Carrying a legendary family name, sometimes, may feel like a double-edged sword, especially when an artist needs to deal with pressure and expectations coming from said family name.

In that respect, the story of Jazz giant John Coltrane's second wife, Alice, has been often and unjustifiably underrated by the press, especially after her musical conversion to Hindu music on the second half of the '70s.

By that time, Alice Coltrane, before becoming better known in the Hindu music world as Swamini Turiyasangitananda, she was already well known as a highly accomplished Free Jazz piano artist and, most surprising of all, one of the very few harpist in the whole of Jazz history to date.

Although the marriage between John and Alice Coltrane lasted only two years (the two got married in 1965, until John's passing in 1967), it was Alice's firm intention to honour the glorious career of her deceased husband by playing on stage some of John's many pieces written in his career, even when Alice’s musical interest was already shifting to a more Hindu and Spiritual Jazz influenced type of music.

When in February 1971 Alice Coltrane was asked to perform at one of the most loved music stages in the world, the New York's Carnegie Hall for a benefit for Swami Satchidanda's Integral Yoga Institute, the American pianist and harpist, which was also a very respected bandleader, brought with her on stage an incredible line-up of musicians, which included two saxophonists (Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp), two bassists (Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee) and two drummers (Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis).

Coltrane had just released her fourth album called Journey in Satchidananda, which was clearly paving the road towards her newfound spiritual and musical journey. It therefore came to no surprise to see on stage at the Carnegie Hall, that very same night, also two musicians that took part to Coltrane’s new studio record, Kumar Kramer and Tulsi Reynolds, playing harmonium and tamboura, respectively, added to the already robust line-up on stage.

For many years, though, there had been no releases of that very special night of music, up until 2018, when only 1 piece out of the 4 in total performed that night (Africa) was released as The Carnegie Hall Concert.

Finally, complete justice was made earlier this year, when the entire recording of the 1971 concert was released by Impulse! record label.

On many levels, the final and complete recording of the 1971's Carnegie Hall Concert throws a very substantially different overview, compared to the initial 2018 release, by paying full tribute to Alice Coltrane’s musicianship and leader of a band that sounded in stellar form for the whole performance.

The first two pieces, Journey To Satchidananda and Shiva-Loka, are both Alice’s own compositions, fresh from her new album back then, depicting beautifully the full scale of Coltrane’s musical background, while also colouring her music of enigmatic and otherworldly sounding lashes of the American artist's harp, over the masterful improvisational Jazz moments created by the whole ensemble on stage, where the interplay among the musicians reaches moments of inspired brilliancy, particularly through Archie Shepp and Pharoah Sanders work on saxophones.

The last two pieces, the thunderous Africa and the closing Leo, were both written by John Coltrane, two pieces where the talent and ability of Alice Coltrane as a pianist emerges in all its phenomenal beauty. Both compositions are a full feast for the ears of any Jazz lover; Africa opens with a breathtaking double drums solo between Blackwell and Jarvis, to then shift a further gear towards a thumping, magnificent display of musicianship all around, with Coltrane's piano working with phenomenal efficacy both when playing solo parts and also when working as tres-d'union between all the instruments.

As a finale for a Coltrane Family infused concert, the choice of performing John Coltrane's Leo could have not been more fitting than that, with a furious and dissonant opening section where the two saxophonists, the drummers and Coltrane’s piano create a tumultuous, yet imaginative and very creative wall of sound, where each of the musicians on stage take the listeners on an improvised, fascinating and explosive immersion into the world of Free Jazz.

The new and complete release of the Carnegie Hall Concert pays a complete and highly deserved tribute to the talent of one of the most imaginative, highly skilled and forward-thinking First Ladies Of Jazz. Astoundingly beautiful and powerful record.

 

 

 

The Carnegie Hall Concert is out now and it is available to be purchased via Amazon.