A crowd-funding campaign to restore John Coltrane‘s home in Dix Hills, NY is underway.
Coltrane moved 40 miles east of New York City to the quiet suburb of Dix Hills in 1964, accompanied by his wife Alice (a critically acclaimed pianist, harpist, and composer in her own right) and two children John Jr. and Ravi. In the summer of 1964, he composed the four-part suite that would become one of his seminal recordings – A Love Supreme.
The non-profit organization behind the campaign, Friends of The Coltrane Home, have the ultimate aim of restoring the house in Dix Hills, NY and converting it into a public museum and cultural center.
The organization have already raised $150,000 over the past two years to save the building from demolition and perform an initial cleanup of the house; which fell into disrepair after changing hands several times following John Coltrane’s death in 1967. The organization has now turned to crowd-funding to accelerate the fund-raising process and provide a limited opening of the house as a museum in time for the 50th anniversary of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme in 2014.
Speaking in support of the restoration project, prominent musician and chair of the Coltrane Home Honorary Board Carlos Santana said: “The Coltrane Home is a beacon to Coltrane lovers, jazz lovers and anyone interested in cultural history. I invite you to listen to the music of John Coltrane, open up your mind and heart to his musical language and visit the home where the universal tone was created.”
The Friends of The Coltrane Home is using crowd-funding platform indiegogo to raise $85,000 to fund the next phase of the restoration process. At the time of writing, the campaign has raised $2,885 with 26 days remaining. Perks for donating range from a postcard to a personal tour of the home with Ravi Coltrane.
For more information, and to donate, Click Here.
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