Charles Parker, Jr.

was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the only
child of Adelaide "Addie" (Bailey) and Charles Parker.[5] He attended Lincoln High School[6] in
September 1934, but withdrew in December 1935, just before joining the local musicians' union. [why?]
Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 he joined his school's band using a
rented school instrument. His father, Charles, was often absent but provided some musical
influence; he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the T.O.B.A. circuit. He later became
a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. Parker's mother Addie worked nights at the local Western
Union office. His biggest influence at that time was a young trombone player who taught him the
basics of improvisation.[citation needed]

In the late 1930s Parker began to practice diligently. During this period he mastered improvisation
and developed some of the ideas that led to bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, he said that
he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day.[7]
Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten certainly influenced Parker. He played with local bands
in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance
of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time influenced Parker's developing
style.
In 1937, Parker played at a jam session at the Reno Club in Kansas City. His attempt to improvise
failed when he lost track of the chord changes. This prompted Jo Jones, the drummer for Count
Basie's Orchestra, to contemptuously throw a cymbal at his feet as a signal to leave the stage.
However, rather than discouraging Parker, the incident caused him to vow to practice harder, and
turned out to be a seminal moment in the young musician's career when he returned as a new man
a year later.[8]

In 1938 Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band.[9] The band toured nightclubs and other
venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City.[10][11] Parker made his professional
recording debut with McShann's band.
As a teenager, Parker developed a morphine addiction while hospitalized after an automobile
accident, and subsequently became addicted to heroin. He continued using heroin throughout his
life, and it ultimately contributed to his death.[citation needed]

John William Coltrane, also known as "Trane"

Coltrane was born in his parents' apartment at 200 Hamlet Avenue, Hamlet, North Carolinaon
September 23, 1926.[3] His father was John R. Coltrane[4] and his mother was Alice Blair.[5] He grew up
in High Point, North Carolina, attending William Penn High School (now Penn-Griffin School for the
Arts). Beginning in December 1938 Coltrane's aunt, grandparents, and father all died within a few
months of one another, leaving John to be raised by his mother and a close cousin. [6] In June 1943
he moved to Philadelphia. In September of that year his mother bought him his first saxophone, an
alto.[5] Coltrane played the clarinet and the alto horn in a community band before taking up the alto
saxophone during high school. He had his first professional gigs in early to mid-1945 a "cocktail
lounge trio", with piano and guitar.
To avoid being drafted by the Army, Coltrane enlisted in the Navy on August 6, 1945, the day the first
U.S. atomic bomb was dropped on Japan.
Coltrane's musical talent was quickly recognized, though, and he became one of the few Navy men
to serve as a musician without having been granted musicians rating when he joined the Melody
Masters, the base swing band. He continued to perform other duties when not playing with the band,
including kitchen and security details. By the end of his service, he had assumed a leadership role in
the band. His first recordings, an informal session in Hawaii with Navy musicians, occurred on July
13, 1946.[8] Coltrane played alto saxophone on a selection of jazz standards and bebop tunes.
After being discharged from his duties in the Navy, as a seaman first class in August 1946, Coltrane
returned to Philadelphia , he studied jazz theory with guitarist and composer Dennis Sandole and

continued under Sandole's tutelage through the early 1950s. Originally an altoist, [12] during this time
Coltrane also began playing tenor saxophone with the Eddie Vinson Band.
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 DownBeatarticle in 1960 he
recalled: "the first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes."[12] Parker became an early
idol, and they played together on occasion in the late 1940s.
Contemporary correspondence shows that Coltrane was already known as "Trane" by this point, and
that the music from some 1946 recording sessions had been played for trumpeter Miles Davis
possibly impressing him.
Coltrane was a member of groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Bostic and Johnny Hodges in the early
to mid-1950s.