TCH Board

RAVI COLTRANE

CEO and Chairman, Friends of The Coltrane Home

Ravi Coltrane is a critically acclaimed Grammy nominated saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. In the course of a thirty year career, Mr. Coltrane has worked as a sideman to many, and recorded noteworthy albums for himself and others.

Born in Long Island, the second son of John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane, Ravi was named after Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar. He was raised in Los Angeles where his family moved after his father’s death in 1967. His mother, Alice Coltrane, was a significant influence on Ravi and it was he who encouraged Alice to return to performance and the recording studio after a long absence. Subsequently, Ravi produced and played on Alice Coltrane’s powerful, ‘Translinear Light’, which was released in 2004.

Ravi has released six albums as a leader. His albums include, “Moving Pictures,” “From The Round Box,” “Mad 6,” “In Flux,” “Blending Times,” and “Spirit Fiction.” He also has collaborated on various albums, including, “Seraphic Light” with Joe Lovano and David Liebman, “In Movement” with Jack DeJohnette and Matthew Garrison, and The Blue Note’s 70th Anniversary recording, “Mosaic: A Celebration of Blue Note.” Additional credits include performances as well as recordings with Elvin Jones, Terence Blanchard, Kenny Baron, Steve Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, Matt Garrison, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Geri Allen, Joanne Brackeem, The Blue Note 7, among others.

Ravi lives in Brooklyn, NY and maintains a fast paced touring, recording, composing and performance schedule. He leads the effort to restore the John Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, Long Island www.thecoltranehome.org and presides over important reissues of his parent’s recordings.

MICHELLE COLTRANE

Chief Creative Officer

Born in Paris, France, Michelle Coltrane is the only daughter of Alice and John Coltrane. While living in Japan, Michelle worked as a DJ. She performed and arranged background vocals for prominent artists. Finding featured work in voiceovers, Michelle appeared on two popular Chevrolet commercials. She was also hired to compose a special piece of music “Colour of the Night”, which was featured at Space World Amusement Park in Japan.

Michelle has toured the US and France as a soloist, performing with artists such as Kenny Kirkland, Jeff Watts, Ronnie Laws, Billy Childs, Jack DeJohnette, Marvin Smitty Smith, Reggie Workman, The Gap Band and with the McCoy Tyner Trio at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Her first CD, “I Think of You,” is a classic and contemporary jazz collaboration with musician and composer Scott Hiltzik. The recording was well received by Jazz Times and won a YES Award, presented by blues artist Barbara Morrison. Michelle was a featured performer at the 2013 Panama Jazz Festival, and recent appearances include shows at The John Ford Amphitheater in Los Angeles, The Miami Jazz Festival, Vibratos in Bel Air California, H. O. M. E. (House of Music & Entertainment) in Beverly Hills, Bar 1912 in Beverly Hills, and Yoshis Jazz Club, Oakland.

Steve Fulgoni

President, Friends of the Coltrane Home

A resident of Dix Hills and long time Coltrane fan, Steve learned of the potential demolition of the Coltrane Home and formed a grass roots campaign to save it.  Steve founded the “Friends of the Coltrane Home” non-profit organization which was deeded ownership of the Coltrane Home by the Town of Huntington.  As the leader of the Coltrane Home team for more than a decade, Steve led the restoration efforts of The Home as well as the growth of the non-profit organization. After a brief absence from the Board, Steve returned as President of the Board of Directors in 2019.

Steve graduated from Manhattan College with a degree in Electrical Engineering and owns several businesses in various fields.  He brings his engineering and business management experience to the Coltrane Home organization.

Steve has lived in Huntington for more than 25 years and has volunteered his time to serve the community in many ways.  He served on the Board of the House Beautiful Civic Association, Half Hollow Historic Association and as a member of the Town’s Environmental Open Space and Park Fund Committee. He serves on the Citizen’s Advisory Committee of the Dix Hills Water District.

Steve has many interests, including woodworking and photography.  He serves on the Board of the Long Island Woodturner’s Association and Long Island Woodworker’s Club.  

Robert Hughes

In addition to working with historical organizations, Mr. Hughes is president of the Huntington Rural Cemetery Association, Inc. He also serves on the boards of the Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary, Cold Spring Harbor Library, and Friends of the Coltrane Home in Dix Hills. He previously served for nine years on the Cold Spring Harbor Board of Education, including two terms as president.

Roberto Diana

Roberto Diana is a real estate professional serving Long Island communities. With a diverse background as a Certified Public Accountant, he brings extensive experience and financial expertise to his role as Treasurer for the Friends of the Coltrane Home in Dix Hills.

Roberto’s professional journey is a unique blend of hands-on construction work and corporate experience. He started as a certified brick mason, working his way through college. In 2002, he began his accounting career with Deloitte and later served as VP and Director at a real estate investment company, overseeing the financial reporting for large-scale NYC properties.

Beyond his professional achievements, Roberto is a lifelong lover of music. His appreciation for the arts began in childhood when he was gifted his first acoustic guitar. After moving from the suburbs of Italy to New York as a teenager, Roberto balanced his passion for music with his dedication to building his craft, performing in bands during his free time and drawing constant inspiration from his love for music.

Roberto is honored to contribute to the Friends of the Coltrane Home, where his dedication aligns with the mission of preserving and promoting the legacies of John and Alice Coltrane.

Tony Loftis

Tony Loftis is a seasoned communications leader, currently with famaPR and a member of the Institute for Storycraft and Information Gathering Board of Directors. He is a past president of Boston Area Youth Soccer and previously served as communications director for Demand Abolition, an advocacy group that is working to eradicate the illegal commercial sex industry. Tony currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Alice and John Coltrane home, as well as the MassBay Community College Foundation.

