The week of Thursday 24 through Sunday 27 September holds plenty of competing directions, yet the most coherent two-night route lies at Ancienne Belgique. Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September form the closing stretch of its (John) Coltrane 100 programme: a wide institutional tribute shared by AB, BOZAR and Kaaitheater, built around concerts, film, talks and performance. These two dates use Coltrane less as a museum-piece repertoire than as a working prompt. First comes Shabaka with Ola Tunji; the following evening places Raphael Rogiński’s solitary guitar beside MiXMONK Supreme’s treatment of Crescent. The result is a compact weekend conversation about sound, inheritance and the freedom to reshape a source.[1][2]

Friday 25 September: Shabaka brings a newly self-made vocabulary

Shabaka’s 18:30 Friday entry at Ancienne Belgique is presented as Of The Earth with support from Brussels-based quartet Ola Tunji. AB situates the concert inside a longer Coltrane evening that also includes archival film footage of Coltrane’s 1965 Comblain-la-Tour appearance and a listening selection from Alice Coltrane. Ola Tunji centres saxophonist Ornella Noulet and draws its stated reference points from spiritual jazz, including Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Albert Ayler. That framing gives the support slot a specific role: an opening that follows one rich stream of Trane’s influence while Shabaka approaches it through a newer personal toolkit.[1]

Of The Earth, released in March 2026, is a solo-produced record built from woodwinds, beatmaking and Shabaka’s own vocals as well as saxophone. Its descriptions point toward stacked flutes, ambient space, Caribbean rhythmic references and deliberately rough-edged production. In this setting, the return of saxophone carries weight, yet the concert’s appeal is its range of materials: acoustic breath, electronics, rhythm and voice belong to the same frame. Friday therefore feels suited to listeners curious about where jazz lineage meets contemporary studio practice, with Ola Tunji providing a Brussels-based counterpart rooted in the music’s expansive spiritual edge.[1][3]

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Saturday 26 September: Crescent enters the room from two directions

Saturday begins at 18:30 and makes John Coltrane’s 1964 Crescent the evening’s centre of gravity. Raphael Rogiński opens with solo electric guitar. AB describes his recent work as graceful and meditative, with a connection to American primitivism, and identifies his Coltrane-and-Langston-Hughes project as a key part of his profile. The promise here rests in translation: guitar music that takes Coltrane as a stimulus for texture, shape and space. Rogiński’s presence gives the bill an intimate scale before the trio takes over.[2]

MiXMONK Supreme then brings together Robin Verheyen on saxophone, Joey Baron on drums and Bram De Looze on piano to reimagine Crescent as a trio. Coltrane recorded the album with his Classic Quartet, so the altered instrumentation is central to the premise. AB also says the project includes material shaped by Thelonious Monk and original compositions, placing historical study alongside current writing. For a listener choosing one of these nights, Saturday offers the clearest chance to hear a Belgian-American trio treat a particular Coltrane album as living material, framed by Rogiński’s radically different guitar approach.[2]

Plan the two-night route

Both concerts take place at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels: Shabaka and Ola Tunji on Friday 25 September at 18:30, followed by Raphael Rogiński and MiXMONK Supreme on Saturday 26 September at 18:30. Friday’s programme lists a screening before the performances, while Saturday also includes a film and an Alice Coltrane listening moment before Rogiński and the trio. Build in time for those opening elements, then recheck Ancienne Belgique’s official event pages for tickets, access information and any changeable schedule details.[1][2]

Sources

  1. (John) Coltrane 100: Shabaka presents 'Of The Earth' + Ola Tunji — Ancienne Belgique
  2. (John) Coltrane 100: MiXMONK plays John Coltrane's Crescent + Raphael Roginski — Ancienne Belgique
  3. Of The Earth — Apple Music