The 2nd Annual FREE John Coltrane Jazz Festival

The Second Annual FREE
John Coltrane Jazz Festival| Miles Ahead

Re-scheduled to Friday, October 6, 5:00 pm,
at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park
Sponsored by The Mellon Foundation and Harlem Grown

Harlem, NY , October 2, 2023 – The Second Annual FREE John Coltrane Jazz Festival | Miles Ahead, originally set for Coltrane’s birthday on September 23 but was postponed due to inclement weather, will take place on Friday, October 6, 5:00 pm, at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park.

With lead financial support from The Mellon Foundation and Harlem Grown, the producing partners – State Senator Cordell Cleare, Jazzmobile, Harlem Late Night Jazz, NY Jazz Society, New Amsterdam Musical Association, Marcus Garvey Park Alliance, and New Heritage Theatre Group – are coming together with other community organizations to celebrate these two jazz icons.

The festival will feature some of today’s great performers playing this American music we call jazz, including National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Reggie Workman (bass) and his band, T.K. Blue (sax), James Zollar (trumpet), Wallace Roney, Jr. (trumpet), Alvin Flythe (sax), Patience Higgins (sax), Bertha Hope (piano), Bill Saxton (sax), Winard Harper (drums) and special guests. The Festival’s hosts are Lezlie Harrison, WBGO 88.3 FM, and Lamon Fenner, WHCR 90.3 FM.

In 2022, State Senator Cleare created the first annual Jazz Appreciation Day, and with Dr. Mujib Mannan, founder of the NY Jazz Society as well as the jazz festival honoring the music of John Coltrane, brought together a group of Harlem-based jazz presenters to premiere the John Coltrane Jazz Festival in Marcus Garvey Park. Born in Harlem, Dr. Mannan (aka Dr. John Satchmo Mannan) began his music career inspired by his Jamaican father, Aston McRae, a classical violinist, his first cousin Carmen McRae, the late world-famous jazz singer, and the music of Louis Armstrong. Over 20 years ago, he began doing well received John Coltrane festivals in smaller parks in neighborhoods throughout Harlem.

The musical friendship of Davis and Coltrane will be exalted as the all-star musicians re-imagine classic songs from the “Davis Coltrane Songbook,” and interpret classic tunes such as “A Love Supreme,” “Sonny,” “So What” and others that are often recognizable after the first three notes. The audience will be blown away as dynamic musicians put their mark on each tune and bring the music of these legendary American performers to new light.

Registration is not required; but click here and let us know you and your guests are coming so we may better accommodate you. For more information about the festival, click here.

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John Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967): With his superhuman technique, distinctive sound and boundless imagination, the North Carolina-born, tenor and soprano saxophonist John Coltrane was one of jazz’s most innovative and influential musicians. Influenced by the spirituals and the blues, saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker and the bebop he heard in Philadelphia, Coltrane cut his teeth in bands led by King Kolax, Jimmy Heath and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1955, Coltrane joined Miles Davis’ band with bassist Paul Chambers, pianist Red Garland and drummer Philly Joe Jones. Dubbed “The First Great Quintet,” Davis’ spare, singing trumpet tones were contrasted by Coltrane’s supersonic solos that jazz critic Ira Gitler dubbed “sheets of sound.” Their recordings for the Prestige label included a 1956 marathon session that produced Cookin’, Relaxin’, Workin’, and Steamin’ (with the Miles Davis Quintet). Due to Coltrane’s drug abuse, he was fired by Davis in 1957, and joined Thelonious Monk’s band that same year. Although his stay with Monk was short, Coltrane grew tremendously with the pianist/composer, as evidenced by their Riverside recording Live at the Five Spot. Coltrane returned to Miles, who moved to Columbia Records in 1955, and recorded several LPs for the label, including Someday My Prince Will Come. During that time, Coltrane recorded his first albums as a leader for Prestige in the 50’s, and his last studio recording with Davis was the historic modal 1959 LP, Kind of Blue. Save for his 1958 Blue Note recording, Blue Trane, his most important and revolutionary music, was released from 1960 to his death in 1967 on the Atlantic and Impulse! labels. Now leading his famous quartet consisting of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones, Coltrane’s recordings on that label included Giant Steps, Ole Coltrane, and the saxophonist’s immortal version of My Favorite Things, which featured him on soprano saxophone. Coltrane’s Impulse! recordings included mainstream LPs with vocalist Johnny Hartman and Duke Ellington. Coltrane reached his zenith with his 1964 masterpiece, A Love Supreme: a four-part suite that is an impassioned aural prayer to the healing powers of God. His last recordings for the label, including Interstellar Space and Ascension, brought him to the outer limits of the avant-garde.

