“When I decided to pick up the saxophone, it was because I was falling in love with the music. It wasn’t because I felt that I needed to do this or because of other people’s expectations. Or that it’ll be cool because my name is Coltrane.”—Ravi Coltrane

Ravi Coltrane

As the son of John and Alice Coltrane, Ravi Coltrane has managed to fight off comparisons to his father even while exploring John Coltrane’s music and making a career playing the same instrument. Now past 40, the younger Coltrane is now a major force on tenor and soprano sax and player, an acclaimed bandleader and composer, and founder of an independent record label, RKM.

Born in New York but raised in Los Angeles, Ravi Coltrane (named after sitar legend Ravi Shankar) was only two years old when his father died. His first foray into music was clarinet lessons in middle school, and his tastes at the time were quite eclectic. He listened to the popular music of the 1970s and 80s--James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, and later Prince and the Beatles as well as to his mother’s piano and his dad’s LPs. He also was a fan of modern symphonic music and film scores. “Jazz music was something I always appreciated but I had to reach my late teens and go through profound family changes before the music became a dominate force in my life,” he says. One of the profound changes that heavily influenced his commitment to music was the death of older brother John in a car accident in 1982. For a while, Ravi stepped back from music—and from the clarinet. Four years later, with a renewed sense of purpose, he enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts to pursue musical studies—and the saxophone.

Coltrane has his first real opportunity as a jazz performer when, in 1991, he joined the band of his father’s renowned drummer, Elvin Jones. Within a year, he moved to New York City where he played with Jack DeJohnette, Rashied Ali, Wallace Roney, Antoine Roney, Geri Allen, Kenny Barron, Cindy Blackman, Joe Lovano, Joanne Brackeen, and Steve Coleman. Coleman in particular has been an influential mentor, and Coltrane has appeared with him on tour and on several recordings.

After numerous sideman roles, Ravi Coltrane recorded his first album as leader in 1997, Moving Pictures (RCA), followed in 2000 by From the Round Box and the acclaimed 2002 release, Mad 6 (Columbia). Then in 2003, Coltrane launched his own recording company, RKM Music, seeking to fill a void in modern jazz programming; his first projects included albums by trumpeter Ralph Alessi and saxophonist Michael McGinnis, as well as his own pianist, Luis Perdomo. Coltrane’s trajectory continued skyward with the 2004 commission (by the Jazz Institute of Chicago) to compose “Reflections on A Love Supreme” in celebration of his father’s album's 40th anniversary. In 2004 he also produced a comeback recording for his mother Alice, Translinear Light, released on Impulse. Of his 2005 release, In Flux, Downbeat noted that Coltrane displayed a “quiet yet sinewy lyricism… [with] groping improvisations with upper-register cries and hushed, inward melodies.”

Luis Perdomo © Andera Canter

Coltrane’s current touring band (and cohorts on In Flux) include pianist Louis Perdomo, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer E.J. Strickland. A native of Caracas, Venezuela, pianist/composer/arranger Luis Perdomo moved to New York with a scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music, later studying with the late Sir Roland Hanna at Queens College. His work has included appearances with John Patitucci, Ray Barretto, David Sanchez, Claudia Acuña, Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project, Jane Bunnett, John Benítez, Alice Coltrane, and Miguel Zenón, as well as Ravi Coltrane. In fall 2004, he released his first CD as a leader, Focus Point, on RKM. Wrote George W. Carroll (Musician’s Ombudsman), “Perdomo attacks you with his melodic flurries of pianistic prowess, but technique aside, Luis says something with his Tatum-esque talent(s).”

Drew Gress and EJ Strickland © Andrea Canter

Young drum sensation E.J. Strickland has performed and recorded with many stellar artists including Ravi Coltrane, Russell Malone, Lizz Wright, Vincent Herring, Myron Walden, Freddie Hubbard, and the New Jazz Composer's Octet, as well as numerous collaborations with twin brother and tenor sax star Marcus Strickland. Raised in Miami, the Strickland brothers were immersed in music by their father, a former percussionist for the Fort Lauderdale Symphony Orchestra and a jazz enthusiast. Moving to New York to study piano, drums, and composition at the New School for Social Research, Strickland’s early mentors included Joe Chambers, Carl Allen, Ralph Peterson, Lewis Nash, and Jimmy Cobb. Wrote Thomas Conrad in Downbeat, “E.J. can emit fields of cumulative energy, clouds of feather-touch and heavy-handed syncopations, latent with power like an oncoming storm."

David Sanchez

Lage Lund

Relocating in New York from his native Maine, bassist Ben Street has played with the legendary saxman Sam Rivers as well as young lions like Kurt Rosenwinkel and Ben Monder. A musician of eclectic tastes and talents, Street was part of the avant garde and free jazz scene during the '90s, performing and recording with Lee Konitz, Tim Berne, and Kenny Wolleson; today he plays in the bands Orange Then Blue and Sephardic Tinge.

Drummer Adam Cruz is the son of percussionist Ray Cruz. After studying with Kenny Washington at the New School in Manhattan, Cruz gained experience in jazz and Latin ensembles, including Mingus Dynasty Big Band, David Sanchez Band, Leon Parker Band, Tom Harrell, Chick Corea's Origin Sextet, Mongo Santamaria, Airto Moreira, Herbie Mann, McCoy Tyner, Paquito D'Rivera and Eddie Palmieri.

Lightning may not strike the same place twice, but you might have trouble proving that this week when fireworks reign in double time at the Blue Note. Each night, April 10-15, you can hear the Ravi Coltrane Quartet in tandem with the David Sanchez Quartet.

The Blue Note is located at 131 W. Third Street, Manhattan. Sets at 8 and 10:30 pm; www.bluenotejazz.com