Translinear Light

Last updated
Translinear Light
Translinear Light record cover.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 28, 2004
RecordedApril 28, 2000 to June 12, 2004
Genre Jazz
Label Impulse! Records
Producer Ravi Coltrane
Alice Coltrane chronology
Glorious Chants
(1995)
Translinear Light
(2004)
Carnegie Hall '71
(2018)

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.

Contents

Background

Translinear Light was Coltrane's first commercial album following a 26-year hiatus, [1] during which she was "home most often, focused on contemplation and inner growth." [2] She recorded Translinear Light at the encouragement of her sons Ravi and Oran. [2] Ravi Coltrane stated: "I always felt like there was a gap that was widening — any idea of us being two professional working musicians at the same time was just evaporating. I was getting deeper and deeper into music and each year she would say she was more and more retired from music. I think about those times I had opportunities to play professionally with my mother, but I was new to it and not ready. I wanted some document that I'll always be able to share with my kids. I don't want to have a day of regret, saying, 'I never did this with my mom.'" [2] Alice Coltrane recalled: "Well, I told my children I'm so happy to do this, but I’m not starting a second career!" [2] "My son was... practically pleading, 'Mom, you must do this, you have to!' It sort of originated from him, 'Mom, please make a record, make a CD.' So I said okay and this is what we did." [3] Recordings for the album took place at five different locations on dates ranging from April 28, 2000 to June 12, 2004. [4]

Coltrane scholar Ashley Kahn wrote: "The title is a play on the Coltrane name, and also a nod to Alice Coltrane's deep spirituality." [5] With regard to the title, he quotes Coltrane: "Look at what trance means... It means to transcend... it means to become transcendental! So if we get a singular transcendental path of light, that could lead to such great dimensions of consciousness, of revelation, of spirituality, of spiritual power." [5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [6]

Ekow Eshun, writing for The Observer (UK) in 2004 said, 'Translinear Light is less of a comeback than a continuation of where she left off. Coltrane eschews the harp, her most well-known instrument, for piano and Wurlitzer organ. And while the album doesn't touch the heights of a record like 1970's Journey in Satchidananda, it's more focused than her later work in the Seventies'. [7] JazzTimes reviewer David R. Adler described the album as "momentous," stating that it "channels the raw magic of Alice Coltrane’s classic early albums without recapitulating old ideas. There is a relevance and sonic freshness in her Wurlitzer organ, her synthesizer, her piano... Translinear Light is seamless, and wholly refreshing." [8]

John Kelman, writing in All About Jazz , called the disc "a richly rewarding album of music that has little to do with music as an exercise in technique and more as a means of conveying deeper expression... With Translinear Light Coltrane has created a work that honestly and unassumingly demonstrates the healing power of music, bypassing more intellectual concerns and instead going straight for the heart of the matter." [9] AllMusic reviewer Thom Jurek wrote: "Translinear Light is a major entry in Coltrane's catalog. It is a defining, aesthetically brilliant statement from a master composer, improviser, and player. If ever there were a candidate for jazz album of 2004, Translinear Light is it." [1]

The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings stated that the album "outstrips all expectations", and wrote: "Her supporting cast could hardly be better, of course. DeJohnette is masterful, Haden strong and supportive, and her two sons play better than at any point in their admittedly very different careers... There's nothing flimsy or otherworldly about this music, even when it evokes metaphysical issues. It is intense, lyrical, often unexpectedly raw, and focused on the here and now." [6]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sita Ram"traditional6:08
2."Walk with Me"traditional7:50
3."Translinear Light" Alice Coltrane 9:50
4."Jagadishwar"Alice Coltrane5:47
5."This Train"traditional6:06
6."The Hymn"Alice Coltrane3:04
7."Blue Nile"Alice Coltrane8:05
8."Crescent" John Coltrane 6:22
9."Leo"John Coltrane9:40
10."Triloka"Alice Coltrane5:08
11."Satya Sai Isha"traditional5:40

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Coltrane</span> American jazz saxophonist (1926–1967)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravi Coltrane</span> American jazz saxophonist (born 1965)

Ravi Coltrane is an American jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced pianist Luis Perdomo, guitarist David Gilmore, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi.

<i>A Love Supreme</i> 1965 studio album by John Coltrane

A Love Supreme is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Coltrane</span> American jazz musician

Alice Coltrane, also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, was an American jazz musician and composer, and in her later years a swamini. An accomplished pianist and one of the few harpists in the history of jazz, she recorded many albums as a bandleader, beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s for Impulse! and other record labels. She was married to jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane, with whom she performed in 1966–1967. One of the foremost exponents of spiritual jazz, her eclectic music proved widely influential both within and outside the world of jazz.

