Although there are recordings of Coltrane from as early as 1946, his real
career spans the twelve years between 1955 and 1967, during which time he
reshaped modern jazz and influenced generations of other musicians.
Coltrane was freelancing in Philadelphia in the summer of 1955 when he
received a call from trumpeter Miles Davis. Coltrane was with this first
edition of the Davis group from October 1955 through April 1957 (with a
few absences), a period which saw influential recordings from Davis and
the first signs of Coltrane’s ability.

During the latter part of 1957 Coltrane worked with Thelonious Monk at New
York’s Five Spot, a legendary gig. He rejoined Miles in January 1958,
staying until April 1960, during which time he participated in such
seminal Davis sessions as Milestones and Kind Of Blue, and recorded his
own influential sessions (notably Giant Steps).

Coltrane’s first working quartet took the stage in April 1960; pianist
McCoy Tyner joined the band in mid 1960 (replacing Steve Kuhn), and Elvin
Jones came on board in the fall, in time for marathon sessions for
Atlantic which produced Coltrane’s "hit" recording My Favorite Things. By
early 1961 Coltrane had signed with the new Impulse label. Coltrane’s quartet (with Tyner, Jones and bassist Reggie Workman) was joined by multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy for a variety of recordings and appearances, and Dolphy joined the band permanently in September, in a group that created considerable controversy.

For a variety of reasons Coltrane’s output during 1962 was more
conservative. The year however is marked by several significant recordings
(a Ballads album and a joint session with Duke Ellington). The Crescent
session from mid-1964 is notable, but the peak of Coltrane’s output
arguably is the prodigious amount of music recorded between December 1964
(the classic suite A Love Supreme) and November of 1965 (Meditations),
including a variety of exceptional small group sessions and the "new music
summit" Ascension.

By January 1966 the classic John Coltrane Quartet was no more, the
internal tension of Coltrane’s quest for new directions having brought
Tyner and Jones to depart. The last group, with Coltrane’s wife Alice on
piano and Rashied Ali on drums (plus bassist Jimmy Garrison) is well
represented by recordings of concerts in Japan and a variety of small
group sessions from early 1967.

Coltrane was obsessed with scales, he even adapted scale excercises for piano into his own saxophone excercises. What other non-saxophone instrument did Coltrane study in this same manner?

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