Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda: The Ashram Experience

Description

“Alice Coltrane is one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, with a sublime musical vision that encompasses jazz, blues, gospel, Indian classical, North African music, and European modernism” – The Quietus

Alice Coltrane was a legendary jazz musician, composer, and the wife of John Coltrane, the most venerated and influential saxophonist in the history of jazz. In 1967, John died, leaving Alice a widow with four small children. Bereft of her soul mate Alice turned to Indian spirituality, eventually opening the Shanti Anantam Ashram. By then she had recorded more than a dozen records and was acclaimed for her work as a musician, composer, and bandleader.

Music was the foundation of Alice’s spiritual practice and during this time she released music inspired by jazz, the gospel music of the Detroit churches she grew up in, mixed with the Indian devotional music of her religious practice. Originally only made available through her ashram, these recordings were her most obscure body of work until the music was released widely to the public last year by David Byrne’s Luaka Bop record label on the compilation entitled The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane. For this special concert The Sai Anantam Singers, the musicians who were performers on the original recordings joined by Michelle Coltrane, Alice’s daughter, will guide an intoxicating journey through Alice Coltrane’s devotional music led by Surya Botofasina, who grew up on the ashram.