The Great John Coltrane Talks About Performing, Spirituality, and Learning in a Rare 1966 Interview

In the most recent episode of the animated PBS series Blank on Blank, the late, great “Saint” John Coltrane talks about performing for an appreciative audience, his spirituality coming to him through music, and his humble need to constantly learn in a rare 1966 interview with author and jazz critic Frank Kofsky.

One afternoon in November 1966, Frank Kofsky took the train out to Long Island. He was about to spend a day with John Coltrane. Kofsky brought his tape recorder and what we get to hear is the conversation the two men had as they drove through town and made a few stops along the way. Coltrane had moved to Huntington, New York with his wife Alice and their children in 1964. They lived in a modest house on a quiet, tree-lined street. It was a home to raise a family. Coltrane had just turned 40. He would die from liver cancer less than a year later.

John Coltrane plays the beautiful “Alabama“, a song he wrote in response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963.