John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.
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 over 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".
Alice Lucille Coltrane, also known as Swamini Turiyasangitananda or simply Turiya, was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader and Hindu spiritual leader.
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.
Huntington Ashram Monastery is the second solo album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded in May 1969 at the Coltrane home studios in Dix Hills, New York, and was initially released later that year by John Coltrane Records, which was absorbed by Impulse! Records. On the album, Coltrane is heard on harp and piano, and is joined by bassist Ron Carter and drummer Rashied Ali.
Illuminations is a 1974 collaboration between Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana. Saxophonist/flautist Jules Broussard, keyboardist Tom Coster, drummer Jack DeJohnette, percussionist Armando Peraza and bassist Dave Holland also contributed to the album.
Divine Songs is an album by Swamini Turiyasangitananda, formerly known as Alice Coltrane. It is an album composed of devotional songs from the Hindu religion. The songs are accompanied by Turiya's signature playing on the Wurlitzer organ. She plays the songs on the organ, beginning with the traditional Indian mode, but then improvises and stretches it until it turns back on itself musically. Her use of breaks, syncopation, and harmonic invention re-images the songs as something original and nearly unclassifiable.
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.
Translinear Light is the final studio album by American jazz pianist Alice Coltrane, released in September, 2004 on Impulse Records. It was produced by her son Ravi Coltrane, who also played saxophone for the album as did her third son Oran. In addition to original compositions, it includes two by her husband John Coltrane and four interpretations of traditional songs.
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.
Eternity is an album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded in August through October, 1975, and was released in 1976 by Warner Records, her first release with the label. On the album, Coltrane is joined by ensembles of varying size. It was Coltrane's first album following both her move to California and her decision to become a monastic.
Transcendence is an album by Alice Coltrane, recorded in California in May 1977, and released later that year by Sepia Tone Records. On the album, Coltrane is heard in a variety of instrumental combinations. "Vrindavana" is a solo track, while on "Radhe-Shyam" and "Transcendence", Coltrane appears on harp accompanied by a string ensemble. The remaining tracks are among the earliest examples of her use of Hindu devotional hymns called bhajans, and feature Coltrane on keyboards joined by large groups of singers who also clap and play hand instruments.
Brandee Younger is an American harpist. Younger infuses classical, jazz, soul, and funk influences to the harp tradition pioneered by her predecessors and idols Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. Younger leads her own ensemble, performs as a soloist and has worked as a sideman for such musicians as Pharoah Sanders, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Bill Lee and Reggie Workman, and other popular artists including Lauryn Hill, John Legend, Common, Ryan Leslie, Drake, Maxwell, The Roots, Moses Sumney and Salaam Remi. Younger is noted for her work with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, who was featured on her 2019 release, Soul Awakening. Currently, she records and tours with drummer and producer Makaya McCraven, following the release of his 2018 recording Universal Beings.
Blending Times is Ravi Coltrane's fifth album as a band leader, and second for Savoy Records.
Journey to the One is a double album led by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, recorded in 1979 and released on the Theresa label.
Turiya Sings is an album by Alice Coltrane, recorded in 1981 during a marathon fifteen-hour session, and initially released in 1982 on privately-pressed cassette for her Vedantic Center's students. The album features recordings of devotional Sanskrit songs sung by Coltrane, accompanied by overdubbed strings and synthesised instrumentation, and marks her first recorded appearance as a vocalist.
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.
Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana is an album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded in California in August 1976, and was released in 1977 by Warner Bros. On the album, Coltrane is joined by students from the Vedantic Center, who sing, clap, and play hand percussion, and by her daughter Sita Michelle Coltrane and son Arjuna John Coltrane Jr.
Lord of Lords is an album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded in California in July 1972, and was issued in 1973 by Impulse! Records, her final release for the label. On the album, Coltrane appears on piano, organ, harp, timpani, and percussion, and is joined by bassist Charlie Haden, drummer Ben Riley, and a string ensemble, which she conducts. Lord of Lords features three original compositions along with excerpts from Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird and an arrangement of the piece "Going Home", which was, in turn, adapted from the second movement of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in D. It was the third in a series of three albums on which Coltrane appeared with an ensemble of strings.
The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda is a compilation album by Alice Coltrane. The music was drawn from the master tapes of four recordings that had been previously released on cassette in limited quantities for members of the Sai Anantam Ashram in California: Turiya Sings (1982), Divine Songs (1987), Infinite Chants (1990), and Glorious Chants (1995). The album, a double-LP set on which Coltrane is heard on vocals, organ, synthesizer, and harp, was released in 2017 by Luaka Bop as Volume 1 of their World Spirituality Classics series.
