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The Arts Center to Host an Evening of Jazz by Ravi Coltrane

Acclaimed saxophonist, bandleader, and composer Ravi Coltrane presents a concert exploring the groundbreaking, spiritual jazz of his parents, John and Alice Coltrane

Press Release

The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) will host Ravi Coltrane performing a concert titled Cosmic Music: A Contemporary Exploration of the Music of John and Alice Coltrane on Thursday, October 6 at 7:30pm in The Red Theater.

The Grammy-nominated saxophonist, bandleader, and composer explores the groundbreaking, mystical, and spiritual jazz of his parents, John and Alice Coltrane. The evening-length concert explores these legendary musicians’ pioneering work. He is joined on stage by his ensemble: Gadi Lehavi on piano, Rashaan Carter on bass, and Elé Howell on drums.

A masterclass with Ravi Coltrane will also be held on Wednesday, October 5 at 6:30pm. Selected participants will have the rare opportunity to work directly with Ravi Coltrane, learning some of the skills and techniques that make him a master. The event is also open to observers who wish to listen to the conversation and learn the structures of modern and contemporary jazz with one of today’s legends.

When I first heard that Ravi Coltrane was putting together a concert exploring the ecstatic spiritual jazz of his parents, I got chills. Ravi is a world-class musician who has spent decades refining his distinct artistic voice. Watching him share his personal spin on some of the deepest music in the history of popular music with UAE audiences promises to be one of the most meaningful nights of jazz this country has experienced. Both John and Alice Coltrane’s songbooks are filled with explorations that cross cultural borders and influences in ways that will especially resonate in the global crossroads of Abu Dhabi.

Executive Artistic Director at NYUAD Arts Center Bill Bragin

The story of jazz is intertwined with the story of John and Alice Coltrane, whose innovations as composers, instrumentalists and spiritual philosophers changed the course of jazz history, with such monumental pieces as John Coltrane’s opus A Love Supreme and Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda, centering an ecstatic and transcendent sense of spirituality that drew inspiration from the Americas, India, and Africa. 

Bringing Ravi Coltrane to the UAE for the first time is an extension of The Arts Center's Season 8 theme, ‘Stories’. He will be performing, leading a master class, visiting university classes in ethnomusicology and recorded music production, and speaking at The NYUAD Institute with Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at NYUAD Ghazi Al-Mulaifi and leader of the band Boom.Diwan.

About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective undergraduate curriculum across the disciplines with a world center for advanced research and scholarship. The university enables its students in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and arts to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from over 115 countries and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.

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