ALICE COLTRANE レコード& CD

Review: In 1971, the harpist, pianist and ultimately multi-instrumentalist jazz musician Alice Coltrane performed at the Carnegie Hall for a special gala benefiting the Integral Yoga Institute. Backed by an all-star group of musicians, Coltrane delivered a captivating set which will now be available in its entirety on vinyl for the first time. The Carnegie Hall Concert, now out on Verve, documents one of the defining moments of Coltrane's career, taking place not long after the immediate positive reception to the release of her spotlit Journey In Satchidananda LP. The concert, which spans both recognisable and unique compositions by Coltrane, ultimately conveyed a uniquely Eastern edge lent to Western spiritual jazz, and came as the first dedicated concert to be themed after the lessons gleaned from recognition of the Hindu god and enlightened state, Satchidananda; it enlisted the aid of two of her closest friends in the circle she'd joined during a formative trip to India that year, Kumar Kramer and Tulsi Reynolds.

Review: Highly revered jazz innovator and famous spiritualist Alice Coltrane recorded her 1972 album Lord of Lords in California and released it originally on Impulse! Records. It is a slow-building affair that was the last in a trio of hugely orchestral works that took jazz to grand new heights. It hums with cosmic energy and has a throb of organic sound at its core with cinematic, widescreen atmosphere that place you right at the centre of the American's musical universe. It is dense, too, with 25 instruments all featuring and vying for attention with violins, cellos and violas all working in harmony.

Review: Journey in Satchidananda was the fourth solo album by Alice Coltrane and it might be her best-known work. Some of the tunes here were recorded live at the Village Gate while the rest were recorded at her home studio in Dix Hills in New York, and all of them were released in 1971. The album has grown ever more mythical in status and store since then with its transcendental spiritual jazz sounds with layered-up bells, tambourine, tanpura and more into a sound that leans heavily on Coltrane's love of Middle Eastern and North African music and culture. Earthy, bluesy, steeped in musical mantra and utterly absorbing, it's one of the most enthralling records of the era.