John Coltrane is one of the most important and iconic figures in jazz history. The saxophonist first gained fame as a member of the Miles Davis Quintet and spent the next decade before his death in 1967 challenging himself and pushing the boundaries of music. Coltrane is the subject of the film documentary Chasing Trane. It airs Monday evening on SDPB-TV at 9:30, CT; 8:30, MT. It kicks off a new season of the PBS series Independent Lens.
Chasing Trane features never-before-seen Coltrane family home movies, footage of Coltrane and his band in the studio along with hundreds of never-before-seen photographs and rare television. Helping to tell Coltrane's story are a few musicians who worked with him such as Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Benny Golson and Jimmy Heath.
John Scheinfeld is the writer and director of Chasing Trane. He’s directed other feature-length documentaries about music greats, including The U.S. vs. John Lennon and Who Is Harry Nilsson (and Why Is Everybody Talking About Him)?
Scheinfeld joined Jazz Nightly to discuss the Coltrane documentary. He says he wasn’t an obsessive John Coltrane fan until he started work on the film.
