John Coltrane at 100: Het Concertgebouw marks centenary with four concerts

Wednesday 23 September marks one hundred years since the birth of saxophonist John Coltrane (1926-1967). Coltrane performed at Het Concertgebouw four times between 1960 and 1963. This season, Het Concertgebouw honours his music with four concerts. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis and singer Dianne Reeves, the Belgian Flat Earth Society Orchestra, and Joshua Redman with the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw each pay tribute to Coltrane. His son Ravi Coltrane joins harpist Brandee Younger in a tribute to the music of his mother, Alice Coltrane. The series opens on Friday 30 October in the Recital Hall.

Four times in the Main Hall

John Coltrane made his Concertgebouw debut on 9 April 1960 in notable company: he played in the Miles Davis Quintet at a midnight concert in the Main Hall. The music was new and unfamiliar to the audience. Coltrane's LPs Giant Steps and Coltrane Jazz and Davis's Kind of Blue were not yet available in Europe. Part of the audience left before the end.

On 19 November 1961, Coltrane returned with his own quintet, which included Eric Dolphy. At that concert he received an Edison, the Dutch music award, for his album Giant Steps, a sign of the recognition his music had gained. He played the Main Hall again, successfully, on 1 December 1962 and 26 October 1963. Ed van der Elsken photographed the 1961 concert, and several of his Coltrane photographs are now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.

The Dutch jazz press attended all four concerts, and opinions were divided. After the 1962 concert, the newspaper Trouw ran a headline about 'barbaric violence'. Writing about the same concert in Het Parool, Michiel de Ruyter wrote: 'As far as I'm concerned, heaven, hell and the universe opened up all at once.' The article Hemel, hel en universum ('Heaven, hell and universe') on the Concertgebouw website gives an overview of Coltrane's performances at Het Concertgebouw and the press response to each of them.

Dedicated to You

On Wednesday 4 November, saxophonist Branford Marsalis and singer Dianne Reeves perform in the Main Hall. Their album Dedicated to You (Blue Note Records), released last week, is a tribute to John Coltrane. It includes new versions of the six standards from John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963).

The Coltrane Mutations

A week earlier, on Friday 30 October, the Flat Earth Society Orchestra performs The Coltrane Mutations in the Recital Hall. In this programme, the fifteen-piece Belgian orchestra led by reed player and composer Peter Vermeersch presents its own arrangements of Coltrane compositions, alongside new work.

Translinear Light by son Ravi Coltrane

The Coltrane tribute continues in the second half of the season. On Tuesday 9 March 2027, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, son of John and Alice Coltrane, performs in the Main Hall. With harpist Brandee Younger, he pays tribute to his mother, who would have turned ninety in 2027. Alice Coltrane (1937-2007) was a pianist, organist, harpist and composer. From the mid-1960s she played in her husband's band. The concert centres on Translinear Light (2004), her final album, which Ravi Coltrane produced.

Coltrane 100

On Tuesday 30 March 2027, saxophonist Joshua Redman and the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw perform a programme built around the music of Coltrane. In 2022, Redman appeared in the Main Hall with pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade.