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Alice Coltrane/Pharoah Sanders


jpmosu

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A-1: Transfiguration - organ trio

A-2: One for the Father - piano solo

B-1: Prema - piano trio with strings overdubbed

B-2: Affinity - organ trio

C-1: Krishnaya - organ trio

C-2: Leo Pt.1 - bass solo

D-1: Leo Pt.2 - drums solo and organ trio

Listening to her organ playing I recognize it is a direct translation of her husband's late period sheets of sounds style to organ (not a Hammond) including some pitch bending. More advanced than Larry Young. Our only true free style organist? If so, she's heavily underrated for this!

Edited by mikeweil
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Listening to her organ playing I recognize it is a direct translation of her husband's late period sheets of sounds style to organ (not a Hammond) including some pitch bending.

The longer the record runs, the more this is confirmed. One advantage of using an organ: She doesn't have to take a breath ..... ;) her sheets of sound are endless. :wacko:

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I spent an evening sitting by Alice Coltrane's Leslie during her gig at the Lighthouse, back in 1974 I think. It never got tiresome. Plenty of shadings, colors, dynamic brilliance! It was a trip, a beautiful soulful journey! I think that the organ was her instrument; her harp and even her piano playing were "merely" ornamental by comparison. I wouldn't say that Alice Coltrane was more advanced than Larry Young, but certainly quite different.

I think that "Transfiguration" was recorded live at U.C.L.A. a few years later, and the string section was on stage with her. When I listen to that recording, I usually bypass the string section. Alice Coltrane's organ playing on "Transfiguration" is quite nice, but not as varied as when I saw her at the Lighthouse, or at the Santa Monica Civic (Auditorium) two years before that.

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  • 9 months later...

I see the latest newsletter from Forced Exposure lists these two:

COLTRANE, ALICE: Huntington Ashram Monastery CD (UCCI 9105). Japanese 24-bit/96kHz remastered CD, in mini-LP packaging. Japanese-only reissue, first ever CD issue. Originally issued by Impulse! in 1969. Featuring: Alice Coltrane (harp, piano); Rashied Ali (drums), Ron Carter (bass). "Recorded after Alice Coltrane met her future guru, Swami Satchidananda, this album shows her spirituality narrowing but deepening the focus of her expression in jazz." Tracks: 'Huntington Ashram Monastery', 'Turiya', 'Paramahansa Lake', 'Via Sivanandagar', 'IHS', 'Jaya Jaya Rama'. $30.00

COLTRANE, ALICE: Lord of Lords CD (UCCI 9110). Japanese 24-bit/96kHz remastered CD, in mini-LP packaging. Japanese only/first CD issue of this 1972 album, originally issued by Impulse!. Recorded and mixed at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, July 5-13, 1972." Tracks: 'Andromeda's Suffering' (Coltrane), 'Sri Rama Ohnedaruth' (Coltrane), 'Excerpts from The Firebird' (Stravinsky), 'Lord Of Lords' (Coltrane), 'Going Home' (Traditional). Produced by Ed Michel under the direction and inspiration of Alice Coltrane. Alice Coltrane: harp, piano, organ, tympani, percussion; Charlie Haden: bass; Ben Riley: drums, percussion; String Orchestra - Murray Adler (concertmaster), Nathan Kaproff, Lou Klass, William Henderson, Ronald Folsom, Leonard Malarsky, Gordon Marron, Janice Gower, Gerald Vinci, Sidney Sharp, James Getzoff and Bernard Kundell : violins; Myra Kestenbaum, Rollice Dale, Leonard Selic, David Schwartz, Samuel Boghosian and Marilyn Baker : violas; Jesse Ehrlich, Jerry Kessler, Jan Kelly, Anne Goodman, Edgar Lustgarten, Ray Kelley and Raphael Kramer : cellos. Music arranged and conducted by Alice Coltrane. $30.00

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I recall seeing her with Pharoah in the group at Berkeley Jazz Festival in either '69 or '70 at the Greek amphitheatre (Frank Lowe sat in and told me not long before he died that it was his first 'real' gig). The playing was intense and mesmerizing even though Alice complained that her fingers were cold, rough for the numbers on harp.

Wow.

A few years ago she sat in with Ravi at Joe's Pub in NYC, I missed it because it was sold out. I'm hoping that she does a bit of touring to support the new album. It would be cool if Pharoah did some dates with her and Ravi. I heard Pharoah, Ravi & Rashied Ali when they played with Tisziji Muñoz at the Village Underground in 2003.

