John Coltrane’s life was short – he died at forty – but his musical and cultural legacy is immense. The heart-stopping beauty and extreme virtuosity of his playing redefined the way we hear the saxophone. As a composer, he shaped a new form of jazz that has influenced numerous genres of music. And, most profoundly, he framed music as a means of deeply spiritual self-expression that resonates to this day.
In the latest in this sell-out series curated by Toby Chadd, the extraordinary Sandy Evans presents a tour through Coltrane – a man who has shaped her own musicianship, and who shared her deep affinity with Indian music. Across two sets, she shares a very personal response to the full spectrum of Coltrane’s music, from gorgeous ballads to hard bop classics to modal tunes and free jazz.
Evans has handpicked a band of Australia’s finest musicians to join this celebration, drawing on relationships she’s forged through a decades-long career acknowledged as one of our country’s jazz luminaries. A pillar of Coltrane’s legacy is deep engagement with contemporary culture and social issues; Rhyan Clapham, aka DOBBY, brings an Indigenous Australian slant to the evening, incorporating rap into Coltrane’s late masterpiece A Love Supreme.
