Ravi Coltrane: A Legacy of Expression

When 25-year-old Ravi Coltrane moved to New York in 1991, he was mentored by some of the most revered elders on the scene. One was drummer Elvin Jones, famous for playing with Ravi’s father, saxophonist John Coltrane. Another was drummer Rashied Ali, who had been a member of John Coltrane’s final band — and played for years in groups led by Ravi’s mother, pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane.

Here we are, more than 30 years later, and the tables have turned. Now 58, Ravi Coltrane finds himself approaching elder status, a situation that he describes as “weird.” He and his contemporaries are now mentoring a new generation: “We turn around and suddenly we’re in our fifties and sixties, and there are young players who are looking up to us.”

Later this month (March 28-31), some of those young players will perform with him in San Francisco, as Coltrane — in his first season as a Resident Artistic Director at SFJAZZ — brings four different bands to the stage. He will lead his new electric trio and his bracing quartet, one of the best working groups in jazz. (“We’re like brothers in arms,” he says.) He will present a tribute to the late saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, another of his mentors and one of his parent’s closest associates. (Special guests will include saxophonists Joe Lovano and Tomoki Sanders, Pharoah’s son.) Finally, he will lead two nights of “Cosmic Music” with a special quintet performing John and Alice Coltrane’s compositions.

I spent an hour on the phone with Coltrane, who lives in Brooklyn with his family. Good-humored and thoughtful, he spoke about the responsibility he feels for his parents’ legacy; the challenge of staying fresh after 30-plus years in the business — and the charge he still seeks and derives from musical discovery. One of his father’s final recordings was titled Expression, a word that he repeated several times during our conversation. At 58, he is a serious student of music. Recording contracts are great. Recognition is fine. But in the end, they’re not what it’s about. It’s “more about the expression: What am I saying? What am I trying to say with this program of music?”

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

Q: You’re a caretaker of the Coltrane family’s name and legacy, and that’s obviously important to you. But do you ever feel that you’re too much under the microscope as the son of John and Alice? Do you ever feel hemmed in?

A: I could say yes and no. I think I spent the majority of my career not doing music associated with John and Alice, at least not formally presenting groups with the sole purpose of performing their music. I spent a very long time not doing that. I would still throw in a “Giant Steps” on a given gig, like half the saxophonists in the world. That’s repertoire that none of us should shy away from.

But in the last few years, there have been occasions when it’s time to recognize them — anniversaries of very important album releases or birthday celebrations or the anniversary of a passing. And, yeah, it feels right to kind of stop and acknowledge that moment. And if that means a whole night of Alice music or a whole night of John music, I’ve gotten to a place where I feel I can contribute in some way to them.

My own personal musical journey is still evolving and at this stage of my life I don’t feel like I need to be always pushing and pushing for that; I think I’m letting that happen organically. And I would love to focus primarily on my own music, but there are times when I struggle with what that voice is. And the struggle is a part of it, but sometimes you have to give in to the moment and embrace what’s working, what’s there.

It’s baked into the cake after a while; It’s hard for me not to honor my parents in some sort of way.

Q: I remember seeing you in Elvin Jones’s band, when you were the new kid on the scene. That’s over 30 years ago and now you’re mentoring young musicians. What’s that like?

A: Weird. Very, very odd. I mean, the passage of time — we’re not always aware of it. Time is slowly – actually, quickly — moving through the generations. Most of my mentors are gone now. And part of me knows that I’m still evolving and still learning and still growing. Hopefully that remains part of every musician’s journey and growth — that the desire doesn’t go away, that we stay constant students of the music, in a constant stage of learning and progression and growth.

But it’s true. We turn around and suddenly we’re in our fifties and sixties, and there are young players who are looking up to us. In many ways, it’s reciprocal. Art Blakey was constantly reforming his bands and filling it with young players. As a leader, you can impart a lot to them, but you can receive a lot from them, as well — the raw newness and the energy, the wide-eyed joy they bring to the stage every night can really inspire you. So it’s definitely reciprocal; I receive a lot.

