12. ALICE COLTRANE - Journey in Satchidananda
Impulse!, 1970
Alice Coltrane certainly wasn't the first jazz musician to reject the philosophical and religious status quo of America and the wider Western world in favor of a more esoteric (to most of us, that is) Eastern-based worldview, nor the last. Whether or not this conversion was just the thing to do amongst jazz players in the late '60s and early '70s, Alice saw it as the only thing to do - the music on Journey in Satchidananda tells, if not the whole story, at least a very important part. For this gnarled, quiet beast of a record, Coltrane recruited Tulsi to play the tamboura, which drones beautifully on and on behind nearly all of the album, providing a unifying theme which serves as not only that but also as about as strong a musical statement I've ever seen. Alice herself alternates between her harp and the piano, playing both with a sort of delicate chaos - like Monk, maybe, but more concerned with the whole picture than each individual note. Pharaoh Sanders squawks and squeals throughout, and it's as effulgent as you'd think. This is a record much better experienced than explained, however, and of course it would be in all our best interests to really just listen.
STREAM: Alice Coltrane - "Journey in Satchidananda"
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