By Drew Bonifant

The 30th anniversary of the John Coltrane Memorial Concert lasted longer and expanded further into the community than previous years.

A week of jazz events in Boston and Cambridge culminated at the main event Saturday night in Blackman Auditorium, as the John Coltrane Memorial Ensemble and Ravi Coltrane Quartet combined to deliver a tribute to the late music legend.

For the first time in its 30-year history, the event stretched beyond its normal weekend slot. Concerts at the Berklee College of Music, the New England Conservatory, Harvard University and Northeastern were among the events that precipitated the final concert with the 20-man ensemble.

“For this 30th anniversary, we have gone to all extents to provide an entire week of celebration,” said Emmett Price, assistant music professor and producer of the event. “This year is really significant for all the musicians.”

Leonard Brown, a music professor and one of the creators of the memorial event, was impressed with the way the venues worked together.

“It’s nice to see that the Hub can all come together,” he said. “The institutional collaboration that we’ve been able to pull off this year, on both sides of the river, has been great.”

The evening began with a reading by author and poet Amiri Baraka, who discussed the musical and cultural impact Coltrane has had on society.

“John Coltrane as a figure, not just as a musician, is somebody we’re passionate about and widely influenced by,” Price said.

The first act of the concert began with the ensemble’s performances of Coltrane’s “India” and “Naima,” the latter which was arranged by Brown. The Ravi Coltrane Quartet followed and played three pieces.

The night’s most energetic piece was Price’s arrangement of Alice Coltrane’s “Gospel Trane,” which concluded the first act. A three-man trombone section alternated solos throughout, and a lengthy piano solo at the end drew a standing ovation from the audience as the musicians left the stage.

The second act featured renditions of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” “Tunji” and “Lush Life,” and concluded with a piece by the Ravi Coltrane Quartet and Coltrane’s “Peace on Earth,” performed by the entire ensemble.

The concert, consistently well-received by the audience in the past, drew similar reactions this time.

“It was terrific,” said middler finance major Nate Millan. “Everything was amazing. It was a great way to memorialize the great artist that John Coltrane was. There was a lot of energy, and it went from a somber tone of jazz to a more energetic piece as time went on.”

Enrique Mauser, a sophomore biology major, also gave a positive review.

“I thought it was great. I enjoyed it a lot,” he said. “I really enjoyed Ravi Coltrane, and I thought it was great that they were here to play.”

Brown had his own expectations for the people who attended the concert.

“Hopefully, they’ll come away with the experience of hearing a live music performance that’s steeped in some deep traditions by some of the greatest musicians of our time,” he said. “Hopefully, it touched listeners in ways that they will remember.”

Brown said he is proud that the event has progressed during the past 30 years.

“I think it’s a humbling feeling with some happiness in it,” he said. “There’s some joy in it. I’m a little awed by it. If the music that we performed wasn’t touching people, we wouldn’t have lasted this long.”