Journey in Satchidananda | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 1971 [1] | |||
Recorded | July 4 ("Isis and Osiris") and November 8 (studio tracks), 1970 | |||
Venue | Village Gate (track B2) | |||
Studio | Coltrane home studios, Dix Hills, New York (tracks A1–B1) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 37:06 | |||
Label | Impulse! | |||
Producer | Alice Coltrane, Ed Michel | |||
Alice Coltrane chronology | ||||
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Journey in Satchidananda is the fourth studio album by American jazz pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane, released in February 1971 on Impulse! Records. The first four tracks were recorded at Coltrane's home studio in Dix Hills, New York, in November 1970, while "Isis and Osiris" was recorded live at the Village Gate in Greenwich Village in July of that year. Coltrane is joined on the album by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, bassists Cecil McBee and Charlie Haden, and drummer Rashied Ali. Vishnu Wood also appears on oud on "Isis and Osiris", while the studio recordings also feature Majid Shabazz on percussion and Tulsi on tanpura. [2] [3]
Journey in Satchidananda marks a transition between Coltrane's first three albums and her subsequent releases, which reveal a more personalized outlook. [4] The album's title and title track reflect the influence of Swami Satchidananda Saraswati, whom Coltrane had studied under and become close to. [5]
"Shiva-Loka", or "realm of Shiva", refers to Shiva's role as the third member of the Hindu trinity, the "dissolver of creation". "Stopover Bombay" refers to a five-week stay in India and Sri Lanka on which Coltrane was due to go in December 1970. "Something About John Coltrane" is based on themes by her late husband. "Isis and Osiris" demonstrates Coltrane's interest in Middle Eastern and North African music and culture. The presence of the tanpura reflects Coltrane's interest in Indian classical music and religion. [6]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Pitchfork | 10/10 [5] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [7] |
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide | [8] |
The editors of AllMusic awarded the album five of five stars, with Thom Jurek stating: "This is a remarkable album, and necessary for anyone interested in the development of modal and experimental jazz. It's also remarkably accessible." [2]
The album was ranked number 446 in the 2020 edition of Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. The editors of the list deemed it "a meditative bliss-out like jazz had never seen: part earthy blues and part ethereal mantra, and a potent influence on sonic seekers from Radiohead to Coltrane's grandnephew Flying Lotus." [9]
Pitchfork's Josephine Livingstone gave the album a perfect score, noting that it "pays full tribute to the transformation that [Coltrane] underwent in the late 1960s—as a human being and artist...the very texture of Journey is defined by transition, process, and flow. Its music has no beginning or end. Instead...Coltrane is working with the principle of looping and transcendence." [5]
Writing for Treble, and referring to the loss of Coltrane's husband, Emma Bauchner remarked: "Journey in Satchidananda feels like a culmination of sorts: a collision of loss with newfound understanding and self-expression. The music occupies the liminal spaces between East and West, post-bop and raga, grief and healing, consciousness and transcendence... More than anything, Journey in Satchidananda's magnificent soundscapes carry a deep sense of healing, reflecting Coltrane's own journey and subsequent transformation in the face of grief." [10]
In an article for The Guardian , Jennifer Lucy Allan described the album as "a mid-point between the modal and meditative, where all the parts of her musical being and biography are present," and wrote: "It ought strictly to be called fusion music, with elements taken from Indian music and combined with western traditions, but in Coltrane’s music there are no visible joins – all is bound in cosmic opulence." [11]
Colleen Murphy of Classical Album Sundays described the album as "a truly deep, far out, transformative listening experience," and remarked: "you may also temporarily achieve a higher state of consciousness while listening to this album. Take the journey." [12]
NPR's Sydnee Monday stated: "Almost 50 years after Journey In Satchidananda was released, the album remains a vision of universal healing, spiritual self-preservation in times of trouble and the god that appears when you seek her out." [13]
All compositions by Alice Coltrane.
Side A
Side B
tracks A1 to B1
track B2
Pharoah Sanders was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", Sanders played a prominent role in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz through his work as a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s, and later through his solo work. He released more than thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others. Fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world".
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson was an American free jazz and avant-garde drummer who was best known for performing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life.
Ptah, the El Daoud, recorded and released in 1970, is the third solo album by Alice Coltrane. The album was recorded in the basement of her house in Dix Hills on Long Island, New York.
A Monastic Trio is the first solo album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded in 1968 at the John Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, New York, and was released later that year by Impulse! Records. On the album, Coltrane appears on piano and harp, and is joined by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali, all of whom were members of John Coltrane's last quintet. Drummer Ben Riley also appears on one track. The album was reissued on CD in 1998 with three additional tracks, one of which is a piano solo recorded in 1967.
Live At The Village Vanguard Again! is a live jazz album by saxophonist John Coltrane. Recorded in May 1966 during a live performance at the Village Vanguard jazz club in New York City, the album features Coltrane playing in the free jazz style that characterized his final years. The lineup features Coltrane's quintet, with Coltrane on tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, and flute, Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone and flute, Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums, supplemented by Emanuel Rahim on percussion. It was the quintet's only official recording released during Coltrane's lifetime.
