So goes the title of the feature story in JAZZWISE magazine – their 300th issue, infact – congratulations! I must admit I got into Alice Coltrane’s much later than husband John’s, but what a journey it has been! Stuart Nicholson does a great job in describing the story of Alice’s life and music and reminding us that 2024 is “The Year of Alice”, a 12-month celebration of the harpist/ pianist/ composer’s legacy and influence. I will be going down to London for the Jazz Festival in November, principally to see the Neil Cowley Trio, but it will be interesting to see how “The Year of Alice” is marked there.
It is interesting to glance at my record shelf where Alice and John’s albums sit side by side. Most people might point to 1970’s “Journey in Satchidananda” as her key album but, personally I have a particular soft spot for “Ptah the El Daoud” recorded in the Coltranes’ home studio twelve months before on 26th January, and “Kirtan Turiya Sings” from 1981, taken from a cassette recording of devotional songs which was stripped down to just Alice’s voice to the accompaniment of a Wurlitzer organ, for the sumptuous Impulse double LP release in 2021. Alice’s son Ravi. In the liner notes, speaks of how his Mum adopted the Carnatic singing style of southern India combined with blues, bebop, gospel and the modern classical music of Igor Stravinsky to produce this haunting music, the most spiritual of all to my ears.
Then, this year Impulse released “The Carnegie Hall Concert” from 21st February, 1971 on a double LP. Four side-long pieces span her own music ‘Journey in Satchidananda’ and ‘Siva-Loka’ and John’s. ‘Africa’ and ‘Leo’. The players include Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, with Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee on bass and Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis on drums, not forgetting the very important contributions of Kumar Kramer on harmonium and Tulsi on tamboura.
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