Saturday, March 22, 2025
8:00 PM
Considered one of the most preeminent jazz artists of all time, and one of the most influential musical artists of any genre, John Coltrane has truly played a part in shaping the music of today. Coltrane: Legacy for Orchestra is a new live concert experience re-framing some of John Coltrane’s most popular and influential works with lush orchestrations, accompanied by exclusive and recently exhibited personal photographs of John Coltrane.
Edwin Outwater, conductor
Terence Blanchard, trumpet
John COLTRANE Legacy for Orchestra
Curated by Carlos Simon
COLTRANE, orch. Erik Jekabson – Blue Train
COLTRANE, orch. Andy Milne – Naima
Thelonius MONK, orch. Andy Milne – Crepuscule with Nellie
COLTRANE, orch. Steven Feifke – Giant Steps
Guy WOOD, orch. Ben Morris – My One and Only Love
Miles DAVIS, orch. Tim Davies – So What
DAVIS, orch. Cassie Kinoshi – Blue in Green
COLTRANE, orch. Andy Milne – A Love Supreme, Part I: Acknowledgement
Duke ELLINGTON, orch. Carlos Simon – In a Sentimental Mood
COLTRANE, orch. Ben Morris – Crescent
COLTRANE, orch. Tim Davies – Central Park West
COLTRANE, orch. Carlos Simon – Alabama
COLTRANE, orch. Ben Morris – Impressions
Richard RODGERS, orch. Jonathan Bingham – My Favorite Things
This broadcast is no longer available on demand.
To hear a preview of the program with BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon, use the player above, and read the transcript below.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Carlos Simon, the Composer Chair for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the curator of Coltrane: Legacy, this great program. Carlos, thanks for your time today, I appreciate it.
Carlos Simon It's a pleasure, Brian. Always.
Brian McCreath Hey, tell me about you and John Coltrane and where your musical life and John Coltrane's music sort of intersect.
Carlos Simon Well, I think it's always been there. I just didn't know was Coltrane. You know, my father is a preacher, and we didn't listen to secular music like R&B and rap and that sort of thing. But my father loved jazz. He loved Coltrane. And I would hear these songs, you know, these jazz tunes, and it's like, oh man, I love it. It was incredible. And so, discovering the life of Coltrane in my study, undergraduate and graduate school, discovering his legacy and who he was as a person, he, like me, his grandfathers on both sides, were preachers in Methodist church. And so that led me down a path. I said, okay, he has a foundation of spirituality just like me. And then, of course, "A Love Supreme" and how he used music as a resource for showing the love of God a higher power, even though he didn't subscribe to any one religion per se, but that was really something that I grabbed onto as a creator. And you just look at his life, though, as an artist, as a person. His music really reflects who he was as a person and how he just used music as a resource, an outlet for what he was dealing with at the time.
Brian McCreath I wondered about that spiritual aspect because, as you said, Coltrane didn't subscribe to a particular established religion. But he was very spiritual and that spirituality evolved over time. And so I did kind of wonder about your own relationship to spirituality and religion and your own evolution. You must find some resonance in his work of whatever period we're talking about.
Carlos Simon Absolutely. My journey is sort of, of course, going through doubt, because I was raised in it, it's like being birthed. I remember always being in church. And of course, when I'm getting older and sort of questioning some of the dogma, some of the doctrine that came along with spirituality and, well, more so, religion than anything, and some of the stuff didn't sit well with me. So I just kind of wanted to study different religions and study my own religion, Christianity, and try to understand all the connections, because everybody has their own view of what God is. Even if it's, I think it's atheism, most people still believe in love. And I think God is love. That's one way in. So, Coltrane shows us that in "A Love Supreme." That's, I think, one of my favorite works of his.
Brian McCreath And "A Love Supreme" is one of those pieces that people talk about as a life changing experience when they hear one of the recordings of it, right? And it is a central part of this program. But there's so much more that goes on in this music that you've curated for this program. Tell me just how this project even started. I mean, it's maybe not most people's natural inclination to think that Coltrane would transfer to a symphonic setting, but how did this kind of generate and become what it is?
