Forty years ago last July, John Coltrane succumbed to liver cancer at Huntingdon Hospital in New York. Two months shy of his forty-first birthday, he died in the prime of a remarkable career as jazz instrumentalist, composer and innovator. This year, as the anniversary of his death is marked worldwide, musicians and fans are still grappling with the depth and complexity of his legacy – and still working around the huge absence created by his sudden loss at a critical point in jazz history.

Ireland was particularly fortunate this year to have its most significant Coltrane commemoration led by saxophonist and musical educator Dave Liebman, who as composer, performer and teacher has been visiting here for twenty years. On 23 August, Liebman held a tribute concert at Meeting...