Jazz World Mourns Michael Brecker and Alice Coltrane
by Paul Cashmere - January 14 2007
It has been a sad weekend for the jazz world with the death of two prominent musicians. Alice Coltrane and Michael Brecker both died this weekend.
Born Alice McLeod in 1937, she met and married John Coltrane, credited as the creator of avant-garde music. Alice played with John's band until his death in 1967.
Her instruments of choice were piano, harp and Wurlitzer organ.
Alice's most recent albums were recorded for the Verve label.
Michael Brecker had been suffering from the pre-leukemic disease MDS. He was diagnosed in 2005. In May 2006, he underwent an experimental stem cell operation that did not go as well as hoped. Doctor's had been searching for a suitable bone marrow match for Brecker over the past year but were unable to find the right match.
Born in Philadelphia in 1949, Brecker recorded his own albums with his bands Horace Silver and the Brecker Brothers (with brother Randy).
He was also a well-known session musican appearing on albums by Paul Simon, James Taylor and Yoko Ono.
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Alice Coltrane was one of my all-time favorite jazz artists. Unfortunately, I never got to see her live. She will definitely live on through her music. R.I.P. Turiya. RIP to Michael Brecker as well. He was a great session player, and was doing some nice straight-ahead jazz late in his career.
Alice Coltrane, 69, the jazz performer and composer who was inextricably linked with the musical improvisations of her husband, the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, died Friday of respiratory failure in Los Angeles.
A pianist and organist, Alice Coltrane was noted for her astral compositions and for bringing the harp onto the jazz bandstand. She was also a noted Hindu guru in California.
Alice Coltrane, 69; performer, composer of jazz and New Age music; spiritual leader By Jon Thurber, Times Staff Writer January 14, 2007
Alice Coltrane, the jazz performer and composer who was inextricably linked with the adventurous musical improvisations of her late husband, legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, has died. She was 69.
Coltrane died Friday at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in West Hills, according to an announcement from the family's publicist. 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 located in Agoura Hills. 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 last nearly 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 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 half 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 age 7, learning classical piano. Her early musical career included performances in church groups 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.
"As fascinating ??? and influential ??? as her later music was, it tended to obscure the fact that she had started out as a solid, bebop-oriented pianist," critic Don Heckman told The Times on Saturday. "I remember hearing, and jamming with, her in the early '60s at photographer W. Eugene Smith's loft in Manhattan. At that time she played with a brisk, rhythmic style immediately reminiscent of Bud Powell.
"Like a few other people who'd heard her either at the loft or during her early '60s gigs with Terry Gibbs, I kept hoping she'd take at least one more foray into the bebop style she played so well," he said.
She met her future husband 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 Times on Saturday. "They were both very shy in a way. It was beautiful to see them fall in love."
Gibbs called her "the nicest person I ever worked with. She was a real lady."
She left Gibbs' band to marry Coltrane and began performing with his band in the mid-1960s, replacing pianist McCoy Tyner. She developed a style noted for its power and freedom and played tour dates with Coltrane's group in San Francisco, New York and Tokyo.
She would say her husband's musical impact was enormous.
"John showed me how to play fully," she told interviewer Pauline Rivelli and Robert Levin in comments published in "The Black Giants."
"In other words, he'd teach me not to stay in one spot and play in one chord pattern. 'Branch out, open up ??? play your instrument entirely.' ??? John not only taught me how to explore, but to play thoroughly and completely."
After his death, she devoted herself to raising their children. Musically, she continued to play within his creative vision, surrounding herself with such like-minded performers as saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Joe Henderson.
Early albums under her name, including "A Monastic Trio," and "Ptah the El Daoud," were greeted with critical praise for her compositions and playing. "Ptah the El Daoud" featured her sweeping harp flourishes, a sound not commonly heard in jazz recordings. Her last recording, "Translinear Light," came in 2004. It was her first jazz album in 26 years.
Through the 1970s, she continued to explore Eastern religions, traveling to India to study with Swami Satchidananda, the founder of the Integral Yoga Institute.
Upon her return she started a store-front ashram in San Francisco but soon moved it to Woodland Hills in 1975. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains since the early 1980s, the ashram is a 48-acre compound where devotees concentrate on prayer and meditation.
Known within her religious community by her Sanskrit name, Turiyasangitananda, Coltrane focused for much of the last 25 years on composing and recording devotional music such as Hindu chants, hymns and melodies for meditation. She also wrote books, including "Monumental Ethernal," a kind of spiritual biography, and "Endless Wisdom," which she once told a Times reporter contained hundreds of scriptures divinely revealed to her.
In 2001 she helped found the John Coltrane Foundation to encourage jazz performances and award scholarships to young musicians.
