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John William Coltrane One of the reasons many saxophone players play with similar styles is because there is an influence coming from a primary source. Many of them are influenced by musicians like Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Dexster Gordon. But overall the saxophone player that is usually considered to be the most influential of the last fifty years is John Coltrane. He is not only a major influence to saxophone players, but to all jazz instrumentalists as well. John William Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, on September 23, 1926. Two months later, his family moved to High Point, North Carolina, where he lived in a fairly well-off part of town. He grew up in a southern black family that was deeply religious, and very traditional. Coltrane was raised exposed to music since both of his parents were musicians. His father played the violin and ukulele, and his mother was a member of the church choir. Coltrane in his early teens played the clarinet, but with little interest in it. It was the alto saxophone sound produced by Johnny Hodges playing in the Duke Ellington band on the radio that inspired him to drop the clarinet and begin playing the alto saxophone. Coltrane with the alto saxophone immediately became a co