Originally published in Jersey Jazz Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the New Jersey Jazz Society
Joe Lovano learned about John Coltrane in the basement of his Cleveland home. "My dad played saxophone," he said, "and he loved Coltrane. His record collection was full of Coltrane recordings from the earliest Bethlehem records, all the Prestige, into Atlantic, and, of course, the Impulse! period."
Melissa Aldana grew up in Santiago, Chile, and she learned about Coltrane from her father, also a saxophonist. "I first heard Coltrane when I was very young, through my father," she recalled. "At that time, I didn't fully understand what he was doing, but I felt the intensity immediately. There was an urgency and honesty in his sound that really struck me. As I grew older, I began to understand how deeply personal his music was and how his technical mastery was always in service of something bigger."
On Wednesday, April 8, at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton and Saturday, April 18, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, Lovano and Aldana will be, in Lovano's words, "two different saxophones and two different personalities, trying to be one. That's going to be an exciting exploration for us, not to be reading parts but to be creating music."
Lovano is Artistic Director of Coltrane 100, a 19-venue tour across the United States and Europe, celebrating John Coltrane's centennial birthday, which falls on September 23, 2026. The Coltrane 100 quintet will feature a rhythm section of pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts. Coltrane passed away in July 1967 at the age of 40.
Among the albums that Lovano's father liked to play were Meditations (Impulse!: 1965), A Blowin' Session with Johnny Griffin, Hank Mobley, and Lee Morgan (Blue Note: 1957); and Tenor Conclave with Mobley, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims (Prestige: 1958). A Blowin' Session, Lovano said, "was a big record for me growing up, with them playing off of each other, giving each other inspiration as they played." The same was true of Tenor Conclave -- "hearing those personalities. Those things were ingrained in my development."
For Aldana, "The Coltrane compositions that resonate most are the ones that leave room for exploration, where the music can evolve naturally in the moment. That approach feels like the most meaningful way to honor his legacy." Aldana said it is "hard to choose a favorite (Coltrane) period because each phase of his evolution feels essential. A Love Supreme (Impulse!: 1965) is absolutely a masterpiece -- not only musically, but spiritually and conceptually. I also have a lot of appreciation for Ole Coltrane (Atlantic Records: 1961), a fascinating album in his later exploratory period. It's full of open textures and unusual instrumentation, and it really captures his curiosity and willingness to take risks. It is an interesting record because it shows Coltrane experimenting with space, textures, and ensemble colors. I love how daring and imaginative it is -- you can hear him pushing boundaries while still staying deeply expressive. For me, it's a reminder of the endless possibilities of his music."
Melissa Aldana, photo by Pablo Valle
AllAboutJazz's Marc Davis, reviewing A Blowin' Session, wrote: "If you're a sax fan, this one's for you -- not one, not two, but three red-hot tenors, plus one scorching trumpet, and the legendary Art Blakey smashing the drums behind them. Three tenors. How did that happen? Pure serendipity. Johnny Griffin, the young, new, super-fast saxman, was on his way to record at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey one day in 1957 when he ran into John Coltrane. 'Come along,' Griffin suggested. 'Sure,' Coltrane replied."
The result? "Coltrane and Griffin are the stars, blowing long, complex passages at supersonic speed. Trumpeter Lee Morgan keeps pace with his own exciting solos. The third tenor, Hank Mobley, has a slightly different sound -- definitely bop, but slightly more relaxed and bluesy. Blakey, naturally, is the frantic, inventive timekeeper."
According to AllMusic's Lindsay Planer, "The complicated rhythm patterns and diverse sonic textures on Olé Coltraneare evidence that John Coltrane was once again charting his own course. His sheer ability as a maverick -- beyond his appreciable musical skills -- guides works such as this to new levels, ultimately advancing the entire art form. The assembled musicians worked within a basic quartet setting, featuring Coltrane on soprano and tenor sax, McCoy Tyner on piano, and Elvin Jones on drums, with double-bass chores held down by Art Davis and Reggie Workman. Added to that are significant contributions and interactions with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and Eric Dolphy on flute and alto sax."
Lovano heard the Coltrane Quartet with McCoy Tyner in 1965, pointing out that "They played in Cleveland in the earlier '60s, too, when Eric Dolphy came. I grew up, not only with an appreciation, but a love of the different directions that Coltrane played throughout his career. I was hearing it all as one. I was also listening to all the cats that he came up with and hearing how they all had their own personalities: Johnny Griffin, Hank Mobley, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Coleman Hawkins -- people who were in my dad's record collection also.
"And, through my career, I played with a lot of players who played with Coltrane. I moved to New York in 1976, in my early 20s. One of the first places I went to was Ali's Alley, drummer Rashied Ali's loft on Greene Street in Soho. I was also playing some with (pianist) Albert Dailey, who was playing with Ali. Albert said I should come down, and I did and brought my horn. Reggie Workman was playing bass, and there were two saxophonists, Jimmy Vass on alto and Marvin Blackman on tenor. I ended up sitting in and starting a relationship with Rashied through the years."