In addition to Ravi, she is survived by another son, Oren, who plays guitar and alto sax; a daughter, Michelle, who is a singer; and five grandchildren. Her son John Coltrane Jr. died in an automobile accident in 1982.
this is so horrible. what a huge inspiration. i'm pretty upset. sitting here at work getting teary. But i feel like she would have wanted us to be serene and positive through this sad time. She wasn't that old, it seemed like the general public had no idea she was sick? I was just listening to her on a Terry Gibbs limelight LP. I know I'll be spinning one of her Impulse masterpieces when i get home today. you know here 'comeback' album from a coupe years ago was incredible also
Michael Brecker was also an extraordinary musician who will be missed. wow, this afternoon just took a turn for the worse. I"m about to go make a little Alice Coltrane display here in the Music Library
Before rare groove and spiritual jazz gained an appreciative record collecting audience I heard terrible things about Alice. Old time be bop collectors made her out to be the Yoko Ono of jazz. A no talent witch who ruined her husbands music.
While Alice and Yoko will never eclipse their husbands I am so glad that today we can see the depth they added to husbands music and spirituality. And enjoy and appreciate their own music without comparing it to their husbands.
Before rare groove and spiritual jazz gained an appreciative record collecting audience I heard terrible things about Alice. Old time be boppers made her out to be the Yoko Ono of jazz. A no talent witch who ruined her husbands music.
While Alice and Yoko will never eclipse their husbands I am so glad that today we can see the depth they added to husbands music and spirituality.
Does that make sense?
Dan
Makes absoulte sense to me. Journey In Satchidananda is one of the most beautiful albums I own. Alice truly deserved to be recognised as a great artist in her own right.
Damn, that's terrible. Satchinadanda is one of my all time favourites (Is it like Forever Changes, as in a record everyone agrees on?).
R.I.P.
I think everyone agrees it's a terrific album...I don't know if everyone agrees it's far and away her best, personally I think Ptah the El Daoud and World Galaxy are pretty untouchable...actually they're all really really good.
Joe Henderson Featuring Alice Coltrane: The Elements
Artist: Joe Henderson Release Date: October 15, 1973 Genre: Jazz Styles: Bebop, Classic Jazz Label: Fantasy / Milestone
Review by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide This is one of the odder Joe Henderson recordings. The four lengthy selections not only feature the great tenor-saxophonist but the piano and harp of Alice Coltrane (during one of her rare appearances as a sideman), violinist Michael White, bassist Charlie Haden, percussionist Kenneth Nash and Baba Duru Oshun on tablas. The somewhat spiritual nature of the music (Henderson's compositions are titled "Fire," "Air," "Water" and "Earth") and the presence of Alice Coltrane makes these Eastern-flavored performances rather unique if not all that essential: an early example of world music in jazz. This recording has been reissued as part of Henderson's eight-CD Milestone box set.
Joe Henderson Featuring Alice Coltrane: The Elements
Artist: Joe Henderson Release Date: October 15, 1973 Genre: Jazz Styles: Bebop, Classic Jazz Label: Fantasy / Milestone
Review by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide This is one of the odder Joe Henderson recordings. The four lengthy selections not only feature the great tenor-saxophonist but the piano and harp of Alice Coltrane (during one of her rare appearances as a sideman), violinist Michael White, bassist Charlie Haden, percussionist Kenneth Nash and Baba Duru Oshun on tablas. The somewhat spiritual nature of the music (Henderson's compositions are titled "Fire," "Air," "Water" and "Earth") and the presence of Alice Coltrane makes these Eastern-flavored performances rather unique if not all that essential: an early example of world music in jazz. This recording has been reissued as part of Henderson's eight-CD Milestone box set.
Before rare groove and spiritual jazz gained an appreciative record collecting audience I heard terrible things about Alice. Old time be bop collectors made her out to be the Yoko Ono of jazz. A no talent witch who ruined her husbands music.
While Alice and Yoko will never eclipse their husbands I am so glad that today we can see the depth they added to husbands music and spirituality. And enjoy and appreciate their own music without comparing it to their husbands.
Does that make sense?
Very much so. Misguided old fogeys all shook over some powerful women scratching the surface of their patriarch utopia.
Comments
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Alice Coltrane was one of my all-time favorite jazz artists. Unfortunately, I never got to see her live. She will definitely live on through her music. R.I.P. Turiya. RIP to Michael Brecker as well. He was a great session player, and was doing some nice straight-ahead jazz late in his career.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Satchinadanda is one of my all time favourites (Is it like Forever Changes, as in a record everyone agrees on?).
R.I.P.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=15726394&imageID=1727241072
Alice Coltrane, 69, the jazz performer and composer who was inextricably linked with the musical improvisations of her husband, the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, died Friday of respiratory failure in Los Angeles.
A pianist and organist, Alice Coltrane was noted for her astral compositions and for bringing the harp onto the jazz bandstand. She was also a noted Hindu guru in California.
http://www.latimes.com
Alice Coltrane, 69; performer, composer of jazz and New Age music; spiritual leader
By Jon Thurber, Times Staff Writer
January 14, 2007
Alice Coltrane, the jazz performer and composer who was inextricably linked with the adventurous musical improvisations of her late husband, legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, has died. She was 69.