Q: That makes for a good segue: The first night of your residency (March 28) includes your electric trio with two young musicians, keyboardist Gadi Lehavi and drummer Elé Howell. What’s the story of this band?

A: That group is fairly new, despite the fact that I’ve known Gadi since 2010 or 2011. I met him when he was about 13 years old and have been playing with him ever since. I met him at the Jazz Standard in New York; he was living in Tel Aviv and his parents brought him to the States to do some summer jazz workshops. He had primarily a classical background and had only been studying or practicing jazz for a few years. But he had reached such a beautiful place in his expression. I was always blown away by his creativity.

With Elé Howell, who’s a Bay Area native, I met him, I think, during the pandemic. I was doing some underground gigs in an old private club called the Montauk Club (in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood), a very old establishment, more than 130 years old. And during the lockdown they were open. They had a very nice bar there and beautiful spaces. There were pianos on several of the floors. I actually became a member of this club and started inviting bands to play.

And when all the restaurants were closed and all the jazz clubs were closed, we were at the Montauk. I used it as an opportunity to workshop some new music and get to know some new players. And from the moment I played with Elé, this was the guy. I think he might have been 21 or 22 and I just started calling him.

So Gadi and Elé played together and hit it off immediately and just developed a very powerful connection. And the three of us were making a bunch of rehearsals — and our bassist wasn’t making the rehearsals. So one time, Gadi brought out a keyboard bass setup and we were like, “This could work. Let’s do a gig just like this, the three of us.”

Q: So what’s the instrumentation?

A: Gadi is playing Rhodes (electric piano), primarily, and keyboard bass. I’m using some effects with the horn. It’s been an interesting group. We did a performance at the Village Vanguard, the three of us, and we’ve had some other performances and it feels like something fun and unique to explore.

Q: What kind of effects are you using with your saxophone?

A: Guitar pedals, essentially. I sort of avoided that for years, because so many others were doing that and they’d already gotten to a place of proficiency. But I just got interested in these effects recently, and I started with one pedal and expanded to a second and a third. For me, I just wanted to find a way to use it as another voice in the band, not so much like a wah-wah sound on the saxophone, or just changing the tone of the saxophone, but using effects more orchestrally.

Q: And what’s the band’s repertoire?

A: We’ve done a lot of gigs where it was all about spontaneous composition. But all three of us are writing for the group and most likely we’ll be presenting music from all members of the band. It’s a fun group to play with — this band, these new musicians.

Q: I saw Elé Howell play years ago at Cafe Stritch, a club in San Jose, CA. He was maybe 15, or 16, and he was unreal — like a controlled tornado. People were blown away.

A: Everywhere I play, they go into shock, the people. There are two questions: “Where did you find this drummer?” and, “Can I have his phone number so I can use him, too?”

The musicians can hear that this guy is just a beautiful, beautiful player – he has so much to say in that controlled tornado way. It’s just exciting to see someone right at the beginning of their career and already having so much to say musically.

Q: You’ll close the residency’s first night — a double-bill — with your regular quartet, which now seems to have a name: “Coltraxx.”

A: It’s a name that (bassist) Dezron Douglas coined and it just seemed to stick. That group has been my primary working band probably since 2013, with (pianist) David Virelles and (drummer) Johnathan Blake and Dezron. I’ve just had such supreme joy working with these players over about 10 years. They all felt very young when we started and now they’ve come into their own. They’re leading bands and doing their own projects. And in the last several years, we’ve not been able to play together that much. David Virelles sort of moved to Switzerland to teach, and it was very hard to lock him down. I was still making lots of gigs with John and Dezron, so the band has stayed intact, and for a project like this with a two-year lead-in, I knew all these guys would be available.

They’re just fantastic players. We’re like brothers in arms — in the trenches together for a very long time. They’re the best of the best. Jonathan has every gig that exists now. These are some of the hardest-working rhythm section players on the scene right now, deservedly so, as musicians and people.

Q: The second night of your residency (March 29) is a tribute to another member of the Coltrane clan, Pharoah Sanders. You’ll load the stage with tenor players.

