Tegnell, David, 1946-

Author David Tegnell (b. 1946) has conducted significant research on the family history of jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. Coltrane (1926-1967) was born in Hamlet, N.C., and his family moved to High Point in 1927, where he lived until 1943. Beginning in the mid-1940s, he regularly performed on tenor saxophone as a sideman, including stints in bands led by Jimmy Heath, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk. By the early 1960s, Coltrane was leading his own ensembles, including an influential quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. As a saxophonist, he brought renewed attention to the soprano saxophone in the 1960s, and as a composer and an improviser, Coltrane contributed to a number of harmonic and melodic innovations in jazz.

From the guide to the David Tegnell Interviews on John Coltrane, 2003, (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)

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