Alice Coltrane: Journey In Satchidananda
From: Journey In Satchidananda [Impulse!, 1971]
Alice Coltrane: Turiya And Ramakrishna
From: Ptah The El Daoud [Impulse!,1970]
Life is hectic at the moment people, a job promotion and real world moves leaving less time than I’d like to cuddle up to my vinyl and whisper sweet nothings into its grooves. What better time then to take a moment out and relax and unwind with the audio equivalent of a spiritual and mental cleanse from Alice Coltrane.
Coltrane’s fourth solo album after the death of John, Journey in Satchidananda marks a high point in Alice’s solo career and proves that she possessed a great musical talent herself. Inspired by the meeting with her guru Swami Satchidananda, Coltrane’s playing is expansive and the compositions epic and sweeping in nature. The title track itself is probably my favourite of all of Alice’s work, the combination of lush harp playing is offset by some brilliant work by Pharoah Sanders that prevents the music from ever entering the dreaded world of easy listening. This is gorgeous, timeless, music of the highest quality.
Released a year earlier, Ptah The El Daoud offers hints of what’s to come on Journey in… but is composed more as one continuous piece, the album’s musical themes continuing from one track to the next. Turiya And Ramakrishna showcases Coltrane’s piano skills to create a lilting piece that drifts in and out of focus with some excellent bass by Ron Carter carrying the track forward (Coltrane certainly knew how to compose a stellar line up for her albums).
With the insanity going on in the world at the moment take a moment to listen to the pieces, relax your body, and unwind your mind, you won’t regret it.
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"some brilliant work by Pharoah Sanders"
Yeah, I so agree with you… check this !
Nice site adlib, have added you to our New Additions list.
Thanx Junior !
Peace
Thanks for the post. Alice is awesome.
By the way, who won the contest?
Ah, Alice. What a glorious welcome to the site. "Blue Nile" is pure bliss.
What a shame that so many critics and listeners have ignored her in the shadow of her husband – she really put out some beautiful records in the early 70's, "Universal Consciousness" being the hallmark in my opinion.
Lovely post.
Hey floodwatch, you're spot on, Universal Consciousness is a great album, just couldn't find my copy for this post. Will have a look around and maybe feature it in the future.
Soulbrotha, I'll try and get info up on the competition winner before the end of the week.
nice; fantastic connection with adlib. i treasure my copies of 'satchidananda' and 'deaf dumb blind' (as well as 'universal consciousness' and 'karma'). it's great to see both albums posted in tandem on separate sites. good 'ol impulse!
Junior – if you can find a copy of the out-of-print "World Galaxy" (1971), snatch it up. I found one on vinyl a year ago, and it's even trippier than "Universal Consciousness."
Yep just dug out my copy of World Galaxy and had forgotten quite how mind expanding it was. Great great record and one I really should cover in more detail in the future.