About

In the decades following the death of her husband, John, the jazz musician Alice Coltrane deeply immersed herself in eastern philosophy. She changed her name to Turiyasangitananda, became a spiritual leader in the Vedic religion, and founded an ashram on 48 acres of land in southern California, attracting dozens of followers. These tracks are drawn from four rare, cassette-only releases that were distributed to devotees between 1983 and 1995. There is none of Coltrane’s trademark cosmic jazz: instead she uses clattering percussion, choral voices and the textures of the Oberheim OB8 synthesiser to build up the necessary sense of rapture. Om Shanti sounds like a Baptist gospel service sung in Sanskrit; Er Ra sees Coltrane praying in a soft, soulful, androgynous contralto over a cascading harp orchestration; the version of Journey to Satchidananda suggests something akin to a funereal dirge orchestrated by Gary Numan.

Even those untouched by spiritual connotations of this music should be able to embrace its truly numinous energy.– The Guardian