A program with lecture, panel, Q&A and concert by the Ruth Naomi Floyd Quartet on John Coltrane's spiritual legacy, recreating his 1966 benefit concert.
The Ruth Naomi Floyd Quartet plays the Church of the Advocate on Saturday, October 17, from 1 to 3 PM. The afternoon is built around a recreation of John Coltrane's 1966 benefit concert at the same church—his next-to-last performance—and it's part of the Coltrane 100 Philly festivities marking what would have been the centenary of one of the most influential musicians in jazz history.
It's a full program, not just a set. It starts with a brief lecture, followed by a moderated panel discussion with the musicians and a live audience Q&A, and closes with a concert of rearrangements of Coltrane's compositions. The whole thing runs as one piece, so you get the context and the conversation before the music takes over.
Fronting the quartet is Ruth Naomi Floyd, an internationally acclaimed vocalist who was the first African-American woman to serve as the founding director of a university jazz studies program in the U.S. She's joined on piano by Aaron Graves and on tenor sax by Abraham Burton. Together they'll be working through those Coltrane rearrangements, bringing his compositions back to the same room where he played them just before the end.
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It's a Saturday afternoon in North Philly, and the ticket is $10. The Church of the Advocate is at 1801 W. Diamond Street, and the whole thing runs from 1 to 3 PM.
