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Alice Coltrane

For more than five decades, the Coltrane name remains at the forefront of modern music. It is lauded throughout the United States as well as internationally where it has received great acclaim. The musical offerings cover an eclectic variety of artistic expressions recorded on ABC Impulse, Warner Bros., and Impulse- Universal.

She was born and raised in the religious family of Solon and Anne McLeod in Detroit, Michigan, once hailed as a major musical capitol. Alice became interested in music and began her study of the piano at the age of seven. She consistently and diligently practiced and studied classical music. Subsequently, she enrolled in a more advanced study of the music of Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Stravinsky and Tschaikowsky. She once said: "Classical music for me, was an extensive, technical study for many years. At that time, I discovered it to be a truly profound music with a highly intellectual ambiance. I will always appreciate it with a kind remembrance and great esteem. Subsequent to the completion of her studies, she said, "The classical artist must respectfully recreate the composer's meaning. Although, with jazz music, you are allowed to develop your own creativity, improvisation and expression. This greatly inspires me."

She graduated from high school with a scholarship to the Detroit Institute of Technology; however, her musical achievements began to echo throughout the city, to the extent that she played in many music halls, choirs and churches, for various occasions as weddings, funerals, and religious programs. Her skills and abilities were highly enhanced when she began playing piano and organ for the gospel choir, and for the junior and senior choirs at her church. In later years, she would further her musical attributes by including organ, harp and synthesizer to her accomplishments.

After moving to New York in the early sixties, Alice met and married John Coltrane, the great creator of avant-garde music and genius and master of the tenor and soprano saxophones. His parents were very spiritual, and dedicated to service in the church in which his father faithfully served. John's mother, Mrs. Alice Coltrane, Sr, was a fine singer. He was blessed to have them as his parents.

The innovative, futuristic sounds of the Coltrane musical heritage have set a new pace for modern music that sounded the unstruck chord throughout the world. And it resounded in the hearts of many people creating a legacy that will not soon be forgotten. The vision they shared became a bright effulgence from the lighthouse of polyphonic, ethereal, universal sound, bringing clarity and understanding of the music and enhancing appreciation of it to the people.

Alice Coltrane: The Carnegie Hall Concert

Read "The Carnegie Hall Concert" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
April 18, 2024

The most perfect of time machines, with no errant destinations and no abrupt landings, The Carnegie Hall Concert transports one to a time when artists took their art seriously, when it was sacrosanct. Alice Coltrane's harp comes on like the siren lure of angels, like a missionary, calling all to stop their labor. It seems to say, “Come to listen, come to wonder, come to rest, don't be afraid." And Coltrane wasn't, not ever. Here she was with ...

Radio & Podcasts

Alice Coltrane, Kaze, Michael Attias & The Fully Celebrated Orchestra

by Maurice Hogue
March 26, 2024

Did you know 2024 has been designated as the Year Of Alice? Impulse Records and the John and Alice Coltrane Home are celebrating Alice this year through special events and new releases. The first album to appear is Alice Coltrane--The Carnegie Hall Concert with all unreleased tracks from a terrific band. This concert in 1971 was Alice's first appearance at Carnegie as a leader. There's also much more new music from Peter Brötzmann & Paal Nilssen-Love, Jim Hobbs & The ...

Radio & Podcasts

Alice Coltrane, Riley Mulherkar, Tima Volozh, Julien Lourau & More

by Ludovico Granvassu
February 29, 2024

An episode bookended by two albums destined to be on the “Best of 2024" lists under the categories “new releases" (Riley Mulherkar's) and “Unearthed Gems" (Alice Coltrane's). In between, various ways to infuse jazz with Brazilian influences, and the odd library music track for good measure.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Riley Mulherkar “Ride or Die" Riley (Westerlies) 0:16 Host talks 3:27 Tima Volozh “Lá Lauê" Jubilee (Shifting ...