Carlos Simon Sure. I have always wanted to be a composer that lives in different genres, not necessarily in classical music or gospel music. I love everything. I listen to a lot of different things. And so, when the project came across my desk, I was like, absolutely, I have to do this. We had the blessing from the Coltrane estate, which was another check mark of just like, wow, okay. This is a big deal. You know, I had to really do a good job. [laughs] So collaborating with them and about the set list, what songs we wanted to choose and who's going to perform it and who the arrangers will be, what the instrumentation is. And I'll say, one of the challenges I had dealing with the estate and the questions they had was, Coltrane's music is deeply embedded in improvisation. And the orchestra itself is used to reading music. What's there is there. There's no improvisation. So, I had to assure them, I will build the improvisation into the music, into the actual score. There'll be measures of say, this is for a certain group of individuals, just improv over these bars and then you come in at this place. And so, I mean, that's nothing new, but that's something that we really wanted to embed into the arrangements. It took about four years for this project to come about, gathering all the arrangements and getting them done and making sure everything was in tip top shape for the performance. From the very beginning, I wanted to show the man through the music.
Brian McCreath And you mentioned "A Love Supreme." But some of the other things, I think, especially on this program, two arrangements that you yourself did, I mean, there's several arrangers for these different pieces, but you chose a couple of them that I want to highlight. The collaboration that Coltrane did with Duke Ellington, "In a Sentimental Mood," you chose that. And then there's "Alabama." And what broader range of expression could there be between these two pieces, one of them sweet and beautiful and loving, right? And the other a kind of terrifying, and especially now that I've heard your arrangement of it, it's almost disturbing how moving that is, this piece that is written in the aftermath of the bombing in Birmingham in 1963 that killed four little girls. It shows this range of Coltrane's artistry, right? So, tell me about your grappling with those two pieces and why those two were ones that you chose to arrange.
Carlos Simon Yeah. Well, "In a Sentimental Mood" is one of those tunes that I heard my father play. So, I was really drawn to that piece. Like, especially, I play piano too. Those opening lines that Duke Ellington plays when he recorded it with John Coltrane. So, I was drawn to that, and I'd been playing it. I played with a lot of singers and instrumentalists when I played in bands. So, I thought, have to do this. And I imagine a very lush string section and just like very old Hollywood. But "Alabama," you know, most of my music, a lot of my music is driven by social elements and particularly the civil rights movement during that time. And Coltrane was no exception. And when this tragedy happened in Alabama, he was very much affected by it. And he wrote this piece, "Alabama." And some of his bandmates said he actually listened to the eulogy of these girls that was done by Martin Luther King. And that's how he got the top of the arrangement of the tune. You know, he played along with Martin Luther King as he was speaking, and that's what the band members were saying at the time, that's how he got the top, the tune.
Brian McCreath So you're saying that he listened to Martin Luther King's eulogy, and he played to that and sort of absorbed the rhythm of the speech itself?
Carlos Simon That's right.
Brian McCreath Oh, amazing.
Carlos Simon Yeah. So that's why it's so powerful in itself, because you have King embedded with Coltrane in this one piece, you know. And it really speaks to the time.
Brian McCreath It does. But now that I've heard this rehearsal of this program, I want to add on a layer to that experience of "Alabama." And that is the amazing playing of Terence Blanchard, because when he plays this, there's a cry of pain that he expresses through his horn that, as I say, it's almost terrifying. Tell me what you hear after now, you've... Because this program is done in different iterations. And this is the first time that Terence Blanchard has done it. Tell me what you're hearing in his playing, and even how it is that Terence came to be involved for this particular set of performances.
Carlos Simon Well, I mean, he's a legend in himself ...
Brian McCreath Yeah, no question.
Carlos Simon ... talking about some of his influences and who he's played with, Art Blakey and Wynton Marsalis. It's just incredible to have him here. And I think he really, really embodies the spirit of this project and this understanding the style, the man, and the tunes. I mean, he came in rehearsal and just fit right in, and it's incredible to have that. I mean, typically most folks will say, okay, a concert about John Coltrane. You got to have a tenor saxophone or a soprano sax, right? You got to have saxophone. But I think because Terence Blanchard is such a legend, and he knows this music. I don't miss the saxophone at all. It feels very natural for him to do "Alabama" or "Giant Steps" or "So What," especially "So What," because that's the tune he did, you know, John Coltrane recorded with Miles Davis. So, it's like a natural fit.
