Press Releases

September 17, 2001
WPBX-FM 88.3 to Air John Coltrane Musical Documentary

Five-Part Special Series in Honor of the Legendary Saxophonist's 75th Birthday

Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

"Tell Me How Long Trane's Been Gone," will be aired on WPBX on Sundays at 1 p.m. September 23 through October 21. Produced by Peabody Award winner Steve Rowland, and written by Larry Abrams, the five-part series is hosted by poet Michael Harper and will be the most in-depth discussion of Coltrane's life, music and journey ever created for broadcast.

The series is based on over 75 interviews conducted by Rowland over the past 20 years. Included are Dizzy Gillespie, Grover Washington, Jr., Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Sun Ra, John Gilmore, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Rashied Ali, Alice Coltrane and many others. Also included are over 20 poems about Coltrane and the 1960s, most read by their authors.

John Coltrane is credited as one of the most influential forces in 20th-century music. His remarkable and intense solo career was inextricably linked to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. He apprenticed with masters like Johnny Hodges, Dizzy Gillespie and Earl Bostic in the early 50s, and later with Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis. Coltrane raised the level of saxophone proficiency, advanced the approach to music theory and harmony and brought to modern jazz a deeply religious and devotional spirit.