Sonny Fortune wears his John Coltrane influence proudly. And well he should since he is one of the few sax players working today confident enough -- and good enough -- to follow in his footsteps.

The connection goes way back. Fortune started out playing in R&B bands in Philadelphia, just as Coltrane did about 15 years before him. After Coltrane's death in 1967, Fortune played with Coltrane's longtime collaborators, pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones. Together, they recorded several excellent sessions, after which Fortune joined Miles Davis' mid-'70s funk-fusion groups.

After a 15-year hiatus, Fortune came back in the '90s reinvigorated. His return CD of 1991 was able to show New York's "young lions" -- who had suddenly gained prominence for their traditional style of playing under the sway of Wynton Marsalis -- how things could be done otherwise. Throughout the decade, Fortune's quartets released albums of sharp ensemble work, demonstrating that "free" playing was just as much a part of the jazz tradition as blues.