Artists Talk: Ravi Coltrane and Terence Blanchard

Jazz Greats Terence Blanchard and Ravi Coltrane in conversation about their collaboration celebrating 100 years of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

Terence Blanchard

Born in New Orleans in 1962, Blanchard launched his solo career as a bandleader in the 1990s. Since then, he has released 20 solo albums, garnered 15 Grammy nominations, composed for the stage and for more than 60 films, and received 10 major commissions. He has been named an official 2024 NEA Jazz Master as well as a member of the 2024 class of awardees for the esteemed American Academy of Arts and Letters, and currently serves as the Executive Artistic Director for SF Jazz, the largest non-profit jazz presenter in the world.

Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning painful American tragedies - past and present A true "Renaissance" man, Blanchard stands tall as one of jazz's most-esteemed trumpeters and defies expectations by creating a spectrum of artistic pursuits. Boundary-breaking and genre-defying, Blanchard is recognized globally as a dazzling soloist and a prolific composer for film, television, opera, Broadway, orchestras and for his own ensembles. TheaterMania recently cited Blanchard as "the most exciting American composer working in opera today."

Blanchard became only the second African-American composer to be nominated twice in the original score category at the 2022 Academy Awards. His work has placed him at the forefront of giving voice to human rights, civil rights, and racial injustice, including the 2016 album "Breathless," an elegy for Eric Garner, who was killed by police and whose words, "I can't breathe," became a civil rights rallying cry. Blanchard is also heralded as a two-time opera composer whose Fire Shut Up in My Bones is based on the memoir of celebrated writer and New York Times columnist Charles Blow. The Metropolitan Opera premiered Fire Shut Up in My Bones on September 27, 2021, to open their 2021-22 season in New York, making it the first opera composed by an African American composer to premiere at the Met in its 138-year history. The recording of those performances received a Grammy Award for "Best Opera Recording," and the New York Times heralded Fire as "inspiring," "subtly powerful," and "a bold affecting adaptation of Charles Blow's work."

Ravi Coltrane

Ravi Coltrane is a critically acclaimed Grammy nominated saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. In the course of a twenty-plus-year career, Mr. Coltrane has worked as a sideman to many, recorded noteworthy albums for himself and others and founded a prominent independent record label, RKM.

Born in Long Island, the second son of John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane, Ravi was named after Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar. He was raised in Los Angeles where his family moved after his father's death in 1967. His mother, Alice Coltrane, was a significant influence on Ravi and it was he who encouraged Alice to return to performance and the recording studio after a long absence. Subsequently, Ravi produced and played on Alice Coltrane's powerful Translinear Light, which was released in 2004.

Ravi has released six albums as a leader. His latest, Spirit Fiction, was released in June of 2012 for the Blue Note label. Additional credits include performances as well as recordings with Elvin Jones, Terence Blanchard, Kenny Baron, Steve Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, Matt Garrison, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Geri Allen, Joanne Brackeem, The Blue Note 7, among others. He is a co-leader of the Saxophone Summit with Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman.

Ravi lives in Brooklyn, NY and maintains a fast-paced touring, recording, composing, and performance schedule. He leads the effort to restore the John Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, Long Island thecoltranehome.org and presides over important reissues of his parent's recordings.