Alice Coltrane (1937–2007) was a Detroit-born jazz pianist, harpist, and composer whose Impulse! albums took spiritual jazz somewhere entirely her own — harp, organ, and strings included. Journey in Satchidananda (1971) is the masterpiece and the obvious first stop; Ptah, the El Daoud runs close behind. Find Alice Coltrane vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Alice Lucille McLeod was born in Detroit on August 27, 1937. A bebop pianist by training, she performed with Terry Gibbs's group, where she met John Coltrane. They married in 1965, and she joined his band as pianist in 1966 following McCoy Tyner's departure, performing on John Coltrane's late recordings until his death in 1967. After his death she launched her own recording career on Impulse! Records, releasing a series of pioneering spiritual jazz albums incorporating harp, organ, and string ensemble. In the mid-1970s she became a devoted student of Indian spiritual traditions, took the name Turiyasangitananda, and founded an ashram in California, recording predominantly devotional music through the 1980s and 1990s.
Alice Coltrane's spiritual jazz recordings combined modal jazz traditions with Indian classical influences, gospel, and ambient texture. Her work centered on her harp playing (unusual in jazz), Wurlitzer organ, and string arrangements. Her later devotional cassettes blended Indian devotional song forms with synthesizer and ensemble accompaniment.
Original Impulse! pressings of the early 1970s spiritual jazz catalog are among the most sought-after items in jazz collecting. Multiple reissue campaigns have been mounted, including the 2017 Luaka Bop release The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, which compiled selections from her devotional ashram cassettes.
Listeners new to Alice Coltrane typically start with Journey in Satchidananda (1971), widely regarded as her masterpiece. Ptah, the El Daoud (1970) is a common second entry point.
