Today is September 23rd—the birthday of John Coltrane (Hamlet, NC, 1926) and Ray Charles (Albany, GA, 1930).1 I haven’t written about Coltrane (yet) but I did write about Ray last year in my three-part “Florida Suite.” I don’t think the two men ever played together, but they can at least play next to one another here. And they might just be sitting next to each other again on the specially-curated playlist for The Road to Unforgetting book launch in November (details below). First, Ray Charles playing “One Mint Julep” live in Paris in 1961:
And Coltrane performing “On Green Dolphin Street” in 1960.