Ravi Coltrane proved he was working his sound out for himself: New video 2018

06.08. – Happy Birthday !!! Ravi Coltrane is a critically acclaimed Grammy™ nominated saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. In the course of a twenty plus year career, Mr. Coltrane has worked as a sideman to many, recorded noteworthy albums for himself and others and founded a prominent independent record label, RKM.

Born in Long Island, the second son of John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane, Ravi was named after Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar. He was raised in Los Angeles where his family moved after his father’s death in 1967. His mother, Alice Coltrane, was a significant influence on Ravi and it was he who encouraged Alice to return to performance and the recording studio after a long absence. Subsequently, Ravi produced and played on Alice Coltrane’s powerful, ‘Translinear Light’, which was released in 2004.

Ravi has released six albums as a leader. His latest, ‘Spirit Fiction’, was released in June of 2012 for the Blue Note label. Additional credits include performances as well as recordings with Elvin Jones, Terence Blanchard, Kenny Baron, Steve Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, Matt Garrison, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Geri Allen, Joanne Brackeem, The Blue Note 7, among others. He is a co-leader of the Saxophone Summit with Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman.

Ravi lives in Brooklyn, NY and maintains a fast paced touring, recording, composing and performance schedule.

Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane is the son of John and Alice Coltrane. John Coltrane passed away when Ravi was two. While he had a musical upbringing by his mother and began playing fairly early, he did not commence a jazz vocation until he was in his early twenties. Coltrane was able to hone his chops playing with Elvin Jones’ group before meeting Steve Coleman and Graham Haynes. Coltrane became a member of the M-Base consortium of artists and signed to RCA in 1997 (which lists Coleman on its roster as well). Coleman produced and guested on Ravi’s first recording, Moving Pictures (1998), as did trumpeter Ralph Alessi. The critical comparisons were inevitable, but Coltrane seemed to see this coming before he ever recorded a note. Coltrane’s tone on tenor (he plays some soprano, too) is more reminiscent of Joe Henderson’s – though his father’s sound is slightly evident — and in covering “Inner Urge” on his debut, he made it impossible to deny. Coltrane recorded a second album in 2000, From the Round Box, that was received even more warmly than his debut and featured contributions from Alessi again and pianist Geri Allen. He covered Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, and Wayne Shorter while adding a pair of his own tunes. His father’s influence is a bit more evident here, but, nonetheless, Coltrane proved he was working his sound out for himself. By the time he released 2002’s Mad 6, Coltrane had firmly established himself as an ego-free and forward-thinking jazz musician with a strong musical identity influenced by, but set apart from, his father’s legacy. This impression was only reinforced on such releases as 2005’s In Flux and 2009’s Blending Times. In 2012, Coltrane delivered the Joe Lovano-produced Spirit Fiction.

In Movement the following year, Coltrane began playing with guitarist Tsziji Munoz and his various ensembles–reprising a role he’d held in the early 2000s–recording four albums anbd a live concert video through 2014. Immediately following he began working in earnest with drummer Jack DeJohnette and electronic bassist Matthew Garrison (scion of the John Coltrane Quartet’s bassist Jimmy Garrison) in a trio. Their ECM debut, In Movement was issued by ECM in 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYTaf_zX3_0