Miles Davis (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991): A musician is fortunate if he/she can influence music one time. Trumpeter, bandleader, composer Miles Davis has influenced music more than once. The Illinois-born played trumpet growing up around St. Louis, where he developed his trademark, full-bodied, middle register, walking-on-eggshells trumpet sound. He went to New York in the 40s to study at Juilliard and play bebop with Charlie Parker. Searching for a more melodic, softer approach to bebop, Davis, and his soon-to-be-lifelong friend Gil Evans, formed a nonet that included pianist John Lewis and baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, and recorded a series of tracks that came to be known as Birth of the Cool from 1948 to 1950. Davis later signed with Prestige records, where he would record with his “First Great Quintet,” which included Coltrane and other jazz greats. That group recorded the marathon sessions, Cookin’, Relaxin’, Workin’, and Steamin’ (with the Miles Davis Quintet). Davis moved to Columbia records in the mid 50s. He recorded Someday My Prince Will Come, and he would reunite with Gil Evans on the big band LP Miles Ahead. In 1959, Davis made history with the release of Kind of Blue, a modal mid-tempo/ballad masterpiece with Coltrane and Chambers on tenor sax and bass, alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, pianist Bill Evans and drummer Jimmy Cobb. The next year, Davis and Evans would combine again on the expansive, large ensemble, flamenco-themed Sketches of Spain. In the early 60s, Davis founded his “Second Great Quintet” with pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Tony Williams and tenor saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter. Their telepathic style of jazz called “controlled freedom” combined the best aspects of post-bop and the avant-garde, aurally illustrated by the elliptical improvisations of “ESP,” Footprints” and “Nefertiti.” Sensing the sound of things to come, Davis’ recordings of In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew marked the musical big bang of jazz-fusion. In the mid-70s, Davis went into “retirement,“ remerging in the 80s with the funk-jazz comeback Man with the Horn and the Marcus Miller-produced Tutu. Davis went forward extending the boundaries of music until his last breath in 1991.

ABOUT THE PRODUCING PARTNERS

Senator Cordell Cleare: Senator Cleare is currently serving in her second term from District 30, representing Central Harlem, East Harlem (El Barrio), West Harlem, Upper Westside, Morningside Heights, Manhattanville, Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights neighborhoods. Cleare is one of only two women to hold the seat. Visit https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/cordell-cleare

Jazzmobile: Founded nearly 60 years ago in 1964 by NEA Jazz Master Dr. Billy Taylor, arts philanthropist Daphne Arnstein and with NEA Jazz Master, Jimmy Heath, Jazzmobile’s mission is to present, preserve, promote, and propagate America’s classical music, Jazz. It is the oldest not-for-profit arts organization created with a mission just for jazz, in the country. The organization presents NYC’s longest running jazz festival, SUMMERFEST which is one of its pioneering free performance and education programs by world-class artists the organization reaching millions as we present jazz masters, legends, emerging artists and other greats. A Jazzmobile program helped to launch a public capital campaign to renovate the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Marcus Garvey Park. Visit www.jazzmobile.org

Harlem Late Night Jazz: Founded in 2016, Harlem Late Night Jazz, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) dedicated to maintaining and growing a vibrant jazz scene in Harlem. Our mission is to preserve Harlem’s rich musical legacy by supporting live music and providing a platform for talented musicians to express their artistry. Harlem Late Night Jazz has partnered with over 20 Harlem venues, providing booking, financial and marketing support in efforts to preserve Harlem’s musical landscape. In our eight years, we are proud to have provided more than 5,000 gig opportunities to musicians in Harlem and to have received a Congressional Proclamation for our efforts. Visit harlemlatenightjazz.org

New Amsterdam Musical Association: Founded in 1904, the New Amsterdam Musical Association, NAMA is the oldest African American musical organization in the United States. It was founded at the time that the American Federation of Musicians Local 310 (now, Local 802) did not admit minority musicians and the law stated that one had to be in the union in order to perform in New York City. NAMA has been headquartered in Harlem in the same location for over 100 Years, an amazing accomplishment and show of dedication by the organization to support black musicians. A historic landmark, the NAMA brownstone has been the cornerstone of black culture in Harlem, New York City. Visit https://namaharlem.wixsite.com/namaharlem

The Marcus Garvey Park Alliance: The Marcus Garvey Park Alliance is a not-for-profit park advocacy organization whose mission is to preserve and enhance the assets of the park by raising capital funds, by bringing and producing a vast array of cultural events and programming to the park and by hosting planting and maintenance activities. The Alliance has been instrumental in making the park a cultural destination in Harlem, especially after it worked with the City Parks Foundation to revitalize the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater. Visit www.marcusgarveyparkalliance.org | Valerie Jo Bradley (917) 854-8263

New Heritage Theatre Group: New Heritage Theatre Group, the oldest Black non-profit theater company in New York City, originated in 1964 under the name New Heritage Repertory Theatre by the late Roger Furman, a revered playwright, director, actor and lecturer, who began his career in the 1940s with the American Negro Theatre in Harlem. Its mission, to preserve and sustain classic works of Black theatre. Today NHTG is led by the Tony Award winning international producer Voza Rivers and is also home to several other art and culture organizations IMPACT Repertory Theatre, Furman Theatre rep and the Harlem Arts Alliance. Visit www.newheritagetheatre.org

Miles Davis, Left, with John Coltrane (Photo: Public Domain)

Carolyn McClair Public Relations