In Pictures

Sons D'Hiver 2022: A Tribute To Alice Coltrane

by Luciano Rossetti
April 24, 2022

A collection of photos from the Hamid Drake “A Tribute To Alice Coltrane" concert at Sons d'Hiver in Paris-Creteil on February 19, 2022 featuring Hamid Drake, Thomas de Pourquery, Jan Bang, Jamie Saft, Pasquale Mirra, Joshua Abrams and Ndoho Ange. ...

Profile

Alice Coltrane: In the Spirit

by Kurt Gottschalk
May 24, 2020

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in December 2002. Alice Coltrane walked out onstage, joining an ensemble led by her son Ravi on a recent and historic night at Joe's Pub. The bassist Darryl Hall played an immediately recognizable four-note line and the group (also featuring drummer E.J. Strickland) launched into the only reasonable song they could have chosen for the evening, if one that many in the packed room might well ...

Album Review

Alice Coltrane: Carnegie Hall '71

Read "Carnegie Hall '71" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
December 18, 2019

Welcome to the Alice Coltrane Kollectors' Korner. Before entering, discard any nagging ethical concerns about bootlegs and pirated recordings. Call them “unofficial releases" instead. Embrace your inner completist. 2019 has been a good year for members of ACKK. First we had Alice Coltrane Live At The Berkeley Community Theater 1972 (BCT, 2019). The album features Coltrane fronting a percussion-focused, horn-free sextet on harp, acoustic piano and Wurlitzer organ. She performs one of her own tunes ("Journey In ...

Album Review

Alice Coltrane: Live At The Berkeley Community Theater 1972

Read "Live At The Berkeley Community Theater 1972" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
June 11, 2019

Conventional belief holds that Alice Coltrane was the dreamy, mellifluous partner in John Coltrane's late period, out-there sonic explorations. The truth is otherwise, as attentive listening to the recordings the two Coltranes made together in 1966 and 1967 demonstrates. The misapprehension stems from the gentler albums Alice made for Impulse in the first few years following her husband's passing. A Monastic Trio (1968), Huntington Ashram Monastery (1969), Ptah, The El Daoud (1970), Journey In Satchidananda (1971) and World Galaxy (1972) ...

Recording

Alice Coltrane: The Carnegie Hall Concert, 1971

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 25, 2024

Four years after the death of Alice Coltrane's husband, John Coltrane, the harpist, pianist, composer and ensemble leader performed with a sizable group at New York's Carnegie Hall. Married in 1965 to John Coltrane after his divorce from Juanita Naima Coltrane—a woman he had been married to since 1953—Alice had a journey of her own following her husband's passing in 1967 of liver disease at age 40. Alice and John knew each other as musicians since 1962. What started out ...
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148

Recording

Alice Coltrane - Universal Consciousnes /Lord of Lords (Impulse!, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
August 3, 2011

After the death of her husband and bandleader, the legendary John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane continued to record for Impulse Records for another few years before retreating to her ashram to concentrate on her spiritual concerns. Spirituality has always been the prime concern of her music, and the selections move farther and farther away from jazz into a somber liturgical music that is nonetheless fascinating to listen to. The first part of this collection is very enjoyable because it focuses on ...
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162

Event

Monument Eternal: Alice Coltrane's Spiritual Aesthetics, with Franya Berkman, Lewis and Clark College

Source: Yulanda Denoon
March 11, 2011

Monday, March 28, 2011, 8:00 pm 622 Dodge Hall, Columbia University Morningside Campus Free and open to the public. The author will sign copies of her book at the event. Alice Coltrane was a composer, improviser, guru, and widow of John Coltrane. Over the course of her musical life, she synthesized a wide range of musical genres including gospel, rhythm- and-blues, bebop, free jazz, Indian devotional song, and Western art music. Her childhood experiences ...
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221

Performance / Tour

UCLA Live Presents Alice Coltrane Tribute Dec. 5 All-star evening includes performances from McCoy Tyner, Kyp Malone, Nels Cline, Han Bennink, Daniel Carter, Michael White & Leisei Chen, Radha Botofasina, plus Flying Lotus and special guests

