Alice Coltrane (' McLeod; August 27, 1937January 12, 2007), also known by her adopted

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

name Turiyasangitananda, was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musician and composer, and in her later years a swamini. An accomplished pianist and one of the few

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orc ...

ists 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. Coltrane's professional music career slowed from the mid 1970s as she became more dedicated to her religious education. She founded the Vedantic Center in 1975 and the Shanti Anantam

Ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (<

Sai Anantam Ashram
'' During the 1980s and 1990s, she recorded several albums of

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

devotional songs before returning to jazz in the 2000s.

Biography

Early life and career (1937–1965)

Coltrane was born Alice McLeod on August 27, 1937, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, and grew up in a musical household. Her mother, Anna McLeod, was a member of the choir at her church; her half-brother, Ernest Farrow, became a jazz bassist; and her younger sister, Marilyn McLeod, became a songwriter at

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

. With the encouragement of her father, Alice McLeod pursued music and started to perform in various clubs around Detroit, until moving to Paris in the late 1950s. She studied

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

, and also jazz with

Bud Powell Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of mode ...

in Paris, where she worked as the intermission pianist at the

Blue Note Jazz Club Blue Note Jazz Club is a jazz club and restaurant located at 131 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on September 30, 1981, by owner and founder Danny Bensusan, with the Nat Adderley Quintet being the featur ...

in 1960. It was there that McLeod appeared on French television in a performance with Lucky Thompson, Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clarke. She married Kenny "Pancho" Hagood in 1960 and had a daughter with him. The marriage ended soon after, on account of Hagood's developing heroin addiction, and McLeod was forced to return to Detroit with her daughter. She continued playing jazz as a professional in Detroit, with her own trio and as a duo with vibraphonist Terry Pollard. In 1962–63, she played with Terry Gibbs' quartet, during which time she met John Coltrane. In 1965, they married in Juárez, Mexico. John Coltrane became stepfather to Alice Coltrane's daughter Michelle, and the couple had three children together: John Jr. (1964, a bassist who died in a car accident in 1982); Ravi (b. 1965, a saxophonist); and Oranyan (b. 1967, a DJ). Oranyan later played saxophone with Santana for a period of time.

Solo work (1967–1978)

Alice and John's growing involvement in spirituality influenced some of John's compositions and projects, such as '' A Love Supreme''. In January 1966, Alice Coltrane replaced McCoy Tyner as pianist with John Coltrane's group. She subsequently recorded with him and continued playing with the band until John's death on July 17, 1967. After her husband's death, she continued to forward the musical and spiritual vision, and started to release records as a composer and bandleader. Her first album, '' A Monastic Trio'', was recorded in 1967. From 1968 to 1977, she released thirteen full-length records. As the years passed, her musical direction moved further from standard jazz into the more cosmic, spiritual world. Albums like ''

Universal Consciousness ''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 ...

'' (1971), and ''

World Galaxy ''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 join ...

'' (1972), show a progression from a four-piece lineup to a more orchestral approach, with lush string arrangements and cascading harps. Until 1973, she released music with Impulse! Records, the jazz label for which her husband recorded. From 1973 to 1978, she released primarily on Warner Bros. Records until she stepped away from the public eye.

Ashram years (1975–1995)

After the death of her husband, Coltrane experienced a period of trial. She suffered from severe weight loss and sleepless nights, as well as hallucinations. This ''tapas'' (a Sanskrit term she used to describe her suffering), led her to seek Hindu spiritual guidance from the guru Swami Satchidananda and later from

Sathya Sai Baba Sathya Sai Baba (born Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 192624 April 2011) was an Indian guru. At the age of fourteen he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and left his home to serve his devotees. Sai Baba's ...

. By 1972, she abandoned her secular life, and moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where she established the Vedantic Center in 1975. By the late 1970s, she had changed her name to Turiyasangitananda. She was the spiritual director, or swamini, of Shanti Anantam

Ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (<

Malibu, California. Alice would perform formal and informal devotional Vedic ceremonies at the ashram. She performed solo chants, known as bhajans, and group chants, or kirtans. She developed original melodies from the traditional chants, and started to experiment by including synthesizers and sophisticated song structures. This culminated in her first spiritual cassette, '' Turiya Sings'', in 1982. The cassette was released only to the members of the ashram, through her publishing company, the Avatar Book Institute. Through the mid 1980s into the mid 1990s, she released three more cassettes, '' Divine Songs'' in 1987, ''Infinite Chants'' in 1990, and ''Glorious Chants'' in 1995. New York-based label Luaka Bop released a compilation of tracks from her ashram tapes as ''World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda'' in May 2017. The ashram was destroyed in the 2018 Woolsey Fire.

