Description
Born Alice McLeod into a musical Detroit family, Alice Coltrane began playing piano at age seven and later studied with Bud Powell in Paris.
Upon returning to the States, she joined vibraphonist Terry Gibbss group and eventually shared a bill with the John Coltrane Quartet. In 1965, the two wed in Juárez, Mexico, and played alongside one another until her husbands last performance in May, 1967.
A Monastic Trio, created in the year following her husbands passing, is Coltranes first recording as a band leader and features six original compositions. While Johns spirit can be felt throughoutfrom the song titles (Ohnedaruth was his adopted Hindu name) to the personnel (Jimmy Garrison, Rashied Ali, and Pharoah Sanders were frequent collaborators) the album showcases Alices immense talent for fusing spiritual free jazz and new age with classical, Eastern, post-bop and gospel.
As the late Amiri Baraka writes, I Want to See You is a monastic piano concerto. With echoes of Europe, it has a solemnity and majesty to it. Yes, monastic is the word. The piano broods in its earth imagination.
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