<i>A Monastic Trio</i> 1968 studio album by Alice Coltrane

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.

<i>Crescent</i> (John Coltrane album) 1964 studio album by John Coltrane

Crescent is a 1964 studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released by Impulse! as A-66. Alongside Coltrane on tenor saxophone, the album features McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones (drums) playing original Coltrane compositions.

<i>Illuminations</i> (Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana album) 1974 studio album by Santana & Coltrane

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lonnie Plaxico</span> American jazz double bassist

Lonnie Plaxico is an American jazz double bassist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Garrison</span> American jazz bassist

Matthew Justin Garrison is an American jazz bassist.

<i>Universal Consciousness</i> 1971 studio album by Alice Coltrane

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.

<i>Live at the Half Note: One Down, One Up</i> 2005 live album by John Coltrane

Live at the Half Note: One Down, One Up is a 2005 double CD compilation of two previously unreleased 1965 Friday radio broadcasts – March 26 and May 7 – at the Half Note Club in New York City, featuring John Coltrane with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Coltrane Home</span> Historic house in New York, United States

The John Coltrane Home is a house in the Dix Hills neighborhood of Huntington, Suffolk County, New York, where saxophonist John Coltrane lived from 1964 until his death in 1967. It was in this home that he composed A Love Supreme.

"Alabama" is a musical composition by the American jazz artist John Coltrane, first recorded in 1963 by Coltrane with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. Two takes from that session appear on Coltrane's 1964 album Live at Birdland. It is widely believed that Coltrane conceived of and performed the composition in response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing on September 15, 1963—an attack by the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four African-American girls: Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11).

Discography for the American jazz record label Impulse! Records. Original releases had the A- prefix for the mono release and AS- for the stereo.

<i>Offering: Live at Temple University</i> 2014 live album by John Coltrane

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.

<i>In Movement</i> 2016 studio album by Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane and Matthew Garrison

In Movement is a studio album by American jazz drummer and composer Jack DeJohnette with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and bassist Matthew Garrison recorded in 2015 and released on the ECM label.

<i>Sound Travels</i> 2012 studio album by Jack DeJohnette

Sound Travels is an album by drummer and composer Jack DeJohnette recorded in 2011 and released on the eOne Music/Golden Beams label. A re-recorded version of the song "Dirty Ground" would be included on the 2017 album Hudson.

<i>Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album</i> 2018 studio album by John Coltrane

Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album is a studio album recorded by saxophonist John Coltrane for Impulse! Records that was first released in 2018. The recordings were made in 1963 during Coltrane's Classic Quartet period and lost for decades.

<i>For Coltrane</i> 1993 live album by Marilyn Crispell

For Coltrane is a live solo piano album by Marilyn Crispell. It was recorded at Logan Hall in London in July 1987, and was released in 1993 by Leo Records. The recording took place during a concert in which Crispell supported Alice Coltrane and her sons Ravi and Oran with a set dedicated to Alice's late husband.

<i>Transfiguration</i> (Alice Coltrane album) 1978 live album by Alice Coltrane

Transfiguration is a live album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded in Los Angeles, California, in April 1978, and was released as a double album later that year by Warner Bros. On the album, Coltrane appears on piano and organ, and is joined by bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Roy Haynes. One track, "Prema," also includes an overdubbed string section. Transfiguration features five original compositions plus an extended version of John Coltrane's "Leo." It was her last jazz-oriented album, and last commercial release, until 2004's Translinear Light. Coltrane biographer Franya J. Berkman called it "her farewell to the jazz business."

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jurek, Thom. "Alice Coltrane: Translinear Light". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Kahn, Ashley (2006). The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. W. W. Norton.
  3. Nicholson, Stuart (November 3, 2004). "Alice Coltrane Interview" (PDF). stuartnicholson.uk. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  4. "Alice Coltrane – Translinear Light". discogs.com. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  5. 1 2 Kahn, Ashley (September 23, 2004). "Alice Coltrane: 'Translinear Light'". NPR.org. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  6. 1 2 Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 283. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  7. Eshun, Ekow (November 14, 2004). "Alice Coltrane, Translinear Light". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  8. Adler, David R. (October 1, 2004). "Alice Coltrane: Translinear Light". www.jazztimes.com. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  9. Kelman, John (November 2, 2004). "Alice Coltrane: Translinear Light". www.allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 2020-08-03.