February 1971 was a pivotal month in the life of Alice Coltrane, the harp- and piano-playing wife of saxophone icon John Coltrane, who had died prematurely four years earlier from liver cancer, aged just 40. To coincide with the release of Journey in Satchidananda, her fourth and probably best-loved album for the Impulse! label, Alice agreed to play at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall venue for an Integral Yoga Institute gala on 21st February with an all-star band. Impulse! recorded her 79-minute set for an intended album release but it never materialised, with the master tape left gathering dust in the label’s tape vault. Now, though, 53 years later, the concert is being officially released for the first time as The Carnegie Hall Concert as part of Impulse! and Verve Records’ “Year of Alice” celebrations in partnership with The John & Alice Coltrane Home.
The Carnegie Hall Concert features Alice playing harp and piano accompanied by tenor saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, bassists Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee, and drummers Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis. Bolstering her group is Kumar Kramer on harmonium and Tulsi Reynolds on tamboura, whose presence gives the music a South Asian flavour, reflecting Alice’s fascination with Indian religion and culture. (The previous year, she had undertaken a five-week sojourn to India for spiritual nourishment and enlightenment).
Preceding the album is a taster track from it, the haunting ‘Shiva-Loka,’ available now, which has had a visualizer created to accompany its release (Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsT-ZyTZPtI). Other album highlights include the mesmeric ‘Journey in Satchidananda’ – dominated by Alice’s cascading harp – and two inspired interpretations of the John Coltrane compositions ‘Africa’ and ‘Leo.’
The “Year Of Alice” celebrations begin on the 22nd of this month with a special night of performers and speakers at New York’s iconic Birdland venue; those participating include Ravi Coltrane, Michelle Coltrane, and contemporary harpist Brandee Younger.
Alice Coltrane’s The Carnegie Hall Concert is released by Impulse! on 22nd March 2024
