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01:15:2007: Alice Coltrane R.I.P.
Alice Coltrane passed on last weekend at the age of 69 as she was becoming a more vital part of our listening experience and overall musical consciousness than at any point in her prolific career. A top notch musician, improviser, composer, and, most of all, bandleader, striving for musical and spiritual universality, her work stands taller than ever because of its uncompromising originality, emotional intensity, supreme quality, and, moreover, timelessness. Alice Coltrane isn’t only such a huge force of the Twenty-first century listening experience because her art transcends time and place and remains contemporary, but it hasn’t hurt her notoriety and legacy that, in recent years, she began performing publicly once again, made a comeback record, and had all of her albums reissued. Finally, renewed interest in her work lies not only within the new age, avant, and jazz realms, but also, for example, a few sub-genres within the new weird eclectic indie rock underworld. In a world where aging artists tend to either stagnate or stink fairly quickly, with few examples to provide hope for even a shred of vitality in the late period of musical careers, Coltrane’s 2004 comeback, Translinear Light, is one of the best jazz albums of this young century. Continuing where she left off a twenty-five years before, her unmistakable style of mystical blues retained all of its past integrity without turning its cheek to the present. Her playing was as powerful as ever and, though it was not means her best or most perfect record, it included a few numbers that could easily be placed beside her classic works from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. Because of my extreme, to the point of irrational, impatience for most things new age, particularly in the sonic realm, particularly bells, harps, and other tinkly tones, Alice Coltrane was initially a hard sell. However, the lack of pretension, creativity, and excellence of her compositions, arrangements, and performances hooked me right away. I can’t tell how much of my acceptance has to do with the strong blues undercurrent, the droney atonal qualities, the heavy rhythmic and harmonic tension, strong groove, or just the exoticism of the whole enterprise - but what opened an entire world to me was her ability to carve out strong edges within her somewhat round arpeggio-laden eastern-based spiritual arrangements by infusing them with these rougher and more challenging elements. And, for all of her avant formalism, her entire body of solo work retains an unusually utilitarian listenablity for an artist coming from the 1960s free scene – suitable for waking up, going to sleep, dressing, undressing, the light, the darkness, work, idleness, background music, deep listening, meditation, everything…. even dancing at times. Alice Coltrane’s career is also astounding for the way in which she, the widow of one of history's top musical minds, devotedly continued down the path where he left off but also managed to escape his shadow - carving a distinct identity, achieving artistic greatness, and becoming regarded one of the leading figures in male-dominated landscape of jazz soloists, composers, and bandleaders of the early 1970s by peers, critics, and listeners. I hope that she not only will be more regularly included in discussions of late-Twentieth Century feminism, jazz or music in general, but also cited as a role model for us all. Alice Coltrane was well aware that she always was and always will be a significant part of all of our universes. For entirely selfish reasons I wish she would have physically stuck around a little longer so I could’ve had another chance to witness her comeback. But I know she still remains where she always was and will be.
For those of you who need an introduction, here’re a few of my favorite Alice Coltrane recorded moments. This list is by no means intended to be definitive. Click any of the bold titles to download 'em on iTunes:
Monastic Trio (1968):
Ptah the El Daoud (1970):
Journey in Satchidananda (1970):
Universal Consciousness (1971):
World Galaxy (1971):
Transcendence (1977):
Transfiguration (1978):
Translinear Light (2004):
Alice
Coltrane's official site
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Alice
with all Coltrane alumni - Pharaoh Sanders and the super-rhythm
section of Jimmy Garrison and Rashid Ali! Some hard modal blues
played with flourishes of eastern percussion and train-loads of
feeling. Check out the muscular leadoff track 
Here
Alice mellows out a bit and starts really becoming the Alice Coltrane
we know and love. A pretty perfect work consisting of four tracks
featuring an all-star cast of Ben Riley, Ron Carter, a kinder gentler
Pharaoh Sanders, and the stellar Joe Henderson. The 
Here
Alice Coltrane opens up a bit more space, pares her arrangements
down, drones longer, and conjures a vast South Asian mountain landscape.
Again she recruits a group of legendary figures like Pharaoh Sanders,
Charlie Haden, Cecil McBee, and Rashied Ali. There’s no shortage
of bells, oud, tamboura, and other exotic instrumentation. Coltrane’s
harp also returns, this time with less sweetness and more depth.
Again, there ain’t a dinger in the bunch. Try the ambiguous
swirl of the harp-driven
Many
regard this her best album and most articulate statement. I haven’t
given it enough of my time, but am ready for another go. This one’s
continues the slow restrained path of her musical development with
more formality than ever. Much of the stylized elements come from
arrangements by none other than Ornette Coleman. Jimmy Garrison
and the incomparable Rashid Ali appear once more and Jack DeJohnette
also drums sometimes and Leroy Jenkins plays violin. While less
dissonant than most free or avant jazz, for me this is most difficult
of Coltrane’s catalog – perhaps because of the slow
tense tempo and uncomfortable harmonic structures… or its
lack of bluesyness. Nonetheless, the exquisite
If
anything here it's cool to hear Alice Coltrane interpret two of
her husband’s signature tracks 
One
of her Warner Brothers records. Not my favorite but undeniable integrity.
I’m listing it here because of her super funky Rhodes work
on the laid back groove-fest, 
A
live 1976 recording that is particularly appealing because you get
to hear Alice Coltrane harpless and leading a trio backed by the
outstanding rhythm section of Reggie Workman and Roy Haynes. Not
a wasted second - a showcase of her versatility, virtuosity, and
improvisational power. The highlight, one of the peaks of her entire
recorded body of work is an epic take on John Coltrane’s "Leo"
divided into 
Alice’s
big comeback, produced by her son Ravi and including Oran’s
sax as well, features AC alumni from her golden age like Charlie
Haden and Jack DeJohnette. A little souvenir of everywhere she’s
visited along the way can be found here, along with some new additions
such as some occasional fusion-ish playing and contemporary production
techniques. Recommended cuts include the chant 