Tune in on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on 90.1 FM, and streaming at wrti.org, for a special edition of The Late Set Radio Hour celebrating the centennial of John Coltrane. The episode features saxophonists Melissa Aldana, Lakecia Benjamin, Kenny Garrett and Joe Lovano, along with pianist Orrin Evans and vocalist and poet Ruth Naomi Floyd.
Each explores and expands on music written by or made famous by Coltrane. For more, don't miss our conversation with Steve Rowland, Peabody Award-winning producer of the documentary Tell Me How Long Trane’s Been Gone, on The Late Set podcast.
John Coltrane would have turned 100 on September 23, and the hour leans into his Philadelphia roots. It opens with Philly’s own McCoy Tyner, Coltrane’s pianist in the classic quartet, revisiting “Mr. Day” at The Village Vanguard on what would have been Trane’s 71st birthday. Orrin Evans describes how a 16th-birthday gift led him to A Love Supreme, the music he and his wife later walked down the aisle to. In 2021 he brought the suite into Mother Bethel AME Church with Ruth Naomi Floyd reading and interpreting Coltrane’s own words.
Many of the artists trace their Coltrane stories back to a first listen. Benjamin was so startled by the crowd noise and wailing saxophone on Live at the Half Note that she assumed her CD was skipping and shut it off; it’s now one of her favorite Coltrane records. Aldana heard Ballads the same week she discovered Sonny Rollins, and both records convinced her to switch from alto to tenor.
Lovano was 14 when Coltrane died in 1967, dropping the needle on the same tunes again and again. He also remembers how Toots Thielemans would answer the phone by playing “Giant Steps” on harmonica. And Garrett, speaking with WRTI just blocks from Coltrane's first Philadelphia home on North 12th Street, tells the story of a high school friend who swore John Coltrane was his uncle, and the day Garrett realized the soprano saxophone he'd been playing really was Trane's.
Setlist:
All compositions by John Coltrane unless otherwise noted
- “Mr. Day” by McCoy Tyner from the album McCoy Tyner Plays John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard
- “On Giant Steps” by Joe Lovano from the album Flights of Fancy: Trio Fascination Edition Two
- “26-2” by Linda May Han Oh and Melissa Aldana from the album Beneath Lifted Skies
- “A Love Supreme, Pt. I – Acknowledgement” and “Pt. II – Resolution” by Orrin Evans (feat. Morgan Guerin, Luques Curtis, Mark Whitfield Jr., and Ruth Naomi Floyd), recorded by WRTI at Mother Bethel AME Church
- “Dear Lord” by the Elvin Jones Special Quartet from the album Tribute to John Coltrane “A Love Supreme”
- “Countdown” by Kenny Garrett from the album Pursuance: The Music of John Coltrane
- “Trane” (Lakecia Benjamin) by Lakecia Benjamin from the album Phoenix Reimagined (Live)
Production Credits:
Alex Ariff, Senior Producer
Nicole Sweeney, Host
Robby Webb, Mixing Engineer
Jacob Dodd and James McGovern, Production Assistants
Christopher McDonald and Jeremy McDonald, Technical Support
Special thanks to Lakecia Benjamin, Joe Lovano, Melissa Aldana, Kenny Garrett, Ruth Naomi Floyd, and Orrin Evans.