Santana raises funds to protect John Coltrane’s LI home

Musician Carlos Santana hosted a fundraiser in Manhattan on Sunday to help complete restoration of the Huntington, N.Y., home of jazz legend John Coltrane.

Santana’s appearance at EN Japanese Brasserie on 435 Hudson Street is part of a “Save the Coltrane Home” benefit, the goal of which is to raise $1 million to revamp the house into a museum.

In addition to Santana, the event featured a musical performance by Coltrane’s son, Ravi Coltrane. Other guests included academic Cornell West, trumpet player Wynton Marsalis, jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath and poet Sonia Sanchez.

The town bought the 3.4-acre estate in 2005 for $975,000 from a developer that planned to demolish the four-bedroom ranch home and subdivide the property.

Since then, supporters have tried to raise funds to restore the home to the era when Coltrane, his wife, Alice, and their four children lived there, and to build a museum and educational center honoring the jazz saxophonist and composer.

Coltrane lived in the Candlewood Path house between 1964 and 1967. The property is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2011, it was named among America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. [Newsday] – James Comtois