It is widely believed[a] that Coltrane conceived of and performed the composition in response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing on September 15, 1963—an attack by the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four African-American girls: Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11).
"[3][4][b] Coltrane, Tyner, Garrison, and Jones, again, recorded "Alabama" – along with "Afro Blue" and "Impressions" – for a 30-minute TV episode of Jazz Casual, hosted by Ralph J. Gleason.
"Alabama" was one of the tracks on Jack DeJohnette's 2016 album, In Movement (recorded October 2015 at Avatar Studios in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan).
Music journalist Richard Williams pointed out that the personal connection to "Alabama" extended to DeJohnette, who not only had performed with John Coltrane, but had known Ravi and Matt since they were children.
The trio – Jack, Ravi and Matt – performed "Alabama" on the fifth day of the Berlin Jazz Festival, November 5, 2016 and again at a free concert in Central Park on June 16, 2019 which lasted 5:17 minutes and can be seen below.