January 19, 2027
Spirits of coltrane:

ABOUT

A centennial tribute to John Coltrane, Ravi Coltrane leads an extended set of improvisations informed by music from the three posthumous releases of Coltrane’s final period in 1967. In the last months before his death, John Coltrane’s sound was both free-form and spiritual, built on texture, energy, and long-arc improvisations.

Interstellar Space is the most radical of the three. Over four pieces named for planets (Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn), Coltrane and Rashied Ali improvise with no bass, no piano, and no fixed harmonic framework. Coltrane works from small melodic cells and sketches rather than conventional tunes, pushing the tenor into screaming overtones and rapid-fire runs. Ali doesn’t keep time so much as swirl around him, with rolling, cymbal-heavy polyrhythms that act as a second voice. It’s intense and meditative. Stellar Regions is a quartet session recorded about a week before Interstellar Space, and it was unreleased for decades. It’s more accessible than the duets. The pieces have a loose structure, with spiritual-sounding themes, a driving rhythm section, and Alice Coltrane’s shimmering, harp-like piano harmonies. Jimmy Garrison’s bass gives grounding, and the music alternates between searching, ecstatic playing and passages of lyricism. Expression is the most varied. It includes the title track and “Ogunde,” with a dense, turbulent energy, and “To Be,” a long and haunting duet in which Coltrane plays flute alongside Pharoah Sanders on piccolo. That track has a hushed, almost ritual quality, with a mood from the fire of Interstellar Space. Overall, the album blends free-jazz abandon with a prayerful quality, and it’s often heard as a farewell.

ANANTA: Spirit of Coltrane sees composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Miguel Atwood-Ferguson honor a lifelong influence during the year of Coltrane’s 100th birthday. Atwood-Ferguson debuts a live version of this project in NYC, balancing respect for the original compositions with the voices of today’s contemporary and improvised music community. The collective includes Justin Brown, Morgan Guerin, Joel Ross, an original composition by Miguel and by poet aja monet, plus special guests Brandee Younger, Gary Bartz, and Ravi Coltrane. Drawing on Atwood-Ferguson’s three-decade connection to Coltrane, ANANTA reaches beyond jazz toward “cosmic music” designed to connect, uplift and empower. 

This show was conceived in partnership with the Coltrane family and The John & Alice Coltrane Home and is the closing event of this festival's “Expressions” series (details below). 

Expressions: A Celebration of the Coltrane Legacy

Ravi Coltrane and Michelle Coltrane will host a series of immersive listening events around Alice Coltrane works, a first look at the future and vision for the two preservation Homes in New York and Philadelphia, and a book-signing of a new photographic retrospective of John Coltrane’s life and music. Expressions will culminate with Spirits of Coltrane, a two-part concert for Coltrane 100 with Miguel Atwood-Ferguson performing music from his new album & Ravi Coltrane leading improvisations.