Ravi Coltrane

Ravi Coltrane
McCoy Tyner (left) and Ravi Coltrane performing at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 13, 2005.
Background information
Born	August 6, 1965 (1965-08-06) (age 46)
Origin	Long Island, New York, USA
Genres	Jazz, post bop
Occupations	Saxophonist, composer, bandleader, record producer
Instruments	Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Warner Bros., RCA, Sony, Savoy Jazz
Website	www.ravicoltrane.com

Ravi Coltrane (b. August 6, 1965 in Long Island, New York) is an American post-bop jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced artists such as pianist Luis Perdomo, guitarist David Gilmore, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi.^[1]

Biography

Ravi Coltrane is the son of the legendary tenor saxophonist John Coltrane and jazz pianist Alice Coltrane. He is also cousin to experimental music producer Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, and was named after sitar player Ravi Shankar.

Ravi was two years old in 1967 when his father John Coltrane died. In 1986, he studied music, focusing on the saxophone at the California Institute of the Arts. Ravi has worked extensively with M-Base guru Steve Coleman, a significant influence on Ravi's own musical conception. Coltrane has played with Geri Allen, Kenny Barron, McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Stanley Clarke, Branford Marsalis and others.

In 1997, after performing on over thirty recordings as a sideman, Ravi entered the studio to record his first album as leader Moving Pictures, working with drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, bassist Lonnie Plaxico and pianist Michael Cain. This led to extensive touring with his working featuring Andy Milne on piano, drummer Steve Hass, and bassist Lonnie Plaxico. His second disc, From the Round Box (2000), finds Coltrane in the company of pianist Geri Allen, trumpeter Ralph Alessi, bassist James Genus, and drummer Eric Harland. Followed by Mad 6 (2002) his first release for Sony music, featuring drummer Steve Hass, pianist George Colligan, and bassist James Genus and In Flux (2005) he has been working with bassist Drew Gress, pianist Luis Perdomo, and drummer E.J. Strickland.

In January 2005, Ravi Coltrane performed in India for the first time, as part of a delegation of American jazz musicians sent on a State Department tour to promote HIV/AIDS awareness. Also participating in the tour were vocalist Al Jarreau, guitarist Earl Klugh, and pianist George Duke. Performances included a January 16 concert in Mumbai (Bombay), a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. in Delhi on January 17, and a music festival in Delhi on January 18 organized by violinist L. Subramaniam. Also on January 18, Ravi Coltrane stopped to visit and perform at the Ravi Shankar Centre, where Coltrane met with the man he was named after. Then picking up a clarinet to engage in an unplanned jam session with a pair of shehnai players, Coltrane said, "I'm a little nervous with the master here."^[2]

The Coltrane Quartet played at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2001, the Montreux Jazz Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival in 2004, and the Vienne Jazz Festival in 2005.

In 2008, Ravi became part of The Blue Note 7, a septet formed that year in honor of the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records. The group recorded an album in 2008, entitled Mosaic, which was released in 2009 on Blue Note Records/EMI, and toured the United States in promotion of the album from January until April 2009.^[3] The group plays the music of Blue Note Records from various artists, with arrangements by members of the band and Renee Rosnes.

Gallery

• 

  Ravi Coltrane with McCoy Tyner, Christian McBride, Roy Haynes and Michael Brecker performing at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 14, 2004.

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  Ravi Coltrane with Terell Stafford and Charnett Moffett at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 13, 2005.

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  Ravi Coltrane at Bonnaroo, 2007.

• 

  Ravi Coltrane performing with The Blue Note 7 at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 4, 2009.

Discography

As leader

• 1998: Moving Pictures (RCA Records)
• 2000: From the Round Box (RCA Records)
• 2002: Mad 6 (Sony Music)
• 2005: In Flux (Savoy Jazz)
• 2009: Blending Times (Savoy Jazz)

In group collaboration

• 1992: Sax Storm (Evidence Music), with Grand Central
• 1993: The Chase (Evidence Music), with Grand Central
• 1995: Tenor Enclave: A Tribute to Hank Mobley (Evidence Music), with Grand Central
• 2008: Seraphic Light (Telarc), with Saxophone Summit
• 2009: Mosaic: A Celebration of Blue Note Records (Blue Note Records/EMI), with The Blue Note 7

As sideman

With Elvin Jones

• 1992: The Elvin Jones Jazz Machine in Europe (Enja)
• 1993: Going Home (Enja)

With David Murray

• 1992: MX (Red Baron)

With Ryan Kisor

• 1992: Minor Mutiny (Sony Music)

With Wallace Roney

• 1993: Munchin' (Muse Records)
• 1994: Misterios (Warner Bros. Records)
• 1999: No Job Too Big Or Small (Savoy Jazz)

With Steve Coleman

• 1994: Steve Coleman & Metrics, A tale of 3 cities, the EP (BMG)
• 1995: Steve Coleman And Five Elements, Def Trance Beat (Modalities Of Rhythm) (BMG)
• 1996: Steve Coleman & The Mystic Rhythm Society, The Sign And The Seal (BMG)
• 1998: Steve Coleman And Five Elements, Genesis & the opening of the way (BMG)
• 1999: Steve Coleman And Five Elements, The Sonic Language Of Myth (RCA Records))
• 2004: Steve Coleman And Five Elements, Lucidarium (Label Bleu)

With Art Davis

• 1996: A Time Remembered (Jazz Planet)

With Billy Childs

• 1996: The Child Within (Shanachie Records)

With Bheki Mseleku

• 1996: Beauty of the Sunrise (Polygram))

With Yosuke Yamashita

• 1996: Canvas in Vigor (Universal Records)
• 1997: Wind of the Age (Verve Records)

With Gerry Gibbs

• 1996: The Thrasher (Warner Bros. Records)

With Cindy Blackman

• 1998: In The Now (HighNote Records)

With David Gilmore

• 2001: Ritualism (The Orchard)

With Andrei Kondakov

• 2002: Kind Of Optimistic (Boheme Music)

With Jeff "Tain" Watts

• 2002: Bar Talk (Columbia Records)

With Scott Coley

• 2002: Initial Wisdom (Palmetto)

With Alice Coltrane

• 2004: Translinear Light (Verve Records)

With Luis Perdomo

• 2005: Focus Point (RKM Music)

With Flying Lotus

• 2010: Cosmogramma (Warp Records)

Compilations

• 2003: Bird Up — The Charlie Parker Remix Project (Savoy Jazz)
• 2005: Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworked (Verve Records)

References

External links

• Ravi Coltrane Official Site
• RKM Music
• All About Jazz: Ravi Coltrane: In Flux
• Ravi Coltrane Live At The Village Vanguard