Coltrane died Friday at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in West Hills, according to an announcement from the family's publicist. 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 located in Agoura Hills. 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 last nearly 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 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 half 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 age 7, learning classical piano. Her early musical career included performances in church groups 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.
"As fascinating ??? and influential ??? as her later music was, it tended to obscure the fact that she had started out as a solid, bebop-oriented pianist," critic Don Heckman told The Times on Saturday. "I remember hearing, and jamming with, her in the early '60s at photographer W. Eugene Smith's loft in Manhattan. At that time she played with a brisk, rhythmic style immediately reminiscent of Bud Powell.
"Like a few other people who'd heard her either at the loft or during her early '60s gigs with Terry Gibbs, I kept hoping she'd take at least one more foray into the bebop style she played so well," he said.
She met her future husband 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 Times on Saturday. "They were both very shy in a way. It was beautiful to see them fall in love."
Gibbs called her "the nicest person I ever worked with. She was a real lady."
She left Gibbs' band to marry Coltrane and began performing with his band in the mid-1960s, replacing pianist McCoy Tyner. She developed a style noted for its power and freedom and played tour dates with Coltrane's group in San Francisco, New York and Tokyo.
She would say her husband's musical impact was enormous.
"John showed me how to play fully," she told interviewer Pauline Rivelli and Robert Levin in comments published in "The Black Giants."
"In other words, he'd teach me not to stay in one spot and play in one chord pattern. 'Branch out, open up ??? play your instrument entirely.' ??? John not only taught me how to explore, but to play thoroughly and completely."
After his death, she devoted herself to raising their children. Musically, she continued to play within his creative vision, surrounding herself with such like-minded performers as saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Joe Henderson.
Early albums under her name, including "A Monastic Trio," and "Ptah the El Daoud," were greeted with critical praise for her compositions and playing. "Ptah the El Daoud" featured her sweeping harp flourishes, a sound not commonly heard in jazz recordings. Her last recording, "Translinear Light," came in 2004. It was her first jazz album in 26 years.
Through the 1970s, she continued to explore Eastern religions, traveling to India to study with Swami Satchidananda, the founder of the Integral Yoga Institute.
Upon her return she started a store-front ashram in San Francisco but soon moved it to Woodland Hills in 1975. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains since the early 1980s, the ashram is a 48-acre compound where devotees concentrate on prayer and meditation.
Known within her religious community by her Sanskrit name, Turiyasangitananda, Coltrane focused for much of the last 25 years on composing and recording devotional music such as Hindu chants, hymns and melodies for meditation. She also wrote books, including "Monumental Ethernal," a kind of spiritual biography, and "Endless Wisdom," which she once told a Times reporter contained hundreds of scriptures divinely revealed to her.
In 2001 she helped found the John Coltrane Foundation to encourage jazz performances and award scholarships to young musicians.
In addition to Ravi, she is survived by another son, Oren, who plays guitar and alto sax; a daughter, Michelle, who is a singer; and five grandchildren. Her son John Coltrane Jr. died in an automobile accident in 1982.
She was a beautiful soul. RIP.
Michael Brecker was also an extraordinary musician who will be missed. wow, this afternoon just took a turn for the worse. I"m about to go make a little Alice Coltrane display here in the Music Library
RIP Michael
Before rare groove and spiritual jazz gained an appreciative record collecting audience I heard terrible things about Alice. Old time be bop collectors made her out to be the Yoko Ono of jazz. A no talent witch who ruined her husbands music.
While Alice and Yoko will never eclipse their husbands I am so glad that today we can see the depth they added to husbands music and spirituality. And enjoy and appreciate their own music without comparing it to their husbands.
Does that make sense?
Dan
Makes absoulte sense to me. Journey In Satchidananda is one of the most beautiful albums I own. Alice truly deserved to be recognised as a great artist in her own right.
RIP.
I think everyone agrees it's a terrific album...I don't know if everyone agrees it's far and away her best, personally I think Ptah the El Daoud and World Galaxy are pretty untouchable...actually they're all really really good.
http://www.emusic.com/album/10602/10602026.html
Joe Henderson Featuring Alice Coltrane: The Elements
Artist: Joe Henderson
Release Date: October 15, 1973
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Bebop, Classic Jazz
Label: Fantasy / Milestone
Review by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
This is one of the odder Joe Henderson recordings. The four lengthy selections not only feature the great tenor-saxophonist but the piano and harp of Alice Coltrane (during one of her rare appearances as a sideman), violinist Michael White, bassist Charlie Haden, percussionist Kenneth Nash and Baba Duru Oshun on tablas. The somewhat spiritual nature of the music (Henderson's compositions are titled "Fire," "Air," "Water" and "Earth") and the presence of Alice Coltrane makes these Eastern-flavored performances rather unique if not all that essential: an early example of world music in jazz. This recording has been reissued as part of Henderson's eight-CD Milestone box set.
yessssssssssssss
Very much so. Misguided old fogeys all shook over some powerful women scratching the surface of their patriarch utopia.
i cannot say enough about alice coltrane...