''Journey in Satchidananda'' is the fourth solo album by

Alice Coltrane Alice Coltrane (' McLeod; August 27, 1937January 12, 2007), 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 har ...

. Four of the album's tracks were recorded at the Coltrane home studios in Dix Hills, New York, in November 1970, while the remaining track was recorded live at the

Village Gate The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago school (architec ...

in July of that year. It was released by

Impulse! Records Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positi ...

in 1971. On the album, Coltrane appears on piano and harp, and is joined by saxophonist

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

, bassists

Cecil McBee Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums. Biography Early life and career McBee was born in Tu ...

(studio tracks) and

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

(live track), and drummer

Rashied Ali Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009) was an American free jazz and avant-garde drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life. Biography Early life Patterson was born and ...

Vishnu Wood William Clifford "Vishnu" Wood (born November 7, 1937), also known as Vishnu Bill Wood, is an American double bass player and educator. Born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, he moved to Detroit when he was ten, where he started playing trumpet and l ...

also appears on

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on the live track, while the studio recordings also feature Majid Shabazz on bells and tambourine and Tulsi on

tanpura The tanpura (), also referred to as tambura and tanpuri, is a long-necked plucked string instrument, originating in India, found in various forms in Indian music. It does not play melody, but rather supports and sustains the melody of an ...

. ''Journey in Satchidananda'' is important in that it marks a transition between Coltrane's first three recordings and her subsequent releases, which reveal a more personalized outlook. The album's title and title track reflect the influence of

Swami Satchidananda Satchidananda Saraswati (; 22 December 1914 – 19 August 2002), born C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder and usually known as Swami Satchidananda, was an Indian yoga guru Modern yoga gurus are people widely acknowledged to be gurus of modern yoga in a ...

, to whom Coltrane had become close while being his disciple. "Shiva-Loka", or "realm of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

", refers to the realm of the third member of the

Hindu trinity The Trimūrti (; Sanskrit: त्रिमूर्ति ', "three forms" or "trinity") are the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity in Hinduism, in which the cosmic functions of creation ex nihilo, creation, Conservation ...

, the "dissolver of creation". "Stopover Bombay" refers to a five-week stay in India and Sri Lanka on which Coltrane was due to go in December 1970. "Something About John Coltrane" is based on themes by her late husband,

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

. "Isis and Osiris" demonstrates Coltrane's interest in Middle Eastern and North African music and culture. The presence of the tamboura, played by Tulsi, reflects Coltrane's interest in

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

and religion.

Reception

The editors of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

awarded the album a full 5 stars, and Thom Jurek stated, "this is a remarkable album, and necessary for anyone interested in the development of modal and experimental jazz. It's also remarkably accessible". The album was ranked number 446 in the 2020 edition of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and the editors called it "a meditative bliss-out like jazz had never seen: part earthy blues and part ethereal mantra, and a potent influence on sonic seekers from Radiohead to Coltrane's grandnephew Flying Lotus." ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

s Josephine Livingstone noted that the album "pays full tribute to the transformation that oltraneunderwent in the late 1960s—as a human being and artist," and commented: "this is a record as much about the soul as it is about skilled orchestration... the very texture of ''Journey'' is defined by transition, process, and flow. Its music has no beginning or end. Instead... Coltrane is working with the principle of looping and transcendence." Writing for Treble, and referring to the loss of Coltrane's husband, Emma Bauchner remarked: "''Journey in Satchidananda'' feels like a culmination of sorts: a collision of loss with newfound understanding and self-expression. The music occupies the liminal spaces between East and West, post-bop and raga, grief and healing, consciousness and transcendence... More than anything, ''Journey in Satchidanandas magnificent soundscapes carry a deep sense of healing, reflecting Coltrane's own journey and subsequent transformation in the face of grief." In an article for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Jennifer Lucy Allan described the album as "a mid-point between the modal and meditative, where all the parts of her musical being and biography are present," and wrote: "It ought strictly to be called fusion music, with elements taken from Indian music and combined with western traditions, but in Coltrane’s music there are no visible joins – all is bound in cosmic opulence." Colleen Murphy of Classical Album Sundays described the album as "a truly deep, far out, transformative listening experience," and remarked: "you may also temporarily achieve a higher state of consciousness while listening to this album. Take the journey."

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's Sydnee Monday stated: "Almost 50 years after ''Journey In Satchidananda'' was released, the album remains a vision of universal healing, spiritual self-preservation in times of trouble and the god that appears when you seek her out."

Track listing

Side A #"Journey in Satchidananda" – 6:39 #"Shiva-Loka" – 6:37 #"Stopover Bombay" – 2:54 Side B #"Something About John Coltrane" – 9:44 #"Isis and Osiris" – 11:49 All compositions by Alice Coltrane.
Tracks A1–B1 recorded at the Coltrane home studio,

Dix Hills Dix Hills is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on Long Island in the town of Huntington in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 26,892 at the 2010 census. In the past, Dix Hills and some of its neighbors have proposed ...

, New York, on November 8, 1970; track B2 recorded live at

The Village Gate The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structu ...

, New York City, on July 4, 1970.

Personnel

tracks A1 to B1 *

– piano, harp *

– soprano saxophone, percussion *

– double bass *

– drums *Tulsi –

*Majid Shabazz – bells, tambourine track B2 *

– harp *

– soprano saxophone, percussion *

– drums *

– bass *

–

References

{{Authority control Alice Coltrane albums 1971 albums Musical tributes by person Impulse! Records albums Albums produced by Alice Coltrane Spiritual jazz albums