By Caitlin Walsh, News Correspondent
John Coltrane told Down Beat magazine in 1960, “I’ve found you’ve got to look back at the old things and see them in a new light.” Fifty-two years later, that rings true for Coltrane’s own music, performed in his memory by some of Boston’s finest musicians at the John Coltrane Memorial Concert, the world’s longest-running annual performance of Coltrane’s work.
This event, in its 35h year, has offered a chance to hear Coltrane’s timeless classics. As time went on, the concert’s popularity grew in size, and the concert changed venues from a small Boston performance space, eventually landing at Northeastern in 1980. The crowds and the big names that appear keep Coltrane’s music and memory alive and well, bringing joy to audience members young and old. This year’s concert is on Saturday, Nov. 3 at Blackman Auditorium.
Every year, the concert honors a musician; someone who has made some sort of impact, some difference, and has really pleased listeners. This year, the concert will honor Andy McGhee and Steve Schwartz.
McGhee has been on the jazz scene for a few decades, working and touring with the likes of Fat Man Robinson and Lionel Hampton. He studied at the New England Conservatory, and between recordings and touring teaches at Berklee College of Music, where he has worked since 1966. According to his profile on the Berklee’s website, he’s always been a Coltrane fan.
“When I think of a great saxophone player, I think of John Coltrane. The difference between a great player like Coltrane and a good player is that a good player could be melodically good but not technically good — and vice versa,” he wrote.
Schwartz is a local jazz radio host at WGBH. He worked at WGBH for over 20 years, having entertained listeners every Friday night from 8 to midnight with his show “Jazz From Studio Four.”
Along with being a beloved radio host, he has also produced music for some of jazz’s local greats, from his WGBH studio. A man of many talents, Schwartz has been nothing but a great contributor to the jazz scene, locally and beyond.
Terri Lyne Carrington, Medford-born Grammy award winner, will also be featured at this year’s Coltrane concert. Another Berklee alum and professor, Carrington has played with some of the biggest names in jazz over the past twenty years, having performed, recorded, appeared on TV and produced alongside them.
However, some other locally known names appearing this year include long time JCMC core members Bill Pierce, Carl Atkins, Stan Strickland, John Lockwood and Tim Ingles, and first time appearances of Consuelo Candelaria-Barry and Bill Banfield, who also serves as Head of Africana Studies at Berklee College of Music.
Northeastern music professor Leonard Brown, a co-founder of the concert, and Northeastern African American studies professor Emmett Price will be performing as well.
“[This year] performance wise, people will get an eclectic, high integrity show. We always do it our way, with new, innovative and compelling arrangements and performances of Coltrane’s earliest to latest works,” Brown said. “Hopefully we can get more students interested.”
In his opinion, it’s certainly something worth attending.
This year, the ensemble will be performing a repertoire of all Coltrane compositions, including “Moment’s Notice,” “Central Park West, “ “Impressions,” “After the Rain,” “The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost” and a blues medley. The show will traditionally close with “Peace On Earth.”
The concert has come to be revered as one of Boston’s great fall shows, a magnet for jazz and music fans of all kinds.
“It has become a fall tradition in Boston, and has always featured some of the greatest artists of our time,” Brown said.
The concert is on Saturday, Nov. 3. Tickets are available for $30-$40. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. in Blackman Theatre. Tickets can be purchased either online on MyNeu or by phone.
