Ravi Coltrane was only two when his father died in 1967. So, like most of this generation, he only really knows John William Coltrane through recordings.
(For what it's worth, Coltrane the Younger did have a bit more time with his mother Alice, going so far as to produce several of her later albums.)
Jazz progeny are weird things, though, man. Within the same family even, the gods can begat ya both a Wynton and a Branford Marsalis--to say nothing of poor Delfeayo.
Lucky for his old man, then, Ravi Coltrane--Shankar namesake and cousin of Flying Lotus--is "giant steps" above most improv offspring.
Need proof? Just listen to drummer Craig Weinrib, bassist Hans Glawischnig and Trane II on tenor cover trumpeter Ralph Alessi's "Who Wants Ice Cream?" at pianist James Carney's Konceptions Music Series--two sets every Tuesday night--at Korzo in Brooklyn's South Slope.
