SPOTLIGHT SERIES: Passion for Bach & Coltrane

The Grammy Award winning Passion for Bach and Coltrane pairs Imani Winds, the poet A.B. Spellman, Harlem Quartet, and a jazz piano trio to synthesize classical and jazz styles, highlighting the gifts of all the performers onstage.  Inspired by and featuring Spellman’s poetry, Passion interweaves orated poems with music, in a manner inspired by J.S. Bach’s Passion settings. Jeff Scott selected one masterwork by each composer — Bach’s Goldberg Variations and John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme — and used each as source material to construct a mosaic tapestry around the drama and imagery in Spellman’s text. Pensive, ethereal moments are punctuated by Bach, while the tone for moody, dark passages is set by Coltrane’s work. Winner of the 2024 Grammy for Best Classical Compendium Album.