Brian McCreath And in a way, I'm sure that had I heard this program with a saxophonist, it would have felt totally organic, totally natural. But in a way, I'm glad that it's someone like Terence who's playing on an instrument Coltrane didn't play, because then it feels like you're going to hear some more essence of Coltrane, right? That we don't have the surface veneer of the saxophone sound. We've got Terence and his sound. And so, what you're actually getting is the sort of deep-down DNA of Coltrane coming through that playing. So, is this the first time you've worked with Terence?
Carlos Simon It is the first time. I've met him a few times, of course, working in opera. And I was at the premiere of Champion and Fire Shut Up in My Bones, I was there. I remember very vividly, I was, many years ago, I was still kind of studying composition, and I wanted to get into film music. And Terence Blanchard came to Atlanta, where I was at the time, and he did a concert. I said, I have to go to this concert. I have to meet him, some kind of way. I came to the concert, tried to get backstage. I couldn't get backstage, but I got a hold of his road manager, and he was so gracious. He said, Terence is not here. He had to leave, but let me take down your number, your information, and I'll make sure you get in touch. And he was so gracious. And a few weeks later I got a package of about maybe 10 or 12 CDs of all soundtracks that Terence Blanchard had written. And that was such a joy because I studied those records going forward. And so, to hear and to continue to see him and working, and, of course, now this is a dream come true because I get a chance to work with him. He's like an idol. So that story stays with me.
Brian McCreath That's an amazing story. I love that story. That's great. And look, Terence says himself in interviews that I've read and heard with him that he is so indebted to those that helped him along, like Ellis Marsalis, one of his mentors, and many other teachers that he mentions. So, in a way, it's a wonderful story. It's also not too surprising coming from him, if you know what I mean.
But listen, we've talked about Terence, we've talked about Coltrane and your arrangements and everything, but let's just take a moment for the musicians of the Boston Symphony. And as Composer Chair, tell me how you view this particular program in the life of the Boston Symphony. It's out of the norm, for sure. Tell me what you feel like this does for the players of the Boston Symphony, the institution of the Boston Symphony, the audiences of the Boston Symphony.
Carlos Simon Yeah, well, I think that Coltrane, like I mentioned, he's an incredible artist. And I really put him up there with Beethoven and Bach and Mozart. He's an incredible musician and composer. And Gershwin famously said that, you know, when he finished, was it American in Paris? He said, we're going to make a lady out of jazz. And this is not that. You know, the music lives on its own as a lady. As grateful as I am for the orchestra, we don't need it for the music to live, right? It's just another lens to view this music. And I think for the audience, Boston is a town that, from what I understand, there are so many different influences here and genres and the appreciation of all those things. And to have it here in this hall, I think is another layer for folks to come and to experience this music and to learn more about Coltrane. Another aspect of this concert is that we will be showing photos that haven't been released to the public.
Brian McCreath Oh, wow.
Carlos Simon So these are another side that we'll see of Coltrane that the estate granted us.
Brian McCreath Oh that's beautiful.
Carlos Simon So it's like education, you're learning the man, but also the music that we hear on the records, so it's a full circle moment. But I'm grateful for, of course, the players, who are just versatile and incredible at playing this music and giving it the respect that is richly deserved.
Brian McCreath And to be clear, you and the other arrangers have built in some really challenging [laughs] some really challenging things for these players to do in this stuff. So listen, Carlos, I so appreciate this program and your work on it. And I can't wait to hear the performance. And yeah, with the pictures itself, it's a good call to people to get down to the hall to see this and hear it in person. Right?
Carlos Simon Right. Come on down.
Brian McCreath Nice. Yeah. Okay. Carlos, thanks a lot for your time today. I appreciate it.
Carlos Simon Thank you, Brian. Thank you.