NCMA Cinema: Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary in celebration of John Coltrane’s 97th Birthday

Chasing Trane (2017). Written and directed by John Scheinfeld, documentary, 99 min., NR

About the film
Chasing Trane is the definitive film about an outside-the-box thinker with extraordinary talent whose boundary-shattering music continues to impact and influence people around the world. Set against the social, political, and cultural landscape of the times, the documentary brings John Coltrane to life as a fully dimensional being, inviting the audience to engage with Coltrane the man, Coltrane the artist. It was produced with the full participation of the Coltrane family and the support of the record labels that collectively own the Coltrane catalog.

About John Coltrane
Born September 23, 1926, in Hamlet, NC, John Coltrane was first introduced to music through his musician father. At 13 he picked up the saxophone and tried to imitate the sounds of idols Charlie Parker and Johnny Hodges. Thus began the career of one of the 20th century’s most important and influential artists. In his early musical life, he played alongside giants Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Vinson, and Jimmy Heath. He experienced breakout performances with the Miles Davis Quintet on their classic recordings ’Round about Midnight and Kind of Blue. Coltrane continued his career with a historic partnership with Thelonious Monk. Finally, his astonishing solo career gave the world such musical diamonds as Giant Steps, My Favorite Things, Impressions, Live at Birdland and 1965’s seminal A Love Supreme. “Trane” died in 1967 at the age of 40—an enigmatic, dominant figure whose massive influence on generations of artists has grown even stronger since his passing.

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