It seems like it would be only natural for someone to be highly influenced by their parents. Especially if you venture in the same field of music, where you’re even playing the same instrument. And of course, John Coltrane was not really a present father. He passed away when his son Ravi was only two years old, but obviously left behind an enormous legacy.

And it is this legacy that Ravi Coltrane, possibly not even realizing it, is carrying on. Yes, his style of saxophone blending in with the rest of the laid-back, breezy bop jazz has made himself a name, being highly similar to the saxophone of his father. However, Ravi is living in a completely different era. The possibilities for an African-American musician today are not even remotely close to what his father must’ve experienced.

When John Coltrane passed away, it was Ravi’s mother, Alice, who introduced him to the world of music. Beginning to play at an early age, Ravi had it down from the beginnig. But, like many typical teenagers, he probably didn’t feel like venturing down the same road as his father, which is mostly likely the reason Ravi Coltrane didn’t start playing jazz on a high level until his early twenties.

His first album, Moving Pictures (1998), is a great display of Ravi’s awareness of future comparisons to his late father. He made sure the album would be similar to the late Coltrane, but would also be the birth of the next generation Coltrane. Since then, Ravi is one of today’s most modern jazz giants who still celebrates traditional jazz and bebop, and is never afraid to turn down the sound on stage and sing through his saxophone like a true jazz legend.

Ravi Coltrane Quartet is at Fasching on May 3.