Alice Coltrane, RIP: 1937-2007

The great jazz instrumentalist and widow of John Coltrane died on Friday. She was best known for her work on three instruments: harp, Wurlitzer organ, and piano. Link to Wikipedia bio, and here is her website. News coverage: One, two (Thanks, Dirk). Here's an interview in The Wire from 2002: Link.

I can't find any good video footage or sound samples online, but this experimental short on Google Video by an Icelandic filmmaker uses one of her most beautiful compositions, "Journey In Satchidananda": Link. "Blue Nile" is my all-time favorite, favorite track of hers, from this album, a very brief sound clip on this NPR feature page: Link. Amazon has some short clips from that same record here: Link.

Reader comments: Dubpulse blogged,

What many a New Age musician fails to do, she did. These are truly cosmic jazz orchestrations, perhaps overshadowed by her husband's work (…) Tonight I'll imagine they're both in some star-jewelled interstellar realm improvising with thousand-eyed, multi-limbed deities of light. John's saxophone riffing on the curvature of space, and Alice twinkling harp melodies with shards of time.

David Alexander Mcdonald writes,

Yet more sad news. One of my most treasured vinyls is the double LP REFLECTIONS ON CREATION AND SPACE, and I'm equally as attached to my CD copy of PTAH, THE EL-DAOUD. It's sublime music, deeply spiritual jazz with a cosmic current to it. It's rather sad that her music hasn't been accorded the sort of reissue and remastering treatment that her husband's work has received.

Dirk says,

Get yourself a copy of World Galaxy for heavenly string arrangements even better
than "Blue Nile." :-)