Source: Jessica Wolf
November 29, 2010

UCLA Live Presents Alice Coltrane Tribute Dec. 5 All-star evening includes performances from McCoy Tyner, Kyp Malone, Nels Cline, Han Bennink, Daniel Carter, Michael White & Leisei Chen, Radha Botofasina, plus Flying Lotus and special guests LOS ANGELES—A host of jazz luminaries and some of modern music's most exciting artists gather on the Royce Hall stage Sunday, December 5 at 7 p.m. in honor of the legendary Alice Coltrane. Led by Kyp Malone, of TV on the Radio and Rain ...
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165

Education

Northeastern University Reflects on Legacy of John and Alice Coltrane on November 13

Source: MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts
November 5, 2009

Northeastern University presents a discussion entitled The Coltranes and Humanism: Spirituality, Music and Sound, on Friday, November 13. It takes place from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the John D. O'Bryant African American Institute, 40 Leon Street on campus. The event is free and open to the public.The events starts with a roundtable discussion that includes master musician/scholar Yusef Lateef, joined by Professor Tammy Kernodle, and Northeastern professors Emmett Price and Leonard Brown. They'll address the humanist legacy ...
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Performance / Tour

A Tribute to Alice Coltrane

Source: Michael Ricci
June 20, 2008

Hymns and Blues in the Name of Family Ravi Coltrane at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

One of the revelations of “A Tribute to Alice Coltrane," the JVC Jazz Festival concert on Tuesday night at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, was a short film clip of Ms. Coltrane playing piano in Paris in 1959. She was smiling, running through fast bebop with the drummer Kenny Clarke and the saxophonist Lucky Thompson, and skating through ...
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149

Festival

URB ALT Festival Harps on Alice Coltrane June 9th at Harlem School of the Arts with Res, the Exit, Muthawit Orchestra, Tenderhead, Brandee Younger and Others

Source: 4961 Polemics
June 6, 2007

Harlem, NY - June 6. The URB ALT Festival 2007 launch brings alternative music/film uptown Saturday, June 9th at the Harlem School of the Arts. Opening day features the pop-rock soulful ambience of Res; the socially incisive post rock of the Exit; the cosmic big band explorations of the MuthaWit Orchestra; he soul laced protorock melodicism of Tenderhead; the experimental violin/laptop shenanigans of Jahlili Rawkstraw; the polyphonic harp virtuosity of Brandee Younger; and the soulful tobacco-road paved electronica of Shanti ...
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194

Event

Alice Coltrane Ascension Ceremony - May 17 - 7:30 PM - St. John the Divine

Source: DL Media
May 12, 2007

The Coltrane Family Invites You To Join Them in Celebration of the Life of Alice Coltrane

Among those paying tribute include Geri Allen, Rashied Ali, Ravi Coltrane, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Roy Haynes, Reggie Workman.

With the passing of Alice Coltrane on January 12, 2007 at the age of 69, the world lost one of the true musical innovators of the past century. As an early pioneer of electronic keyboards, extended composition, jazz harp, spirituality, African and Eastern form and ...
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104

Obituary

Service for Alice Coltrane

Source: All About Jazz
January 18, 2007

Elevation Service for Alice Coltrane (Turiyasangitananda)

Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 1pm (Pacific Time Zone)

Location: Sai Anantam Ashram Center Address: 3528 North Triunfo Canyon Rd. Agoura, California 91301 By phone contact: 818-865-0409 For directions: http://saiquest.com/html/contact.html

For additional information on Alice Coltrane: http://AliceColtrane.org In lieu of flowers, please donate to the following charities: John Coltrane Foundation - http://JohnColtrane.com/ (under Scholarship, please click on Donation) ...
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140

Obituary

Jazz Performer Alice Coltrane Dies at 69

Source: All About Jazz
January 15, 2007

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Alice Coltrane, a jazz performer and composer and wife of the late saxophone legend John Coltrane, has died. She was 69. Coltrane died Friday of respiratory failure at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, said her sister, Marilyn McLeod. For nearly 40 years, Coltrane managed the archive and estate of her husband, a pivotal figure in the history of jazz. He died of liver disease in 1967 at age 40. A pianist and organist, Alice Coltrane ...
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