BRANDEE YOUNGER

The sonically innovative harpist, Brandee Younger, is revolutionizing harp for the digital era. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked relentlessly to stretch boundaries and limitations for harpists. 

In 2022, she made history by becoming the first Black woman to be nominated for a Grammy® Award for Best Instrumental Composition. That same year, she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award and later, the winner of the 2024 NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Jazz Album for her latest album Brand New Life.  Ever-expanding as an artist, she has worked with cultural icons including Ravi Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Common, Lauryn Hill, John Legend and Christian McBride. 

Her original composition “Hortense” was featured in the Netflix Concert-Documentary, Beyoncé: Homecoming and in 2019, Brandee was selected to perform her original music as a featured performer for Quincy Jones and Steve McQueens’ “Soundtrack of America”.  Brandee is often noted for standing on the shoulders of the very women who ushered in the harp as a clear and distinct voice in jazz & popular styles – particularly Detroit natives Alice Coltrane & Dorothy Ashby.  Her latest album, Brand New Life, builds on her already rich oeuvre, and cements the harp’s place in pop culture.  As the title of the album suggests, Brand New Life is about forging new paths–artistic, personal, political, and spiritual.  Younger’s music is imbued with a sense of purpose and respect of legacy, creating a larger platform for the harp to reach newer and wider audiences than ever before.

In addition to performing and recording, Brandee Younger is on the faculty at New York University, Steinhardt School and The New School College of Performing Arts. Follow: @harpista

Kathleen considers the Coltrane Home project a labour of love and is a founding member of Friends of the Coltrane Home.

A graduate of Middlebury College, Ms. Hennessy has an extensive background in hospitality including as general manager of the Regattabar Jazz Club at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge and Restaurant Mirabelle in Boston, before becoming an owner/partner in Cena Restaurant. Ms. Hennessy is a founding partner of RKM Music Inc. and has Producer credits on several RKM recordings.

Ms. Hennessy also holds positions on the boards of SIM, The School of Improvisational Music and Davalois Fearon Dance Company.

Fuji is President of “Coltrane House of Osaka”, Kimono shop “Fujioka,” and is a freelance jazz writer/ producer/ photographer/ educator and the author of four books on the subject of John Coltrane. Fuji is a supplier of memorabilia to The Verve Music Group (NYC and Tokyo offices); Concord Records, CA; Warner Music, Japan; Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC and others, and a contributor to the Coltrane Collection for exhibiting at the National Museum of American History at Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame in Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC; High Point Historical Museum, High Point, NC, and Half Hollow Hills Community Library on Long Island, NY. Fuji is also a dedicated collector of Coltrane memorabilia since 1970 at age 17.

Hollis King is the former vice president and creative director at the Verve Music Group, the largest jazz record label in the world. He was responsible for art direction of all CD packaging, logos, advertising, point-of-purchase, and signage. Studying advertising and design at New York City Community College, he later transferred to the School of Visual Arts where he studied with legendary artist Milton Glaser, his greatest influence and inspiration. King worked at several design studios before entering the music industry in 1994 as a graphic designer at GRP records, becoming creative director in 1997. Two years later, he joined the Verve Music Group, a Division of Universal Music Company and worked with some of the greatest musicians of all time. King has received numerous achievement awards and citations from Communication Arts, How, Print, AIGA, Graphis and the Society of Illustrators, as well as five Grammy nominations. Worked on Zora Neale Hurston “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Set Design for “Afropop Series” Public Television, Creative Direction and set Design for August Wilson American Century Cycle at the Greene Space.

Currently, Hollis runs his own creative company in New York and regularly lectures about creativity, and photography, at the School of Visual Arts, FIT, Art Directors Club and Society of Illustrators.  King also co-produced and art directed ESOSA Fashion Show 2012 for Fashion Week in NYC.

PAM WINN BARNETT

I met John and Alice Coltrane when I was six years old.  I was living with my family next door in Long Island.  I grew up alongside Michelle, John Jr, Ravi and Oran, and a close familial relationship formed.  Alice Coltrane has been a second mother, a mentor, an aspiration, an inspiration, and a guiding light for me.  She’s impacted every aspect of my life.  As an adult I have often wondered how I was so fortunate to live next door.  Why was I allowed to roam the Coltrane home along with the Coltrane children, participating in the lives of their family?  I did not know, and I simply followed my path.  

I went to college, studied film and received a BA in Fine Arts. I moved to California where I worked as a film maker and had my own family. For the past eight years, I’ve been a freelance Post Production Producer, a job I thoroughly enjoy!  I recently post produced Ava Duvernay’s ORIGIN and Alexander Payne’s Academy Award winning THE HOLDOVERS.

Prior to that, I was at HBO for 16 years, joining the company in 2000 as a manager of post-production.  I was quicky promoted to Director, then Vice President of Post Production for HBO Films.  I oversaw a dozen of HBO’s original films including Chris Rock’s GOOD HAIR and Academy Award nominee MARIA FULL OF GRACE.  When HBO Films downscaled their film division, I was given the role of Vice President of Post Delivery & Archives, West Coast.  After six years in that job, I returned to my roots as a freelance post-production supervisor and post producer.  

Prior to joining HBO, those freelance roots found me working on the Academy Award winning GOOD WILL HUNTING  and Alexander Payne’s Oscar winning ELECTION.  Before that, I was an assistant film editor on indie films at Samuel Goldwyn Studios, Concorde/New Horizons, Miramax, and New Line Cinema. 

I am a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and a member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), a non-profit, professional organization established to advance the field of moving image archiving.  My B.A. in Fine Arts is from New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury / Muttontown campus where I graduated cum laude.