The Code Z family deems it imperative to pause for the cause to remember Alice Coltrane, jazz harpist, pianist, tamboura player, spiritual leader, and widow of bebop jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. At 69, Alice Coltrane passed on Friday, January 12 in Los Angeles.
Ms. Coltrane will be remembered for bringing the harp, vibraphone, and a traditional Eastern pulse to the jazz aesthetic, alongside her husband, John Coltrane.
At seven, Coltrane began playing piano and organ alongside her siblings, eventually graduating to studying and mastering the classics and earning her place as a Detroit child prodigy, regularly working the church, jazz joint and church choir circuits. Coltrane's reverence for such composers as Beethoven, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky aided in defining her music.
Following the passing of John Coltrane in 1967, Ms. Coltrane carried her sound and philosophy farther East, taking up the harp. She melded blues, jazz, and traditional Indian music to produce such savory recordings as "Journey in Satchidananda" and "Universal Consciousness." Coltrane continued her exploration of Afro-Asiatic instrumentation, which eventually led to her Hinduism. She traveled to India and studied with her guru, Sri Swami Satchidananda and later Sathya Sai Baba. Ms. Coltrane became Swami Turiyasangitananda, or "highest song of God" in Sanskrit, and established the Sai Anantam Ashram in Agoura Hills. She also established The Vedantic Center, as well as the John Coltrane Foundation, a scholarship to aid young, aspiring musicians.
Ms. Coltrane's legend lives on through her children Michelle, Ravi, and Oran, and her five grandchildren. Her eldest son, John Coltrane, Jr., passed away in a car accident in 1982.
We will remember how Ms. Coltrane wed classical and traditional rhythms with jazz in a continuance of her husband's legacy.