But I've never heard Alice perform.

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7/4: Dusty Groove has had copies of those two Impulse cds a little bit cheaper, but not much. I've been tempted, but held off. . . I have lp copies. . . Seriously great and wish they were out on domestic cds!

I have the records but no turntable and I ordered the cds this afternoon! Too late, oh well...$30 is a lot, but I did see them somewhere else for $7 more.

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COLTRANE, ALICE: Lord of Lords CD (UCCI 9110). Japanese 24-bit/96kHz remastered CD, in mini-LP packaging. Japanese only/first CD issue of this 1972 album, originally issued by Impulse!. Recorded and mixed at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, July 5-13, 1972." Tracks: 'Andromeda's Suffering' (Coltrane), 'Sri Rama Ohnedaruth' (Coltrane), 'Excerpts from The Firebird' (Stravinsky), 'Lord Of Lords' (Coltrane), 'Going Home' (Traditional). Produced by Ed Michel under the direction and inspiration of Alice Coltrane. Alice Coltrane: harp, piano, organ, tympani, percussion; Charlie Haden: bass; Ben Riley: drums, percussion; String Orchestra - Murray Adler (concertmaster), Nathan Kaproff, Lou Klass, William Henderson, Ronald Folsom, Leonard Malarsky, Gordon Marron, Janice Gower, Gerald Vinci, Sidney Sharp, James Getzoff and Bernard Kundell : violins; Myra Kestenbaum, Rollice Dale, Leonard Selic, David Schwartz, Samuel Boghosian and Marilyn Baker : violas; Jesse Ehrlich, Jerry Kessler, Jan Kelly, Anne Goodman, Edgar Lustgarten, Ray Kelley and Raphael Kramer : cellos. Music arranged and conducted by Alice Coltrane. $30.00

I have an order standing for the Monastery reissue, but how is this one? Are the strings on all stracks, how is it?

Thanks!

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I just finished listening to the Lord of Lords lp and I have to say this is a beautiful, deep recording.

Strings are on every track. She also doubletracks harp on most tracks. Lush. Powerful. Gorgeous. The 10 minutes of "Goin' Home" that concludes the recording is wonderful.

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Guest akanalog

are either of the two new alice coltrane's out at dustygroove worth the cash?

i like ptah a lot-i like transfiguration not as much but the good parts are good-i had world galaxy and universal consciousness and only liked them intermittently. too much arythmic string stuff. i like journey to sanditdsfreg? also but don't love it-it is very good but seems patchy and not so coherent. i like her work when it has a groove going-not when it is floating strings forever. will i like either of the new reissues?

also-my take on pharoah.

tauhid is awesome at points but is sort of blah at others. the payoffs are great but there is a lot of percussive rattling until those points.

i think live at the east is overrated-half is awesome grooving and half is a little too much floaty bass noodling and chanting.

elevation is awesome. weird sound. it is live but almost too clean. nice mix of stuff though-only gets too screechy for a second. shows overall what pharoah was about.

jewels of thought-first song is great. second is too screechy for a while. gets better. but the screechiness is too much for me.

black unity-awesome. my favorite pharoah. 35 minutes or so of an urgent powerful double rhythm section groove. surprised no one else is enthusiastic.

thembi-havent heard in a while. did not care for it years ago. too patchy.

karma-haven't heard in a while. no real feelings about it.

love is in us all-first song is excellent. 20 minutes of beautiful grooving. second 20 minute song is too screechy and arhythmic for me. so overall package not so great.

and one no one has mentioned-

izipho zam-this was on esp or byg or charly or something. i got a recent reissue on suspots or something. this is from '68 and has a nice band including sharrock and it seems to be trimmed of the stuff i don't like on the impulse stuff and more focused. only gets screechy for a second and the rest is very powerful with heavy grooves.

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I just got Ptah... and I love it. Fantastic album. Not at all what I expected. I'd certainly be interested in getting more Alice. What album should I get next?

I also got her new one, which I think is quite good as well. Anyone here listened to it yet? I'm kinda surprised it hasn't come up.

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aka,

You'll likely want to stay away from "Lord of Lords." Going to be a bit too string-driven for you. "Huntington Ashram Monastery" may or may not be "your cup of tea". . . . I'll have to try to revisit it, I wouldn't call it a "groover" but it does not have strings running pell mell atop it! ;)

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