Category Archives: John Coltrane

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage Preservation, John Coltrane, Public Art

Coltrane Deserves Better

October 4, 2026 Faye Anderson

October is Mural Arts Month in the “Mural Capital of the World.” USA Today and 10Best.com voted Philadelphia Best City for Street Art. The expert panel and readers recognize that street art “speaks to a city’s culture and personality.”

The condition of the Ridge on the Rise mural speaks volumes about the city’s split personality. As Philadelphia celebrates a century of John Coltrane, a tribute to Trane has become a symbol of civic neglect.

In August and September, I escorted busloads of visitors to the Ridge on the Rise mural. I was embarrassed as they posed for photos in front of the deteriorating cultural landmark.

On my bus tour, “Tracing Trane: John Coltrane’s North Philadelphia,” there were two international visitors, one from London and a distinguished visitor from Japan. Yasuhiro “Fuji” Fujioka is the co-author of “The John Coltrane Reference.” This is a photo of Fuji in front of the Ridge on the Rise mural.

Brian Earley was on the bus tour. He saw the condition of the mural and said something. In a letter to Mayor Cherelle Parker, Brian wrote:

On Sunday, September 27, I participated in a wonderfully conducted tour of North Philadelphia, a tour that examined the historical legacy of Philadelphia itself as the tour followed the footsteps of John Coltrane’s years living in Philadelphia.

[…]

More upsetting for me, however, is the condition of the mural on the south facing wall of 2125 Ridge Avenue. This wall overlooks a vacant lot where once stood the famous Pearl Theater. This theater famously hosted many figures of important international significance. John Coltrane performed there, as did Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Pearl Bailey herself was discovered here.

This mural, which prominently features Cecil B. Moore, Pearl Bailey, and John Coltrane is crumbling. The bottom half of John Coltrane’s body has already fallen and is lying in pieces on the grass below.

What is problematic for me is that members of the tour included current influential figures, including famous jazz writer Yasuhiro Fujioka, who had traveled all the way from Japan to visit this and other important sites in Philadelphia. I regret to say this moment was a little embarrassing for me and for the city of Philadelphia. At one of Philadelphia’s finest hours, one of the greatest celebrations a city could hold for an artist of musical import, I had to see people who traveled from far away to see John Coltrane’s Philadelphia in a state of disrepair. What they witnessed was mostly warmth, beauty, and tremendous respect for John Coltrane and for Philadelphia’s history. But 2125 Ridge Avenue and its important mural told a conflicting story: one of neglect and disinterest.

Your voice matters. If you, too, believe that John Coltrane deserves better, contact the responsible officials. Tell them to take immediate action to assess and restore the mural.

📩 Contact:
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker
City Hall, Office 215
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 686-2181
Contact the Mayor Online Form

Mural Arts Philadelphia
1727-29 Mt. Vernon Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
(215) 685-0750
info@muralarts.org
Report a Mural in Need of Maintenance

Councilmember Jeffery Young, Jr.
City Hall, Room 586
Philadelphia, PA 19107
jeffery.young@phila.gov
(215) 686-3442, (215) 686-3443
Report an Issue Online Form

The Ridge on the Rise mural must be restored before winter weather finishes what civic neglect started.

Advocacy, Artificial Intelligence, Cultural Heritage, John Coltrane, John Coltrane House

John Coltrane at 100

September 20, 2026 Faye Anderson

John William Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina, the only child of John and Alice Blair Coltrane. Two months after his birth, his maternal grandfather, the Reverend William Blair, was promoted to presiding elder in the A.M.E. Zion Church. Rev. Blair moved his extended family, including his infant grandson, to High Point, North Carolina where Coltrane grew up.

After the death of his maternal grandfather, father and grandmother, Coltrane’s mother moved to Philadelphia in search of better employment opportunities around 1942. She was part of the Great Migration.

Coltrane stayed in High Point to finish his education at William Penn High School where he was voted “Best Dressed Boy” as a junior, and the “Most Musical” in his class. Coltrane moved to Philadelphia in June 1943 to join his mother. And the rest is history.

City Council designated September 23, 2026 as John Coltrane Day in Philadelphia in recognition of the city’s “central role in shaping his artistic and cultural legacy.”

Trane honed his sound in the clubs on the “Golden Strip” and on Ridge Avenue. He lived in North Philadelphia from 1943 to 1958, first in an apartment building and later in a rowhouse. The John Coltrane House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1999.

I used AI to bring Coltrane back to the Golden Strip.

Café Society Musical Bar was a popular spot on the Golden Strip. It was located three blocks from Coltrane’s apartment. Café Society is the first stop on my upcoming bus tour, Tracing Trane: A Tour of John Coltrane’s North Philadelphia, on Sunday, September 27, 2026. The tour is presented by Scribe Video Center’s North Philadelphia History Festival: The John Coltrane Edition.

The bus tour is free but reservations are required. You can RSVP here.

Trane’s final performance in Philadelphia was on November 11, 1966 at the last tour stop, Mitten Hall .

John Coltrane joined the ancestors on July 17, 1967.

Cultural Heritage, John Coltrane

Music Legends Born in 1926

April 12, 2026 Faye Anderson

In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, launched the first Negro History Week to celebrate African American contributions that were “overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them.” The celebration of Black history was timed to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

This year marks the centennial birthday of jazz legends, including John Coltrane, Ray Brown, Miles Davis, Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Heath, Melba Liston and Randy Weston.

Blues legend Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was born on December 11, 1926 in Alabama. She was the first to record “Hound Dog” which was written for her.

Thornton wrote and recorded “Ball and Chain” in the 1960s.

Thornton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024 in the “Musical Influence” category. She was inducted nearly 40 years after Elvis Presley and nearly 30 years after Janis Joplin.

As The Guardian reports, Thornton’s contributions have been overlooked and ignored:

Thornton should be ranked alongside the likes of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, but instead she is little more than a footnote in the histories of Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin as the original voice behind songs they would make famous. A new documentary, “Big Mama Thornton: I Can’t Be Anyone But Me,” aims to right this wrong.

“Big Mama Thornton: I Can’t Be Anyone But Me” will be screened at the Doc‘n Roll Film Festival New York City on May 3, 2026.

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan

A Stroll Through North Broad’s Jazz History

October 19, 2025 Faye Anderson

Join All That Philly Jazz Director Faye Anderson for a stroll through North Broad’s storied jazz history. We will walk the streets of North Philly and stop at places that hold the stories of legends-in-the-making like Louis Armstrong, Clifford Brown, James Brown, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Patti LaBelle, Lee Morgan and Grover Washington Jr.

Our journey will take us to such sites as the Hotel Carlyle, Pyramid Club, Heritage House/Freedom Theatre, Cameo Room, Barber’s Hall, Flamingo Apartments, Nixon Grand Theater and Mitten Hall.

📅 Saturday, October 25, 2025
🕙 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
💬 Free and open to the public (space is limited)

Registration is required. Reserve your spot here.

“A Stroll Through North Broad’s Jazz History” is organized by Scribe Video Center. The North Philadelphia History Festival is supported by the William Penn Foundation.