Trane ’ s schooling was disrupted by a series of family bereavements : an aunt died shortly before the passing of grandfather Blair on December 11 , 1938 , of his father on January 2 , 1939 , of grandmother Blair in April , and the following year , of the father of his cousin Mary , whom Trane regarded as his sister . Music filled the sudden void and helped make up for the social decline that followed his father ’ s death . Trane took up the alto horn then the clarinet , to the detriment of his other school subjects . When his mother left to find work in Atlantic City , John , who remained in High Point , began smoking and drinking . In 1943 , he moved to Philadelphia , where he was joined by his cousin Mary , and it was there that he came under the spell of Lester Young and took up the alto saxophone , which he played tirelessly , to the exasperation of his neighbors . He finally found refuge in a church , where he was able to practice his instrument freely . Of the two great alto players of the time , Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges , Trane preferred the latter .
A taste for learning . Trane was just as fascinated by the study of music as by the music itself , and he enrolled at the Ornstein School , an establishment set up in 1940 by Leo Ornstein , a Ukrainian pianist and composer who had arrived in the United States in 1907 . His teacher Mike Guerra , a clarinet and saxophone player whose alto saxophone solo in Rachmaninov ’ s Symphonic Dances was praised by the composer himself at its premiere , gave lessons over the years variously to Gerry Mulligan , Stan Getz , and Michael Brecker . With him , Trane began his study of harmony based on scales over chord progressions . However , the latter ’ s debut on the Philadelphia scene was interrupted on August 6 , 1945 , when he enlisted in the US Navy and joined a Navy band stationed in Hawaii , where he played with the Melody Master big band . On July 13 , 1946 , a month before his discharge , Trane was
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