Alice Coltrane 1937 - 2007

I was very sad to learn last night that Alice Coltrane, phenomenal musician and widow of John Coltrane, passed away on Friday.

Alice McLeod was already a well respected jazz pianist when she met Coltrane, and later replaced McCoy Tyner on piano in his band. After John's death in 1967 she moved forward with her own music, using it as a vehicle to explore her deep spirituality.

In the period between 1967 and 1978 she released over a dozen records with an unbelievable cast of supporting musicians including Pharaoh Sanders, Charlie Haden, Rashied Ali, Jimmy Garrison, Jack DeJohnette, and others.

Her fourth record "Journey to Satchindananda" released in 1970 remains one of my all-time favorite albums. Named after, and inspired by her 'spiritual perceptor' Swami Satchindananda, it is a work of timeless beauty and grace. Hearing "Journey to Satchindananda" for the first time prompts even the most jaded of indie hipsters to pause with a reverent attention.

In the liner notes Alice states:

"Shiva is God, in one of his myriad forms, as the third person of the Hindu Trinity, in his aspect as dissolver of creation. Loka means realm or abode. I try to stretch my mind thoughts over to Shiva-Loka, one of the highest points in the universe."

Pretty amazing when you consider the goal of most music is, in the words of Huey Lewis, "to get girls".

Recently there as been a renewed interest in the spiritual jazz of the late sixties and early seventies, and the influence of Alice Coltrane specifically can be heard with artists such as Animal Collective, Caribou, and especially Four Tet.

In the last few years Alice Coltrane began to perform and record again following a 25 years hiatus. There were shows planned for this year, even after she had taken ill. It is a shame so many of us were never able to see her perform, she will be missed.