The release of Alice Coltrane's 1982 collection of devotional song is the perfect excuse for William Dart to celebrate an extraordinary woman, her music and her faith.
The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Photo: Luaka Bop
In the early 70s I fell under the spell of Alice Coltrane. I’d first heard her as pianist alongside husband John; but after his death in 1967, she emerged with a new instrument that would become her signature sound, ushering us into her unique mystical universe through washes of ethereal harp.
I was captivated, even if my understanding of the Indian philosophy underlining her music was hardly a profound one.
Alice Coltrane’s music was always deeply connected with her faith. In fact, you could see it spelt out on her record sleeves, from the 1971 classic Journey to Satchidananda to her mighty comeback collection of 2004, Translinear Light.
Faith for Alice Coltrane was always much more than just titling a piece of music. In her early widowhood, she’d sought and gained spiritual sustenance from Swami Satchidananda. Eventually she’d relinquish the secular life and change her own name to Turiyasangitananda, meaning “The Transcendental Lord’s Highest Song of Bliss”. Her life and work would revolve around an ashram and Vedantic Centre that she established in Malibu, California.
During what was to many of her fans a long and unbearable recording silence in the 1980s and 90s, she did release a series of small-scale cassettes. They were simple affairs, featuring Coltrane as a vocalist performing songs of faith over her own humble organ accompaniment with the worthy intention of providing spiritual guidance for her fellow believers.
In fact, I and most of the world would wait until 2017 for David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label to let us hear a selection of this long-lost music.
While Luaka Bop’s revelations were a most welcome introduction, Impulse Records has now brought out the very first of Coltrane’s original cassettes, the 1982 Kirtan: Turiya Sings.
Coltrane's son Ravi acts as producer for the project and in his booklet introduction, he writes that he wants it thought of, not as religious music, but as spiritual music: functional music that doesn’t seek to project one religion’s doctrines but rather to promote the universality of all divine music. "Read the Sanskrit words", he advises us," and my mother’s translations, and you’ll find the themes are quite universal."
As for when, where, and how to listen to these songs, he suggests that we find a quiet place, put the album on and listen. Meditate. Or chant along. Sing along with Turiya and let these ethereal songs elevate your spirit. That is the truest function of this music and Alice Coltrane’s devotional gift to us all.
Music Details
ARTIST: Alice Coltrane
TITLE: Blue Nile
ALBUM: Ptah The El Daoud
COMPOSER: A Coltrane
LABEL: Impulse
ARTIST: Alice Coltrane
TITLE: Excerpt from the Firebird
ALBUM: Lord of Lords
COMPOSER: Stravinsky arr A Coltrane
LABEL: Impulse
ARTIST: Alice Coltrane
TITLE: Bliss: The Eternal Now
ALBUM: Illuminations
COMPOSER: A Coltrane
LABEL: CBS
ARTIST: Alina Bzhezhinska
TITLE: Blue Nile
ALBUM: Inspiration
COMPOSER: A Coltrane
LABEL: Ubuntu Music
ARTIST: Alice Coltrane
TITLE: The Hymn
ALBUM: Translinear Light
COMPOSER: A Coltrane
LABEL: Impulse
ARTIST: Alice Coltrane
TITLE: Om Shanti
ALBUM: World Spirituality Classics Volume 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiya-sangi-tananda
COMPOSER: A Coltrane
LABEL: Luaka Bop
ARTIST: Alice Coltrane
TITLE: Er Ra
ALBUM: World Spirituality Classics Volume 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiya-sangi-tananda
COMPOSER: A Coltrane
LABEL: Luaka Bop
ARTIST: Alice Coltrane
TITLE: Pranadhana
ALBUM: Kirtan: Turiya Sings
COMPOSER: A Coltrane
LABEL: Impulse
