Short answers, pulled from the story.
John William Coltrane was born on the 23rd of September 1926 in his parents' apartment at 200 Hamlet Avenue in Hamlet, North Carolina. He grew up in High Point and attended William Penn High School while playing clarinet and alto horn in a community band.
A pivotal moment occurred on the 5th of June 1945 when John Coltrane saw Charlie Parker perform for the first time. This encounter ignited a lifelong pursuit of mastery that led him away from his hometown into the heart of Philadelphia's jazz scene.
During his tenure with Miles Davis from October 1955 to April 1957, John Coltrane developed a technique described by critic Ira Gitler as sheets of sound. His playing became compressed with rapid runs cascading in very many notes per minute which he explained required putting notes in uneven groups like fives and sevens.
John Coltrane recorded Giant Steps in 1960 for Atlantic Records creating an album containing only his own compositions. The title track features one of the most difficult chord progressions ever written later known as Coltrane changes.
By December 1964 John Coltrane formed his classic quartet with pianist McCoy Tyner bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones. They recorded A Love Supreme at his home in Dix Hills on Long Island during that same month.
John Coltrane died of liver cancer at age forty on the 17th of July 1967 at Huntington Hospital on Long Island. Biographer Lewis Porter speculated that hepatitis contracted during his years of heroin use may have caused the disease.