Alice Coltrane, The Impulse Story, the house that Trane built. Coltrane's pioneering work with her husband John put this label on the map during the 1960s.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos.
Alice Coltrane Official Website
http://www.alicecoltrane.org/
Alice Coltrane Discography
http://members.aol.com/ishorst/love/discalice.html
Alice Coltrane Impulse Records Website
http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist.aspxob=per&src=prd&aid=2673
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http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-coltrane0114.artjan14,0,2553918.story
Alice Coltrane Dies At 69
Jazz Pianist Was Also A Spiritual Leader
Los Angeles Times
January 14 2007
LOS ANGELES -- Alice Coltrane, the jazz performer and composer who was inextricably linked with the adventurous musical improvisations of her late husband, the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, has died. She was 69.
Coltrane died Friday at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles, according to family friends. She had been in frail health for some time and died of respiratory failure.
Though known to many for her contributions to jazz and early new age music, Coltrane, a convert to Hinduism, was also a significant spiritual leader and founded the Vedantic Center, a spiritual commune now in Agoura, Calif. A guru of growing repute, she also served as the swami of the San Fernando Valley's first Hindu Temple, in Chatsworth.
For much of the past 40 years, she was also the keeper of her husband's musical legacy, managing his archive and estate. Her husband, one of the pivotal figures in the history of jazz, died of liver disease on July 17, 1967, at the age of 40.
A pianist and organist, Alice Coltrane was noted for her astral compositions and for bringing the harp onto the jazz bandstand. Her last performances came in the fall, when she participated in an abbreviated tour that included stops in New York and San Francisco, playing with her saxophonist son, Ravi.
She was born Alice McLeod in Detroit on Aug. 27, 1937, into a family with deep musical roots. Anna, her mother, sang and played piano in the Baptist church choir. Alice's brother Ernie Farrow was a bassist who played professionally with groups led by saxophonist Yusef Lateef and vibes player Terry Gibbs.
Alice began her musical education at the age of 7, learning classical piano. Her early musical career included performances in church groups and as well as in top-flight jazz ensembles led by Lateef, guitarist Kenny Burrell and saxophonist Lucky Thompson.
After studying jazz piano briefly in Paris, she moved to New York and joined Gibbs' quartet.
She met John Coltrane in 1963 while playing an engagement with Gibbs' group at Birdland in New York City.
"He saw something in her that was beautiful," Gibbs, who has often taken credit for introducing the two, told the Los Angeles Times.
She left Gibbs' band to marry Coltrane and began performing with her husband's band in 1965, replacing pianist McCoy Tyner.
Jazz pianist Alice Coltrane dies in Calif
Sun Jan 14, 4:43 PM ET
Alice Coltrane, an avant-garde jazz pianist and widow of saxophone great John Coltrane, whose musical legacy she helped keep, has died at age 69 of respiratory failure, an official said on Sunday.
Coltrane died on Friday at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in West Hills, a Los Angeles suburb, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Famed for replacing McCoy Tyner on piano in her husband's last quartet as he broke new and controversial musical ground, Coltrane was also a convert to Hinduism and a guru who had her own commune.
Born Alice McLeod in Detroit, Coltrane was trained as a classical musician and as an organist, harpist and pianist. Among her jazz teachers was the legendary Bud Powell.
Jazz vibist Terry Gibbs told the Los Angeles Times that Alice Coltrane met her husband while playing with his band at Birdland in the 1960s.
"He saw something in her that was beautiful. They were both very shy in a way. It was beautiful to see them fall in love," he told the paper adding, she was "the nicest person I ever worked with. She was a real lady."
She left Gibbs' band to marry and play piano for Coltrane as he moved into bolder, more spiritual music than he had been playing before.
In an interview with Essence magazine in September 2006, she was asked if she caused the change in his music and the break-up of the famous John Coltrane Quartet.
Her answer was, "I didn't have to inspire John toward the avant-garde; he did not need anything from me. That is why it's so interesting that critics decided to dislike me. At some point the members of the quartet felt it was time for a change, and left on their own.
"When John said that he wanted me to play with him on piano, I told him that there were many others who were qualified. He said, 'I want you there because you can do it."' She credited Coltrane with "showing me how to play fully."
After his death in July 1967 at age 40, she raised the couple's children, continued playing and expanding upon his music and devoted herself to the study of Eastern religions, adopting the Sanskrit name, Turiyasangitananda.
Jazz pianist Alice Coltrane dies in Calif
Sun Jan 14, 4:43 PM ET
Alice Coltrane, an avant-garde jazz pianist and widow of saxophone great John Coltrane, whose musical legacy she helped keep, has died at age 69 of respiratory failure, an official said on Sunday.
Coltrane died on Friday at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in West Hills, a Los Angeles suburb, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Famed for replacing McCoy Tyner on piano in her husband's last quartet as he broke new and controversial musical ground, Coltrane was also a convert to Hinduism and a guru who had her own commune.
Born Alice McLeod in Detroit, Coltrane was trained as a classical musician and as an organist, harpist and pianist. Among her jazz teachers was the legendary Bud Powell.
Jazz vibist Terry Gibbs told the Los Angeles Times that Alice Coltrane met her husband while playing with his band at Birdland in the 1960s.
"He saw something in her that was beautiful. They were both very shy in a way. It was beautiful to see them fall in love," he told the paper adding, she was "the nicest person I ever worked with. She was a real lady."
She left Gibbs' band to marry and play piano for Coltrane as he moved into bolder, more spiritual music than he had been playing before.
In an interview with Essence magazine in September 2006, she was asked if she caused the change in his music and the break-up of the famous John Coltrane Quartet.
Her answer was, "I didn't have to inspire John toward the avant-garde; he did not need anything from me. That is why it's so interesting that critics decided to dislike me. At some point the members of the quartet felt it was time for a change, and left on their own.
"When John said that he wanted me to play with him on piano, I told him that there were many others who were qualified. He said, 'I want you there because you can do it."' She credited Coltrane with "showing me how to play fully."
After his death in July 1967 at age 40, she raised the couple's children, continued playing and expanding upon his music and devoted herself to the study of Eastern religions, adopting the Sanskrit name, Turiyasangitananda.
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Biography
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.
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