What’s that they say about musical deaths in threes? I hope that the passing of Alice Coltrane will be the last this week and we won’t lose another of her caliber. Coltrane is another whose work I’ve not paid nearly enough attention to over the years. The static she received for her so-called circuitous contributions to her husband’s final works also seems ill deserved. The raga-esque piano improvisations on Live in Japan are part of appeal as far as I’m concerned meeting the challenge of Trane’s unfettered loquacity with a musical agent that is at once innervating and calming, tide-like in its liquidity. Her gilded, but muscular harp playing on McCoy Tyner’s Extensions is another of her most successful appearances. And of her own work, Ptah the El Dahoud ranks as one of the finest late period Impulse! platters, particularly for the truly inspired frontline pairing of Pharoah Sanders and Joe Henderson, a tandem that would sadly not be repeated. Coltrane returned the favor, appearing on the interesting, if slightly uneven, The Elements under Henderson’s name. I read mixed reviews of her 2004 “comeback” album Translinear Light, but her legacy as stalwart steward of her husband’s music as well as her own made the more mean-spirited comments levied in its direction seem trite. As is the customary course of action for the grieving music fan in honoring the dead, I’m off to go spend time with Stellar Regions and Live at the Village Vanguard Again! in her memory.
Posted by derek on January 14, 2007 8:06 AMCheck out the 2CD live set Transfiguration, Derek. The version of "Leo" on there smokes.
Posted by: pdf at January 14, 2007 3:18 PMNot that comparisons are important, but I always found the albums she made for Impulse! from the late 60s to the early 70s to be more compelling, overall, than her husband's final efforts.
Posted by: David Jones at January 14, 2007 9:48 PMYes, I second that Leo recommendation on Transfiguration. Its an amazing display of intensity and her swirling organ sound is all her own. I really like the albums on Impulse too, particularly the already mentioned Ptah the El Dahoud, Journey in Satchidananda and Universal Consciousness.
In December http://pharaohs-dance.blogspot.com/
posted Alice Coltrane's Lord of Lords & Huntington
Ashram Monastery for download. It seems Destination Out also posted a tribute download. So, perhaps you can check those out too. She was a definite heavyweight and will be missed.
yeah, a total tragedy. it looks like impulse was supposed to re-issue both lords and ashram on cd in 2006, but it must not have happened yet... saw/heard her perform last year and it was truly amazing. she had an incredible presence. ptah is my favorite, but since no one else mentioned it, i also really love monastic trio...
Posted by: sroden at January 15, 2007 11:16 AMAre those downloads at Pharaoh's Dance still operational, Joel? I don't seem to find anything to click on - and I haven't listened to Ashram for AGES, would love to hear that again
Posted by: Dan Warburton at January 15, 2007 9:44 PMtry this, from the comments box there:
http://rapidshare.com/files/9653353/Alice_Coltrane-Huntington_Ashram_Monastery__1969_.ra
Posted by: jon abbey at January 15, 2007 9:57 PMHey Dan,
Yes it seems to still be available. Pharoah's Dance seems to "hide" the file they're sharing
within the comments section of each LP. So you must click on that first which reveals the file to be downloaded. Perhaps this is a clever way to try to hide the fact that they're sharing these.
Anyway, here's the Huntington Ashram link...
http://rapidshare.com/files/9653353/Alice_Coltrane-Huntington_Ashram_Monastery__1969_.rar
Posted by: Joel Wanek at January 16, 2007 8:34 AMWhoops, I didn't notice Jon's previous
post.
I know I certainly am not alone in considering Alice Coltrane to be one of the finest musicians and human beings to have graced our planet. The magic she put on disc in the 5 or 6 years following her husband's passing haunts my mind just thinking of it (as well as inspires me greatly, of course), though it is the music she made with her husband that I don't think I could live without. Bless the memory of Alice Coltrane. You are in our hearts forever!
Posted by: Thomas Kushin at November 2, 2007 1:51 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................