) Coltrane was stationed in Hawaii for a year and once he returned, his musical career began. .
He began his career in the late 1940's playing with several different rhythm and blues groups in small bars and clubs around Philadelphia. At bars, it was a common practice at this time for musicians to "walk the bar", which was to walk on top of the bar while playing their instrument. During the time of every night gigs in bars and clubs, Coltrane became very depressed and turned to heroin. Heroin was a very popular drug among black musicians in the forties (i.e. Charlie Parker who dried out his veins with heroine by the age of 35.) .
In 1949, Dizzy Gillespie invited Coltrane to play in his big band. Gillespie, along with Parker, had been a very influential and important figure in the bebop movement. After joining Gillespie's big band, Coltrane finally felt some sense of stability in his life. However, after two years of playing with Gillespie, he was asked to leave because of his unreliability due to his heroin addiction. Again, Coltrane returned to "walking the bar", and playing in smoky bars and clubs. Because of his depression and misunderstanding of himself, his addiction got worse and during this time, Coltrane became very interested in eastern philosophies. Eastern philosophies became a positive force in his life and slowly he started getting back on track. He then met Naima, a Moslem woman, and a competent musician. She quickly became the person with the most power to get Coltrane back together from the depression and heroin addiction that was tearing him apart and they eventually married. .
In the mid-fifties, he was invited to play with Miles Davis and his quintet. The partnership that developed would change his life and his musical approach. Davis was named the rising star of the new avant-garde movement, cool jazz. Cool jazz was a completely different style of jazz than that of the bop of the forties.