Alice Coltrane - World Spirituality Classics 1: Ecstatic Music (2 LP)

Alice Coltrane's devotion to spirituality was the central purpose of the final four decades of her life, an often-overlooked awakening that largely took shape during her four-year marriage to John Coltrane and after his 1967 death. By 1983, Alice had established the 48-acre Sai Anantam Ashram outside of Los Angeles. She quietly began recording music from the ashram, releasing it within her spiritual community in the form of private press cassette tapes. Luaka Bop is pleased to present the first-ever compilation of recordings from this period, making these songs available to the wider public for the first time. Entitled World Spirituality Classics, Volume 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, the release is the first installment in a planned series of spiritual music from around the globe; curated, compiled and distributed by Luaka Bop.

The most amazing aspect of this music is what few have heard before: Coltrane's very deep and physical singing voice; her lead vocals are featured on most of the album, and it's another instrument she commands (though she wouldn't see it that way). On "Om Shanti," she accompanies herself on organ using breath control in an airy, devoted chant. On "Rama Rama," sarod, tablas, and her Oberheim synth add blissful dimensions to her quietly passionate singing. "Keshavas Murahara" commences with strings (her chart), Oberheim, and droning organ; her voice emerges as if from smoke, slowly intoning the prayer, dirge-like, but jazz informs her phrasing as the synth winds around her voice. The first half of "Journey in Satchidananda" features only her organ and Oberheim. It's droning, bluesy, and heavy -- nearly Gothic. When the Ashram Singers come in and Joshua Spiegelman adds a flute, some light enters. Tamil singer Sairam Iyer solos in his own language, opening the heart of the chant and bringing it home. Harp makes its presence felt on "Er Ra," where Coltrane's playing moves across Eastern and Western modes as her singing emerges in sweet, blues-inflected lines. Luaka Bop did everything right for The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turyirasangitananda, from getting full participation from her family to create an amazing package with a great long essay by Ashley Khan, to reminiscences, to excellent sound. This is not just ecstatic music, but cosmic soul music. If you buy one archival recording this year, let this be it. ~ Thom Jurek

• Genre: Folk
• Format: Vinyl
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