September 23, 2026, will mark the 100th birthday of trailblazing jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. WKCR is thrilled to celebrate the centennial of Coltrane with a landmark 100-hour birthday broadcast from 8pm on Saturday, September 19 to midnight on Wednesday, September 23. 

John William Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, on September 23, 1926. He began his musical journey on clarinet and alto horn as a teenager in a community band. Inspired by artists such as Lester Young, Johnny Hodges, and Charlie Parker, he soon switched to the saxophone and quickly immersed himself in the evolving world of jazz. After graduating high school, Coltrane moved to Philadelphia to continue his musical studies and eventually joined the U.S. Navy in 1945, where he made his first known recording on alto saxophone during a session in Hawaii in 1946.

Following his discharge, Coltrane returned to Philadelphia, where he began developing his signature style. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, he had taken up the tenor saxophone and was performing and recording as a sideman with some of jazz’s greatest figures, including Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis. In 1957, he released his first album as a bandleader on Prestige Records, followed by his only Blue Note recording, Blue Train.

Coltrane’s relentless work ethic and spiritual drive on both tenor and soprano saxophones fueled a remarkable progression in style over the course of his career. From the harmonic innovations of Giant Steps (1960) to the transcendent spiritual depth of A Love Supreme (1965), his music defied categorization. By the mid-1960s, he had become a pioneer of avant-garde jazz, creating intensely expressive, free-form works that challenged the genre's boundaries.

With over 100 hours of recorded material, Coltrane’s legacy continues to shape generations of musicians and listeners. WKCR’s extensive tribute will explore every era of his career, offering a comprehensive journey through the work of a truly transformative artist. We hope you will join us in celebrating 100 years of John Coltrane.

Listeners can tune in to the birthday broadcast on 89.9 FM in New York City or stream worldwide at wkcr.org. Follow @WKCRFM on Instagram and X for updates.