Later years and death (1995–2007)

The 1990s saw renewed interest in her work, which led to the release of the compilation ''Astral Meditations'', and in 2004 she released her comeback album '' Translinear Light''. Following a 25-year break from major public performances, she returned to the stage for three U.S. appearances in the fall of 2006, including a concert at Ann Arbor's

Hill Auditorium Hill Auditorium is the largest performance venue on the University of Michigan campus, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The auditorium was named in honor of Arthur Hill (1847-1909), who served as a regent of the university from 1901 to 1909. He bequeath ...

presented by

University Musical Society The University Musical Society (UMS) is a not-for-profit performing arts presenter located on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was established in December 1880. While UMS is affiliated with the University of ...

of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

on September 23, which would have been John Coltrane's 80th birthday, and culminating on November 4 with a concert for the San Francisco Jazz Festival with her son Ravi, drummer

Roy Haynes Roy Owen Haynes (born March 13, 1925) is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jaz ...

, and bassist Charlie Haden. Alice Coltrane died of respiratory failure at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles in 2007, aged 69. She is buried alongside John Coltrane in Pinelawn Memorial Park, Farmingdale,

Suffolk County, New York Suffolk County () is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. According to the 2020 United States census, the county's populat ...

Impact

Paul Weller dedicated his song "Song for Alice (Dedicated to the Beautiful Legacy of Mrs. Coltrane)", from his 2008 album '' 22 Dreams'', to Coltrane; the track titled "Alice" on Sunn O)))'s 2009 album '' Monoliths & Dimensions'' was similarly inspired. Electronic musician Steve "Flying Lotus" Ellison is the grand nephew of Alice Coltrane. On his 2010 album '' Cosmogramma'', he paid tribute to Coltrane in the form of a song titled "Drips//Auntie's Harp", in which he sampled her harp from the track "Blue Nile", featured on the album ''

Ptah, the El Daoud ''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. This was Coltrane's first album with horns (aside from on ...

'' (1970). The song "That Alice" on Laura Veirs' album '' Warp and Weft'' is about Coltrane. Orange Cake Mix included a song entitled "Alice Coltrane" on their 1997 LP Silver Lining Underwater. Poet giovanni singleton's book ''Ascension'' includes 49 poems written daily after Alice Coltrane's death.

Cauleen Smith Cauleen Smith (born September 25, 1967) is an American born filmmaker and multimedia artist. She is best known for her experimental works that address the African-American identity, specifically the issues facing black women today. Smith is bes ...

's conceptual art exhibition ''Give It or Leave It'' featured two films, "Pilgrim" (2017) and "Sojourner" (2018), exploring Alice Coltrane's music and ashram. Alice Coltrane was among hundreds of artists whose master recordings were destroyed in the

2008 Universal fire On June 1, 2008, a fire broke out on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, an American film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. The fire began when a worker used a blowtorch to warm asph ...

Discography

As leader

Studio and live albums * '' A Monastic Trio'' ( Impulse!, 1968) * '' Huntington Ashram Monastery'' (Impulse!, 1969) * ''

'' (Impulse!, 1970) * '' Journey in Satchidananda'' (Impulse!, 1971) * ''

'' (Impulse!, 1971) * ''

'' (Impulse!, 1972) * '' Lord of Lords'' (Impulse!, 1973) * '' Illuminations'' (Columbia, 1974) with

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound feature ...

* '' Eternity'' (

Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

, 1976) * ''

Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana ''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 ha ...

'' (Warner Bros., 1977) * ''

Transcendence Transcendence, transcendent, or transcendental may refer to: Mathematics * Transcendental number, a number that is not the root of any polynomial with rational coefficients * Algebraic element or transcendental element, an element of a field exten ...