A: It’s always hard when we lose the masters, the forebears of the music — losing Wayne (Shorter), that’s still resonating every day. And maybe a week after Pharoah passed (in 2022), Joe (Lovano) called me, and he said, “Let’s do something for Pharoah.” And when the opportunity for a residency came up with SFJAZZ — and Pharoah did spend a lot of time living in the Bay Area — it seemed like, “Yes, we need to have one night for Pharoah.”

It’s essentially a three-tenor group — me, Joe, and Tomoki Sanders — that we’ll have with the Coltraxx rhythm section. Tomoki is Pharoah’s son and a fantastic saxophonist. I met him when he was a very young boy, as well, and he’s been in New York for several years and he’s just growing and growing as an instrumentalist. He has a real passion for the music, all kinds of music. He’s very, very serious about what he’s doing and he brings a lot of soul and passion to his work. It didn’t seem possible to do a tribute to Pharoah without inviting Tomoki to perform with us.

I saw Pharoah the day that he passed and was with him at the hospital. I hadn’t been in Los Angeles for a while, and I had a gig at Santa Monica College. And the moment I got in the car from the airport, I had a text from Tomoki saying that his father had had an episode the previous night and was in the hospital — this was on Sept. 23, my father’s birthday. So all of it felt a little interconnected. So I saw Pharoah that day and he passed some time after midnight.

Q: When you moved to New York in 1991, you were taken under wing by your father’s drummers: Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali. Were you also mentored by Pharoah?

A: In many ways. The first gig I played with Elvin was at Kimball’s East (in Emeryville, CA). It was January 1991 (when the U.S.-led aerial bombing campaign began against Iraq), during the first Gulf War. I think it was opening night. I remember Elvin making a statement about it, telling people that the love and unity that music provides for us will help us get through the evening. And Pharoah was there that night and he put a mouthpiece in my hand, an Otto Link metal mouthpiece – I’m still playing it. That became my primary mouthpiece for the next 20 years.

In the early ‘90s, he was living in New York, and I’d go to his apartment and bring a couple of mouthpieces, and he’d bring out a bag of them, and he’d say, “Take ‘em , take ‘em.” That was the crux of it – our relationship was very saxophone-oriented.

Q: You’ll finish your residency with two nights (March 30-31) of “Cosmic Music,” featuring compositions by your mother and father. You were just talking about musical forebears. These are really your forebears. Is there anything more you’d like to say about the way you feel connected to them through music?

A: I think every time I’m on a stage, it’s kind of close to the surface, not only my connection to them, but my love and gratitude for them. And to come to SFJAZZ and the city of San Francisco — there’s definitely a Coltrane connection there and I think it’s beautiful to honor those two creators, John and Alice, in the city of San Francisco. It just seems to be calling for it.

Q: One last question. You haven’t recorded much over the past decade. What’s going on? You lead such great bands.

A: I feel there’s just so many people now who make records. The record companies, and the industry, are not what they were. But records are just everywhere and — it’s like somebody once asked Miles (Davis), “Why don’t you play ballads anymore?” And Miles said, “It’s because I love ballads too much.”

I don’t want to sound like I’m not grateful for the privilege and the opportunity to work with these great bands and to have supportive record companies — I am grateful for that. But to make a record, just because you can – I never felt that was a very strong motivator. It was more about the expression: What am I saying? What am I trying to say with this program of music? And that’s always been a more challenging question to answer.

It’s really less about the studio and a record company being willing to release an album, and more about the expression, the statement, and what’s being said. I think I’m still trying to discover that.

SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Ravi Coltrane performs 3/28-31. Tickets and more information available here. The 3/29 tribute to Pharoah Sanders will be broacast at sfjazz.org as part of the Fridays Live series. Watch here. 

A staff writer at SFJAZZ, Richard Scheinin is a lifelong journalist. He was the San Jose Mercury News' classical music and jazz critic for more than a decade and has profiled scores of public figures, from Ike Turner to Tony La Russa and the Dalai Lama.