SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Ravi Coltrane and his Coltraxx quartet perform Alice Coltrane’s composition “Universe” from her final unreleased recording “Sacred Language of Ascension” during their performance on July 25, 2025, part of Summer at SFJAZZ.

Watch many other performances on SFJAZZ At Home: https://www.SFJAZZ.org/AtHome
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About this concert:
Ravi Coltrane week as Resident Artistic Director began with two nights featuring his adventurous acoustic quartet known as Coltraxx, including pianist David Virelles, bassist Dezron Douglas, and drummer Johnathan Blake. Each a respected bandleader and composer, the members of this band form a compelling improvisational unit that elevates melody and invention to new heights.

An artist whose career occupies a singular niche in modern jazz, Ravi Coltrane has established a sound and concepts that stand undeniably on their own, extending far beyond the shadow of his iconic name. Early experience in John Coltrane Quartet drummer Elvin Jones’ Jazz Machine and maverick saxophonist Steve Coleman’s M-Base movement helped build Coltrane’s expansive aesthetic, leading to a procession of increasingly audacious recordings as a leader and collaboration with artists ranging from his mother, harpist and pianist Alice Coltrane, and cousin, iconoclastic producer Flying Lotus, to pianist Chick Corea, trumpeter and SFJAZZ Executive Artistic Director Terence Blanchard, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. In 2014, Coltrane curated a week of SFJAZZ performances celebrating the 50th anniversary of the recording of his father’s masterpiece A Love Supreme.

PERSONNEL:
Ravi Coltrane: tenor and soprano saxophone
David Virelles: piano
Dezron Douglas: bass
Johnathan Blake: drums

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