'' (Warner Bros., 1977) * '' Transfiguration'' (Warner Bros., 1978) * '' Turiya Sings'' (Avatar Book Institute, 1982; reissued by Impulse!/Verve/UMe/Universal, 2021) * '' Divine Songs'' (Avatar, 1987) * ''Infinite Chants'' (Avatar, 1990) * ''Glorious Chants'' (Avatar, 1995) * '' Translinear Light'' (Impulse!, 2004) * '' Carnegie Hall '71'' (Hi Hat, 2018) also released as ''Live at Carnegie Hall, 1971'' * ''

Live at the Berkeley Community Theater 1972 ''Live at the Berkeley Community Theater 1972'' is a live album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded at the Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley, California, in July 1972, and was released as a double album in 2019 by the German label BCT. On the a ...

'' (BCT, 2019) * ''Kirtan:Turiya Sings'' (Impulse!/Verve/UMe/Universal, 2021; different mixes of Turiya Sings discovered by

Ravi Coltrane Ravi Coltrane (born August 6, 1965) 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. Biography Ravi Coltrane is the son of sa ...

in 2004) Compilations * ''Reflection on Creation and Space (a Five Year View)'' (Impulse!, 1973) * ''Priceless Jazz Collection'' ( GRP, 1998) * ''Astral Meditations'' (Impulse!, 1999) * ''The Impulse Story'' (Impulse!, 2006) * ''Universal Consciousness / Lord of Lords'' (Impulse!, 2011) * ''Huntington Ashram Monastery/World Galaxy'' (Impulse!, 2011) * ''World Spiritual Classics: Volume I: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda'' (Luaka Bop, 2017) * ''Spiritual Eternal: The Complete Warner Bros. Studio Recordings'' (Real Gone Music 2018)

As co-leader

* '' Cosmic Music'' (Impulse!, 1966–1968) with John Coltrane

As sidewoman

With John Coltrane * ''

Live at the Village Vanguard Again! ''Live At The Village Vanguard Again!'' is a live jazz album by saxophonist John Coltrane. Recorded in May 1966 during a live performance at the Village Vanguard jazz club in New York City, the album features Coltrane playing in the free jazz st ...

'' (Impulse!, 1966) * ''

Live in Japan ''Live in Japan'' can refer to one of the following albums or videos: Albums * ''Live in Japan'' (21st Century Schizoid Band album) * ''Live in Japan'' (22-20s album) * ''Live in Japan'' (B.B. King album) * ''Live in Japan'' (Beck, Bogert & Appice ...

'' (Impulse!, 1966; released 1973) * '' Offering: Live at Temple University'' (Resonance, 1966; released 2014) * '' Stellar Regions'' (Impulse!, 1967; released 1995) * '' Expression'' (Impulse!, 1967) * '' The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording'' (Impulse!, 1967; released 2001) * ''

Infinity Infinity is that which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol . Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity was the subject of many discussions am ...

'' (Impulse!, 1972) With Terry Gibbs * ''

Terry Gibbs Plays Jewish Melodies in Jazztime ''Terry Gibbs Plays Jewish Melodies in Jazztime'' is a 1963 studio album by Terry Gibbs. It is the debut recording of Alice Coltrane, credited as Alice Hagood. Track listing # "Bei Mir Bist du Schön" (Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin, Jacob Jacobs, Sh ...

'' ( Mercury, 1963) * ''Hootenanny My Way'' (Mercury, 1963) * ''El Nutto'' (

Limelight Limelight (also known as Drummond light or calcium light)James R. Smith (2004). ''San Francisco's Lost Landmarks'', Quill Driver Books. is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created whe ...

, 1964) With Roland Kirk * '' Left & Right'' (

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, 1968) With McCoy Tyner * ''

Extensions Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * Ex ...

'' ( Blue Note, 1970) With

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

* '' The Elements'' (

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

, 1973) With Charlie Haden * '' Closeness'' (

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

, 1976) With Various Artists * '' Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool'' (GRP, 1994)

References

External links

* * *
The Vedantic Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coltrane, Alice African-American women composers African-American jazz composers American jazz composers African-American jazz musicians African-American jazz pianists Jazz harpists American jazz harpists American jazz organists Modal jazz pianists Women jazz pianists Kirtan performers 1937 births 2007 deaths Jazz musicians from Michigan Musicians from Detroit Cass Technical High School alumni Followers of Sathya Sai Baba Deaths from respiratory failure Impulse! Records artists Warner Records artists Women organists 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American composers 21st-century American keyboardists Jazz musicians from Alabama 20th-century women composers American Hindus Converts to Hinduism from Christianity African-American women musicians Spiritual jazz musicians 20th-century women pianists