At the Jazz Kissa: Listening to John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme
Lecture and Vinyl Listening Session
Monday December 9, 2024, 5:00 - 6:00 pm
Location: Pleasants Family Assembly Room, Wilson Library 

Born and raised in North Carolina, John Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an
American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed
figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Recorded in one session on December 9, 1964 in
Englewood New Jersey, with his quartet of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer
Elvin Jones, the album A Love Supreme is widely considered Coltrane’s masterpiece.

Speakers:
Mark Katz, Ph.D. John P. Barker Distinguished Professor of Music, Department of Music
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Founding Director, Next Level Cultural Diplomacy Program
Rashaan Barber, Saxophonist, Composer and UNC Assistant Professor of Music.
Mark Katz will speak on his current research on listening bars and cafés. Jazz kissas are cafes that
specialize in the playing and appreciation of recorded jazz music. Unique to Japan, jazz kissa are spaces
where jazz music is played for dedicated listening rather than as background music. A typical jazz kissa
features a high-quality stereo system, a large music collection and dim lighting, and serves coffee and
drinks. The first cafés focused on playing recorded jazz opened in Japan in the late 1920s as part of a
wider enthusiasm for Western culture and music.

In addition to working as a professor at The University of North Carolina since 2020, Rahsaan Barber
enjoys a performance career that encompasses an ever-expanding range of musical styles, including
jazz, blues, funk, classical, fusion, soul, Latin, and world music. He has garnered professional
appearances onstage alongside such heavyweights as Christian McBride, Brian Blade, the Temptations,
Delfeayo Marsalis, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and has performed on many of the world’s most
prestigious stages for music including The Ryman, The Village Vanguard, Birdland, Lincoln Center, the
Kennedy Center, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African
American History and Culture. Rahsaan is the leader of his own quintet, Everyday Magic, and is the co-
leader of the groundbreaking Nashville-based Latin-jazz septet El Movimiento.