ALICE COLTRANE
Translinear Light

Verve

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In many ways Translinear Light, Alice Coltrane’s first new recording in 25 years, harkens back to a time when jazz was a music filled with intellectual, political, and spiritual content. No one was more attuned to the spiritual in his music than Alice’s late husband, John Coltrane, but there were others as well, including saxophonist Pharoah Saunders, a frequent collaborator with Alice following her husband’s untimely death. The recordings they made, including Ptah the Dauod and Journey in Satchidananda expanded and illuminated John’s legacy. Alice withdrew from the commercial music world in the late 1970s to open her own ashram and pursue spiritual studies. Her reemergence is a welcome breath of fresh air and a reminder that the paths John Coltrane and other dedicated musicians traveled during their lifetimes are still there for us, and the doorways they opened are still beckoning.

Alice is joined on this musical journey by her family, sons Ravi and Oran. Both are saxophonists who must labor in the shadow of their famous father’s work. Ravi in particular has been able to find his own voice and has made several recordings that stand out as first-rate modern jazz works. Recently he has begun to deal with his father’s legacy, recently premiering a work based on the seminal recording A Love Supreme. Both Ravi and Oran acquit themselves beautifully on this CD, coming across as talented saxophonists who do not seek to imitate their famous father. Oran’s alto work on “The Hymn” is light and airy, the very anithesis of his father’s muscular tenor sound, but offers a similar conviction and honesty. Ravi’s work is exemplary throughout the CD, and while his wide open tone may at times invite comparison with his famous father, his playing is very much informed by his own voyage of self-discovery through his playing and recording with a variety of different musicians.

Alice herself is the focus of much of the disc. Playing acoustic piano, synthesizer, and Wurlitzer organ, she demonstrates clearly that it is the message, not the instrument, that is important. On the traditional “Sita Ram” which opens the CD, Coltrane provides a marvelous trancelike excursion accompanied only by Jack DeJohnette on synth drum and Ravi on percussion. In lesser hands the Wurlitzer may have come across as cloying, but Alice conveys a great deal of expression on the instrument and transports the listener into her musical universe effortlessly. There is universality, not only of music, but of spirituality as well, as Coltrane takes on traditional gospel-influenced material like “Walk With Me” and “This Train,” both of which are offered as trio performances, the first with bassist James Genus and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, the latter with Charlie Haden and DeJohnette.

Translinear Light stands as a document of serenity and wholeness, with gorgeous ballads like “Jagadishwar” and John’s composition “Crescent” played with stunning depth and self-assurance by Ravi on tenor. He also demonstrates his musical maturity on Alice’s original composition “Blue Nile,” a striking modal piece that serves as a gateway to the two John Coltrane compositions, “Crescent” and “Leo.” The latter serves as the most restless piece on the disc, a powerful trio performance featuring Ravi, Alice’s Wurlitzer, and Jack DeJohnette’s powerful drumming.

There are those who have always insisted on seeing Alice Coltrane as something of the Yoko Ono of the jazz world, an interloper who replaced McCoy Tyner in Trane’s beloved quartet and was the gateway to John’s later groups staffed by what were, in the eyes of many jazz fans, lesser musicians. These people miss the point that John was developing, rapidly, into an area where the influence his personal spiritual quest, together with the music of India and Africa, led him to reject the notion that he was a ‘jazz musician’ at all. In order to explore these new areas in a satisfying way, Coltrane wanted musicians who were unconstrained by notions of what was and wasn’t jazz. Alice Coltrane has continued along that path in her life and in her musical work. Translinear Light is a welcome return of a major figure in the development of jazz and the music of other cultures. Certainly this music is not for everyone, but for those who still love and honor the free spirit of the music created by John Coltrane and his many disciples, it is a worthwhile and thoroughly enjoyable addition to that legacy.