Comments (0) Best Jazz Sanctuary - 2007
Saint John Coltrane Church
1286 Fillmore
San Francisco, CA 94115
415-673-7144
Don't let the black Jesus mural above the altar fool you. While Christian (affiliation: African Orthodox), this one-of-a-kind church, which has about three dozen congregants, is first and foremost about the music of its declared "saint," the late-great jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. Its Sunday services, from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., includes a little sermonizing and a lot of Coltrane music (his Love Supreme album is a permanent part of the liturgy) served up by the church's own house band, led by Archbishop Franzo Wayne King. King experienced a spiritual transformation upon hearing Coltrane perform in North Beach in 1965. He founded the off-beat church in 1969, two years after Coltrane's death, and it has been reeling in jazz-lovers ever since.
