Kirtan: Turiya Sings

Alice Coltrane

Released on 16/07/2021 by Alice Coltrane
Main artists: Alice Coltrane
Genre: Jazz
Distinctions: Pitchfork: Best New Reissue

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Often lost in the ever-expanding legend of John Coltrane is the fact that his wife Alice Coltrane —later also known by her Sanskrit name Turiyaasangitananda—was an accomplished pianist and harpist in her own right. She replaced McCoy Tyner in John's quartet and released more than a dozen albums under her name between 1968 and 1977. Coltrane was also a singer and in the mid-'70s became a spiritual teacher and established the The Vedantic Center, an ashram in the Santa Monica Mountains. It was there that she began experimenting with adding synthesizers, strings and sound effects to traditional chants, a pursuit that led to a 1982 cassette tape Turiya Sings, intended for the students in the ashram. In 2004 son Ravi Coltrane found a stripped down mix of the nine tracks with just her voice accompanied by Wurlitzer organ. A compilation from her ashram years, World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda was released to great acclaim in 2017; now an even deeper collection taken from the original 24-track tapes (mixed by Steve Genewick and mastered by Kevin Reeves, both of whom worked on her final album, 2004's Translinear Light), adds to Alice's spiritual legacy.

Musically, these are sung and spoken chants of repeated phrases in Sanskrit, expertly accompanied by ghostly, pulsing chords on the Wurlitzer. While there are hints of a groove and some variation in the music in a piece like "Rama Katha," these are deeply spiritual pleas and very little of her jazz experience seeps into the pure, devotional hymns. In few instances, such as "Hara Siva," are hints of an actual song present. Coltrane's voice is strong throughout, her phrasing and intonation simple and unadorned. Clearly this was serious business, all of it given an odd ecclesiastic feel that will be instantly recognizable to anyone who's heard a church pipe organ. © Robert Baird/Qobuz

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Kirtan: Turiya Sings

Alice Coltrane

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