Jazz legacy: John & Alice Coltrane Home in Dix Hills to get $1.75M grant for upgrades
The Coltrane house on Candlewood Path in Dix Hills on Aug. 7: Credit: Tom Lambui
Even if you love jazz, chances are you might not know one of its pivotal masterpieces, “A Love Supreme,” was composed by legendary saxophonist John Coltrane in 1964 at his home along Candlewood Path, just south of the LIE in Dix Hills.
After his unexpected death from liver failure at age 40 at Huntington Hospital in 1967, Coltrane's wife, Alice, recorded five groundbreaking albums of her own the home's recording studio, including “A Monastic Trio,” “Ptah the El Daoud" and “Huntington Ashram Monastery.” (Alice Coltrane, later known by her Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, died in 2007.)
On Friday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and a host of Suffolk officials announced a $1.75 million JumpSMART grant for the ongoing restoration of the two-story brick-and-wood frame John & Alice Coltrane Home, billed as “The Spiritual Home of Jazz.” Today the house, which once faced demolition,is on the National Historic Register.
JumpSMART is part of the countywide “Main Streets” program that provides funding for projects supporting small businesses, as well as strengthening arts and cultural organizations and promoting tourism and workforce development efforts, according to the county website. The program's funding comes from the Suffolk's capital program, as well as from federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan) funding instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials said the funds will be used to restore the facade of the Coltrane home, and to reconstruct the recording studio and exhibit space — including the Love Supreme Room and Meditation Room.
The house was built in the 1950s, and in 1964 John and Alice Coltrane moved in, Alice living there with their three sons — John Jr. (who died in a 1982 car accident), Ravi and Oran — and her daughter, Michelle, until 1973.
A historic marker placed at the home by the Town of Huntington in 2018 notes: “Musicians John & Alice Coltrane moved here in 1964. In this home, John composed the masterpiece 'A Love Supreme' and Alice made innovative recordings.”
Born in North Carolina and raised there in High Point and in Philadelphia, John Coltrane is regarded as one of the most influential and pioneering jazz artists of the 20th century.
It was in the Dix Hills home that Coltrane penned the poem “A Love Supreme” that would later inspire his groundbreaking 1965 album of the same name.
Heralded for his wide-ranging styles on tenor, soprano and alto saxophone, as well as flute and bass clarinet, Coltrane was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize and canonized by the African Orthodox Church following his death.
Coltrane is buried in Pinelawn Cemetery in Farmingdale.
The grant marks a milestone for Steve Fulgoni, 59, of Dix Hills, president of Friends of the Coltrane Home. Fulgoni began efforts to save the house from demolition in 2004, the land slated for a subdivision. He got the town to declare the site a park, then deed the home to the foundation. A $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation helped get the current restoration going; this grant will “hopefully put us over the hump,” Fulgoni said.
“It's life-changing for us,” he said. He hopes once the home is restored and the house is open to the public, schools will be able to visit and use the music studio to play in and record. And perhaps influential musicians will come and host “Master Class” events at the site, Fulgoni said.
“People will hopefully come to understand how inspirational [the Coltranes] were, how important they were in American history and how they represent, in many ways, the American dream . . . It happened here. And, it's an amazing part of American history and Long Island history.”
For more information on the site visit thecoltranehome.org.
Even if you love jazz, chances are you might not know one of its pivotal masterpieces, “A Love Supreme,” was composed by legendary saxophonist John Coltrane in 1964 at his home along Candlewood Path, just south of the LIE in Dix Hills.
After his unexpected death from liver failure at age 40 at Huntington Hospital in 1967, Coltrane's wife, Alice, recorded five groundbreaking albums of her own the home's recording studio, including “A Monastic Trio,” “Ptah the El Daoud" and “Huntington Ashram Monastery.” (Alice Coltrane, later known by her Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, died in 2007.)
On Friday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and a host of Suffolk officials announced a $1.75 million JumpSMART grant for the ongoing restoration of the two-story brick-and-wood frame John & Alice Coltrane Home, billed as “The Spiritual Home of Jazz.” Today the house, which once faced demolition,is on the National Historic Register.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, second from right, and Ravi Coltrane, second from left and the son of jazz legend John Coltrane, with others at the home Friday.
Credit: Tom Lambui
JumpSMART is part of the countywide “Main Streets” program that provides funding for projects supporting small businesses, as well as strengthening arts and cultural organizations and promoting tourism and workforce development efforts, according to the county website. The program's funding comes from the Suffolk's capital program, as well as from federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan) funding instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials said the funds will be used to restore the facade of the Coltrane home, and to reconstruct the recording studio and exhibit space — including the Love Supreme Room and Meditation Room.
The house was built in the 1950s, and in 1964 John and Alice Coltrane moved in, Alice living there with their three sons — John Jr. (who died in a 1982 car accident), Ravi and Oran — and her daughter, Michelle, until 1973.
A historic marker placed at the home by the Town of Huntington in 2018 notes: “Musicians John & Alice Coltrane moved here in 1964. In this home, John composed the masterpiece 'A Love Supreme' and Alice made innovative recordings.”
Born in North Carolina and raised there in High Point and in Philadelphia, John Coltrane is regarded as one of the most influential and pioneering jazz artists of the 20th century.
It was in the Dix Hills home that Coltrane penned the poem “A Love Supreme” that would later inspire his groundbreaking 1965 album of the same name.
Heralded for his wide-ranging styles on tenor, soprano and alto saxophone, as well as flute and bass clarinet, Coltrane was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize and canonized by the African Orthodox Church following his death.
Coltrane is buried in Pinelawn Cemetery in Farmingdale.
The grant marks a milestone for Steve Fulgoni, 59, of Dix Hills, president of Friends of the Coltrane Home. Fulgoni began efforts to save the house from demolition in 2004, the land slated for a subdivision. He got the town to declare the site a park, then deed the home to the foundation. A $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation helped get the current restoration going; this grant will “hopefully put us over the hump,” Fulgoni said.
“It's life-changing for us,” he said. He hopes once the home is restored and the house is open to the public, schools will be able to visit and use the music studio to play in and record. And perhaps influential musicians will come and host “Master Class” events at the site, Fulgoni said.
“People will hopefully come to understand how inspirational [the Coltranes] were, how important they were in American history and how they represent, in many ways, the American dream . . . It happened here. And, it's an amazing part of American history and Long Island history.”
For more information on the site visit thecoltranehome.org.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
