I have been planning a piece on the musical legacy of the legendary saxophonist and composer John Coltrane for some time when Bret Primack beat me to it with his recent reflections on the career of saxophonist Pharoah Sanders following Coltrane’s death in 1967.
About Bret Primack
Bret has been at the forefront of new media since he co-founded Jazz Central Station, the first Jazz website, in 1994. When YouTube debuted in 2006, he began posting video as the Jazz Video Guy. Now, with fourteen hundred and fifty videos online garnering thirty million views. Bret has the largest YouTube channel devoted to Jazz. A graduate of NYU Film School where he studied with Martin Scorsese, Bret Primack worked in documentaries before he became a music journalist. In addition to hundreds of articles and interviews, Bret has written liner notes for McCoy Tyner, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Lovano, and many others.
Roy Haynes, Bret Primack and Sonny Rollins
Bret Primack returned to filmmaking in 2004 when he began producing videos for Jazz musicians. With the debut of YouTube, which offered free global distribution for his work, he became the first filmmaker posting Jazz video on YouTube as the Jazz Video Guy.
In September 2025 Bret published How John Coltrane Changed My Life- A Jazz Journey
I began subscribing to the Jazz Video Guy about 10 years ago and have got to know Bret personally over the last 3 years. Bret subscribes to Mylifeinjazz and has provided generous advice to me, the most telling being “follow your passion and keep going”.
I share Bret’s veneration for Sonny Rollins-Bret has produced many filmed interviews with Sonny over the last 20 years and his visceral antipathy to Donald Trump.
Since he relocated to Mexico Bret has reopened his YouTube channel and launched his Syncopated Justice blog available on Substack as a platform for his ruminations on the wrecking ball impacts on American politics, and culture of the second Trump presidency.
Click here to read Bret Primack’s recent piece on Pharaoh Sanders (1940-2022) one of the most influential saxophonists to follow in the path laid down by John Coltrane.
The Playlist
My playlist features three overlapping generations of saxophonists. Artists who played with Trane and subsequent generations whose musical outlook has been influenced by him. It kicks off with a late John Coltrane ballad, After the Rain. Listen out for tracks from the following outstanding musicians,
Archie Shepp
Alan Skidmore
Wayne Shorter
Dewey Redman & Joshua Redman (père et fils)
Chris Potter
Michael Brecker
Dave Liebman
Nicole Glover
James Brandon Lewis
Joe Lovano
Kamasi Washington
Lakecia Benjamin
Ravi Coltrane
Gary Bartz whom I’ll hear playing London next week
Plus 3 tracks from different stages of Pharoah Sanders’ long career
I end with Ravi Coltrane John’s son reinterpreting his father’s composition Fifth House
And do click onto the tracks that Bret highlights in his article.
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