An entrancing listen to a jazz great, Alice Coltrane
Andy Beta
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In the years since Alice Coltrane passed from this world in 2007, a paradigm shift has occurred. For much of her lifetime, she and her music stood in the shadow of her husband, the late John Coltrane, a jazz titan and a near saintly figure in 20th-century American music.
In the wake of his death in 1967, she recorded roughly a dozen albums - playing piano, harp, organ and leading the likes of Pharoah Sanders, Joe Henderson, Ornette Coleman, Jack DeJohnette and even Carlos Santana - that were neglected at the time of release. By 1978, the widow Coltrane had receded from releasing music on major labels and for many years, it was assumed she had stopped recording music altogether, as she had established her own ashram nestled in Agoura Hills, California, and retreated from public view, becoming a spiritual guru for a small community of fellow seekers.
Alice Coltrane's 'Kirtan: Turiya Sings' - The Washington Post washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Kirtan: Turiya Sings, which Impulse! Records will release on July 16, strips down one of Alice Coltrane's legendary ashram recordings to its soulful essence.
The 1982 devotional recording will arrive without overdubs in July
Published Jun 02, 2021
In the early 1980s, Alice Coltrane layered vocals, organ, strings and synthesizers for
Turiya Sings, a cassette release only available to the artist s Sai Anantam Ashram community. Now, the devotional songs have been remixed and remastered for their first official reissue.
Kirtan: Turiya Sings features pared-down versions of the original recordings featuring only Coltrane s voice and organ. These recordings were discovered by her son and collaborator Ravi Coltrane in 2004, three years before her death. As dynamic and bold as the original version is, hearing my mother sing and play in this stripped-down, intimate setting revealed the true heart and soul of these songs, Ravi wrote in a statement. In that moment, I knew people needed to hear