Heath]], who was introduced to Coltrane's playing by his former Navy buddy, trumpeter William Massey, who had played with Coltrane in the Melody Masters.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Joe |title=Musically Speaking |journal=The Mananan |date=October 30, 1945}}</ref> Although he started on alto saxophone, he began playing tenor saxophone in 1947 with [[Eddie Vinson]].<ref name="Alexander2010">{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Leslie M. |last2=Rucker |first2=Walter C. Jr. |title=Encyclopedia of African American History &#91;3 volumes&#93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uivtCqOlpTsC&pg=PA178 |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=February 9, 2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-774-6 |pages=178– |archive-date=February 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208135317/https://books.google.com/books?id=uivtCqOlpTsC&pg=PA178 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Coltrane called this a time when "a wider area of listening opened up for me. There were many things that people like [[Coleman Hawkins|Hawk [Coleman Hawkins]]], and [[Ben Webster|Ben [Webster]]] and [[Tab Smith]] were doing in the '40s that I didn't understand, but that I felt emotionally."<ref name="John Coltrane Biography">{{cite web |url=http://www.johncoltrane.com/biography.html |title=John Coltrane Biography |access-date=June 29, 2009 |date=May 11, 2007 |publisher=The John Coltrane Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151206193004/http://johncoltrane.com/biography.html |archive-date=December 6, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A significant influence, according to tenor saxophonist [[Odean Pope]], was the Philadelphia pianist, composer, and theorist [[Hasaan Ibn Ali]]. "Hasaan was the clue to...the system that Trane uses. Hasaan was the great influence on Trane's melodic concept."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/02/there-was-no-end-to-the-music/ |title=There Was No End to the Music |last=Armstrong |first=Rob |date=February 8, 2013 |publisher=Hidden City Philadelphia |access-date=July 12, 2015 |archive-date=July 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713093848/http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/02/there-was-no-end-to-the-music/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Coltrane became fanatical about practicing and developing his craft, practicing "25 hours a day" according to [[Jimmy Heath]]. Heath recalls an incident in a hotel in San Francisco when after a complaint was issued, Coltrane took the horn out of his mouth and practiced fingering for a full hour.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yaf6TNfuDuk| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Yaf6TNfuDuk| archive-date=December 11, 2021 | url-status=live|title=John Coltrane's Work Ethic| date=July 6, 2016|via=YouTube|access-date=December 7, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Such was his dedication; it was common for him to fall asleep with the horn still in his mouth or practice a single note for hours on end.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEkIAQAAMAAJ&q=coltrane+asleep+horn|author=Woideck, Carl|title=The John Coltrane Companion: Five Decades of Commentary|publisher=Schirmer Books|page=29|year=1998|isbn=9780028647906|access-date=October 18, 2020|archive-date=March 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325000143/https://books.google.com/books?id=uEkIAQAAMAAJ&q=coltrane+asleep+horn|url-status=live}}</ref>

Charlie Parker, who Coltrane had first heard perform before his time in the Navy, became an idol, and he and Coltrane would play together occasionally in the late 1940s. He was a member of groups led by [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Earl Bostic]], and [[Johnny Hodges]] in the early to mid-1950s.