Live in Japan is a live album by American saxophonist John Coltrane, recorded for radio broadcast during his only Japanese tour in July 1966 at two Tokyo venues, Shinjuku Kosei Nenkin Hall and Sankei Hall. The recordings feature his last group, a quintet featuring Coltrane, his wife/pianist Alice, saxophonist/bass clarinetist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Rashied Ali.
Meditations is a 1966 album by John Coltrane. The album was considered the "spiritual follow-up to A Love Supreme." It features Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as soloists, both playing tenor saxophones. This was the last Coltrane recording to feature his classic quartet lineup of himself, bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner, as both Jones and Tyner would quit the band by early 1966. Sanders, Ali, Garrison and Coltrane's wife Alice would comprise his next group.
Universal Consciousness is the fifth solo album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded from April to June, 1971, in New York City and at the Coltrane home studios in Dix Hills, New York, and was released later that year by Impulse! Records. On the album, Coltrane appears on harp and organ, and is joined by bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummers Jack DeJohnette, Rashied Ali, and Clifford Jarvis, and, on three tracks, a quartet of violins playing parts arranged by Ornette Coleman. It was the first in a series of three albums on which Coltrane appeared with an ensemble of strings.
World Galaxy is the sixth solo album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded in November 1971 in New York City, and was released in 1972 by Impulse! Records. On the album, Coltrane appears on piano, organ, harp, tamboura, and percussion, and is joined by saxophonist Frank Lowe, bassist Reggie Workman, drummer Ben Riley, timpanist Elayne Jones, and a string ensemble led by David Sackson. Violinist Leroy Jenkins also appears on soloist on one track, and Swami Satchidananda provides narration. World Galaxy features a trilogy of original compositions bookended by "My Favorite Things" and "A Love Supreme", two pieces for which her husband John Coltrane was known. It was the second in a series of three albums on which Coltrane appeared with an ensemble of strings.
Infinity is an album credited to John Coltrane, released on Impulse! Records in 1972. It features overdubs with strings of Coltrane's pieces recorded in 1965 and 1966, at the hands of Alice Coltrane. Her controversial "re-imagining" of her husband's late works was criticised by both fans and critics, as she took his original performances and superimposed them over lush orchestral backgrounds and re-dubbed rhythm section parts, as well as recording new solos on piano, organ, harp and timpani.
Cosmic Music is a jazz album by John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane released after John Coltrane's death. John Coltrane only plays on two tracks, "Manifestation" and "Reverend King".
Elevation is a live album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders, released in 1973 on the Impulse! label.
The Mastery of John Coltrane, Vol. III: Jupiter Variation is a compilation album by American saxophonist John Coltrane, which features pieces recorded in 1966 and 1967, but not released until 1978 on Impulse! Records as IA 9360. All tracks were previously unreleased, at the time of release. "Number One" may also be found on the CD reissue of Expression, while "Jupiter (Variation)" and "Leo" may be found on the reissue of Interstellar Space. "Peace on Earth", with posthumous overdubbings, can be found on Infinity. The version here is the original.
Offering: Live at Temple University is a live album by John Coltrane recorded in 1966 and released posthumously by Resonance Records on September 23, 2014, Coltrane's 88th birthday. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes and was well-received by critics. Proceeds from the album benefit the John Coltrane Home.
Izipho Zam (My Gifts) is the third album led by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders recorded in 1969 but not released on the Strata-East label until 1973. It features Sanders with a large ensemble.
Live at the East is a live album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders released on the Impulse! label.
Spiritual jazz is a sub-genre of jazz that originated in the United States during the 1960s. The genre is hard to characterize musically but draws from free, avant-garde and modal jazz and thematically focuses on transcendence and spirituality. John Coltrane's 1965 album A Love Supreme is considered landmark in the genre.
Live at the Berkeley Community Theater 1972 is a live album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded at the Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley, California, in July 1972, and was released as a double album in 2019 by the German label BCT. On the album, Coltrane appears on harp, piano and organ, and is joined by bassist Charlie Haden, sarod player Aashish Khan, tabla player Pranesh Khan, drummer Ben Riley, and a tamboura player listed simply as Bobby W. The recording features three compositions associated with John Coltrane plus a version of Alice Coltrane's "Journey in Satchidananda".
Carnegie Hall '71 is a live album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded at Carnegie Hall in New York City on February 21, 1971, and was released in 2018 by the Hi Hat label. On the album, Coltrane appears on piano and harp, and is joined by saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, bassists Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee, and drummers Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis.
William Clifford "Vishnu" Wood, also known as Vishnu Bill Wood, is an American double bass player and educator. Born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, he moved to Detroit when he was ten, where he started playing trumpet and later taking up double bass. After studying at the Detroit Institute of Musical Arts he worked with Dorothy Ashby in 1957 and then with Yusef Lateef and Joe Henderson.