Alice Coltrane's Pilgrimage To India
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Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda was a visionary when it came to music. Still, most of her career was at least partially obscured by her long-departed husband John Coltrane, arguably the greatest jazz saxophonist of his generation.
After John died in 1967, Alice went on to release some of her best works in the cosmic jazz genre in the late 1960s and 70s.
These albums were followed by a five-week pilgrimage to India which led her to establish an ashram outside of Los Angeles which she claimed was an instruction from a higher force.
Alice Coltrane was heavily influenced by Indian traditional and classical music and Hinduism.
In 1970, she traveled to India with Swami Satchidananda on a five-week pilgrimage after which she started using musical instruments in her songs which were usually played in a Hindu temple while singing bhajans or performing puja.
Listen carefully to her music and you will almost always find a Kanjari, Tambourine, or a Sitar being played in the background.
Indian classical music has a calming and soothing vibe to it which Alice Coltrane incorporates beautifully with a saxophone in many of her albums like Journey In Satchidananda, Turiya, and Ramakrishna.
In one piece Alice chants Krishna Rama over and over again and you can hear the tabla, an Indian instrument in the background.
In April 2017, marking her tenth death anniversary, a compilation of her lesser-known works was released titled World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda.
Listening to the calm and peace in Alice’s music would be an understatement to say that Indian culture and traditions had a huge impact on her and the answer to what music meant to her.
Also read: John Coltrane's Journey From World War II To Free Jazz Pioneer
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