Ali played with Coltrane on Meditations as well as on such other Impulse! albums as Interstellar Space and The Olatunji Concert. The latter two albums were recorded in 1967 but not released until 1974. The Olatunji Concert was Coltrane's last live recording.
Another Coltrane alum that Lovano got to play with was drummer Elvin Jones, who performed in Cleveland "a year before I moved to New York. He had a quartet with Steve Grossman on saxophone, Roland Prince on guitar, and Milton Suggs on bass. I played opposite them in Cleveland, and I got friendly with Elvin and Steve and ended up sitting in with them. So, when I moved to New York, Elvin was playing at the Vanguard and other places. I went with my horn and sat in and started a relationship with Elvin. In 1982, I got a call to sub for Pat LaBarbera in his band, and that led to a nine-week European tour in 1987 with Elvin's band, The Jazz Machine." Jones made several albums with Coltrane including Ole Coltrane, A Love Supreme, Ballads (Impulse!: 1963), and My Favorite Things (Atlantic Records: 1961).
In 1999, Lovano joined McCoy Tyner's band "and played quite a few gigs and recorded with him through the years." A special album was Live at Yoshi's (McCoy Tyner Music: 2006) with Christian McBride on bass and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums. "That's the connection with 'Tain'," Lovano pointed out. "We've recorded with McCoy together. This is the 20-year mark for that release. I'm so thrilled that 'Tain' can make this tour with this special quintet. 'Tain' is going to fuel the fire and contribute in his way as part of the front line and the rhythm section.
"At this concert," he continued, "Coltrane's feeling of expression is what we're going to offer -- from his earliest times to the latest times. He only recorded as a leader for about12 years -- from about 1954 or 5 until he passed in '67. And, he covered a lot of ground. There's a box set of Coltrane's Prestige recordings where he recorded over 100 songs, and only a handful of them are his originals. They were all songs that he loved to play, that fueled his ideas, that developed his compositions, intervals, harmonic sequences, rhythmic explorations."
Pianist Makhathini, Lovano said, "is definitely a McCoy Tyner disciple. Linda May Han Oh is playing bass and has a beautiful approach about melody and rhythm. We're going to have some definite beautiful, spontaneous exchanges. Melissa Aldana on tenor is a young, beautiful voice that's emerging today."
Aldana said Lovano "has put together a program that draws from a broad range of John Coltrane's repertoire. What I really value about Joe's vision is that the goal isn't to recreate or imitate Coltrane, but to approach the music in the spirit in which it was created." In 2005, Aldana met pianist Danilo Perez while he was on tour in Chile, and he invited her to play at the Panama Jazz Festival. He also helped her get auditions with music schools in the United States, and she received a full scholarship to Boston's Berklee College of Music, graduating in 2009.
Last month, Aldana released her third Blue Note album, Filin, featuring a collection of songs drawn from Cuba's filin music tradition. The word filin means feeling, and the music is romantic, combining Cuban styles like bolero with American jazz harmonies. The new album, Aldana said, "is a very personal project for me. Originally, I wanted to record an album of American Songbook ballads, but (pianist) Gonzalo Rubalcaba introduced me to filin music, and that completely opened up a new world for me. I realized these songs from the Cuban filn-music tradition had this incredible emotional depth and lyrical beauty."
"Coltrane's Ballads," she added, "was certainly an influence, too, especially in terms of sound, space, and intimacy." Aldana will be appearing at the Jersey City Jazz Festival on May 31 and at Birdland from June 19-21.
A concerto called "a raft, the sky, the wild sea" was written for Lovano by the guitarist/composer Douglas Cuomo and commissioned by the Fort Worth Symphony, the London Philharmonic, and the Winston-Salem Symphony. A January 2025 concert performance of it by the Winston-Salem Symphony was released last month on Blue Cloud Music. From April 28-May 3, Lovano will be leading a quartet at New York's Village Vanguard with pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Ben Street, and drummer Andrew Cyrille, who, Lovano pointed out, "had a relationship with Coltrane. We're going to be playing original music from my Trio Tapestry album (ECM: 2019), and we're also going to be celebrating the centennial birthdays of Coltrane and Miles Davis."
The McCarter Theatre Center is located at 91 University Place in Princeton, NJ. The Coltrane 100 concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. on April 8 in the Matthews Theatre. For more information or to order tickets, log onto mccarter.org or call (609) 258-2787. The New Jersey Performing Arts Center is located at 1 Center Street in Newark, NJ. The Coltrane 100 concert begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Victoria Theater. For more information or to order tickets, log onto njpac.org or call (1-888 696-5722).
The New Jersey Jazz Society is a non-profit organization of business and professional people, musicians, teachers, students and listeners working together for the purpose of advancing jazz music. Their mission is to promote and preserve America’s original art form – jazz. The Society seeks to ensure continuity of the jazz art form through its commitment to nurture and champion local talent, along with showcasing outstanding national and international artists providing for the younger generation via arts education programs.
TOP PHOTO: Joe Lovano, photo by Jimmy Katz
