Alice Coltrane

of Alice's four extraordinary albums Eternity, Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana, Transcendence and Transfiguration in bundle. With liner notes by Mark Richardson and rare photos by Gary Heery and Ginny Winn. Alice Coltrane was a pioneer - one of a tiny number of women in 1960’s jazz to be allowed through the door – wielding her instrument with a force and artistry which couldn’t be ignored. It was her visionary mind which helped push her husband toward the astounding sonic realms which defined the last four years of his life – a movement toward a higher sonic and spiritual plane, which she continued in his absence to astounding result. Following John’s untimely passing in 1967, Alice began to immerse herself in Hindu spiritual practice – first presenting itself on her 1969 LP Huntington Ashram Monastery, and growing as a guiding force across her subsequent LPs, World Galaxy, Journey in Satachidananda, Lord of Lords, Huntington Ashram Monastery, etc.

After an incredible run with the legendary imprint, Impulse, Coltrane’s output slowed for the first half the 1970s, recording only a few collaborative efforts. This changed in with a force in 1976 with Eternity, her first album for Warner Bros, finally reappearing before us now. The album, like so many before it, is a window into her incredible ambition, diversity of influence, and resistance to easy categorisation - combining the drones and textures of India, the gospel and R&B of her Detroit youth and the dissonance of modern classical composition.

The leaps and shifts unveiled across Eternity are likely connected to the changes in its creator’s life and growing spiritual devotion. Having to California, where she founded the Vedantic Center, an Ashram for spiritual studies, Alice stretches out across the albums two side – even incorporating a stirring adaptation of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. The results of her spiritual and sonic journey are dazzling in scope and emotional range -  exploratory organ and the dramatic swell of lush strings, meditative harp, rollicking rhythms, and an adaptation of  bhajans - Hindu devotional songs, which hints at the ecstatic devotional music that she would later make with members of her Ashram.

A wondrous piece of work and an album long deserving of a return to vinyl, issued with the love and care that Superior Viaduct has become know. One of 4 essential albums that simply have to be had!