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One does not have to be a jazz fan or a fan of John Coltrane’s music to enjoy the film “Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary”. The film is a story of John Coltrane’s struggle with and triumph over drug addiction and the growth of his spiritual life through music.

Throughout the film, Denzel Washington speaks Coltrane’s words with a plainspoken directness that matches the artist’s observations.

Recently Carlos Santana performed in Spokane. You may wonder what does Santana have to do with Coltrane? Santana makes comments throughout the film and states that whenever he arrives to a hotel room the first thing he does is plays John Coltrane’s masterpiece “A Love Supreme” to purify the room.

Also in “Chasing Trane”, John Densmore, of the Doors, talks about “Kind of Blue”, the 1959 Miles Davis album on which Coltrane was a pivotal player. Densmore calls it an album that transcends categories, one that even people who don’t “get” jazz can like. Even today, the people who feel like they don’t get jazz vastly outnumber those who do. “Chasing Trane” is a film that might have been made for them and can be found at our Sandpoint library.

LEE SANTA

Sandpoint