Although it took some time to procure a copy through the library, we have finally finished Andy Beta's detailed biography of Alice Coltrane. Entitled Cosmic Music: The Life, Art, and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane, one can already guess the author's approach to her life and music. He tries to balance the spiritual and musical aspects of Coltrane's life, showing much respect for her as Swamini who led an ashram in Agoura Hills. Significantly longer and benefitting from more recently released or reissued recordings of Alice Coltrane's work, Beta's biography is more comprehensive than that of Berkman's earlier study of Coltrane. By adroitly balancing the various aspects of Coltrane's life and showing great respect to her faith, readers understand how the sacred was always part of Alice's aesthetic. Though sometimes leaning toward credulity, one suspects Beta wants the reader to come to their own conclusions about Alice's spiritual transformation and abilities. For examples, see how Beta nonchalantly reports Coltrane's claims to levitate, or astrally project. Or, for instance, her somehow learning Ancient Egyptian for "Er Ra." The biography abounds with examples of Turiya's claims to astral projections, meetings with deceased composers, and karmic healing. This undoubtedly informs the reader of all aspects of her life and work, from Alice's own perspective. He's also effectively demonstrates how the jazz establishment dismissed her for sexist reasons and how Alice went on to shape New Age music, a field for which we must confess a lack of interest.
Naturally, as one can expect in the standard jazz biography, Beta contextualizes Coltrane's work in the larger social, cultural and political spheres of her time. This means highlighting the impact of race and gender on limiting opportunities for African Americans, the context of the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power, and the sexism of the jazz and music industries. Thus, the story begins with Detroit and expands significantly beyond the confines of Alice's own upbringing and church community. Black Detroit, despite the ugly racism of the past, was a vibrant center for music and the arts. Even the schools, less segregated, provided an excellent musical education accessible to black students. This background helps to explain the rise of not only jazz musicians like Alice Coltrane and her older brother, but the eventual ascent to stardom of Motown (also connected to Alice Coltrane through her sister's career as a songwriter). This important historical/cultural context for Black Detroit was unknown to us, mainly the reputation of Detroit jazz artists as excellent musicians in the genre and often becoming major figures of the second half of the last century. Thus, Yusef Lateef, Alice Coltrane, Terry Pollard, and Joseph Henderson were just some of the brilliant players to come out of this musical environment. Beta also emphasizes the role of jazz musicians like Terry Pollard and Dorothy Ashby, also from Detroit, to indicate how female instrumentalists were also renowned in the city.
The subsequent section of the biography covers Alice's early career as a musician. Despite dreams of Juilliard, she makes a name for herself in Detroit, playing with groups like the Premiers. She also spent time in Paris, meeting with the legendary Bud Powell (whose technique she was said to resemble in her piano style) and hearing Coltrane with Miles Davis at the Olympia. She even toured with Terry Gibbs, being one of the better soloists on his recording of Jewish music. Indeed, one can already detect her eclecticism here since Alice was performing music from bob, African-American spirituals, Jewish, and the jazz traditions. Her time in New York City is mentioned here or there, including the time she spent at a Loft where each morning greeted the musicians with the fresh aroma of flowers. Coltrane even married Hagood, another musician, yet faced the misfortune of his drug addictions and had to raise Michelle on her own. But the next part of her life proved to be more momentous in her musical and personal development.
Next, Alice meets John. Both were shy, very shy. Alice had already seen him perform in Paris and John's stature in the music was very well established. The two hit it off and Alice eventually married John. Although she did not immediately join the quartet, her conversations with John obviously included their shared passion for music, such as Stravinsky. Over time, as Coltrane's music went further "out," the group fell apart while Alice replaced Tyner as pianist. By this period, Alice's playing was less of the Bud Powell-influenced style she was known for. She was still very much connected to her musical roots, but her shared interest in spiritual jazz, avant-garde music, and alternative religious systems led her and John to create more daring, freer music. One can only wonder how their music would have developed had John lived into the 1970s and 1980s.
Of course, Coltrane tragically died from illness in 1967. After a harrowing time that was likely part mental breakdown, part spiritual awakening, Alice recovered and established herself as the bearer of John's legacy whilst continuing her own musical voice. This growing interest in Hinduism and what might be seen as New Age thinking was part of a broader current in the United States at the time. Fortunately, Beta does highlight this, even mentioning how Alice Coltrane met and worked with Laura Nyro and others interested in Eastern religion and philosophy at the time. Other jazz musicians likewise explored Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or their own Afrocentric mythologies, like Sun Ra. Sun Ra is mentioned by name here for being one of the influences on John's interests in esoterica. It's perhaps under-analyzed here how Alice Coltrane's ascent to guru is part of a Black counterculture, with all the limitations and problems of the larger phenomenon of the 1960s and 1970s.
Now paired with her Hindu-inspired spiritual awakening and harp playing, Alice's music was polarizing for the jazz establishment. Perhaps aiming for low-hanging fruit, Beta occasionally quotes and eviscerates sexist jazz critics who naively dismissed Alice's albums or "tainted" the last recordings of Coltrane by overdubbing strings or her own music. Some of this music is sheer beauty and cosmic delight, like World Galaxy, and was recorded with excellent jazz artists like Pharoah Sanders, Charlie Haden or Rashied Ali. In more recent times, musicians and critics have finally recognized the brilliance of Alice's music, both the secular and her unique recordings of bhajans accompanied by the singing of her students. Alice has finally received the recognition she was due, and not just as the wife of John Coltrane. One can only hope more female jazz instrumentalists receive the recognition they are due instead of being ignored or reduced to their relationship with more famous men.
Overall, this was a very readable, accessible, and entertaining biography. Our interest in Alice Coltrane as a guru or spiritual leader remains slight, but Beta successfully balances this aspect of her career with her earlier life. Indeed, his interviews with members of Coltrane's ashram as well as various producers, musicians, and family members who knew her well reveal how deeply researched this book is. And, as he makes abundantly clear in how Alice Coltrane was always performing or playing music after the end of her contract with Warner, members of the public could even visit her center on Sundays for rousing performances of bhajans. Music was constantly in the home, too. Still, it is a travesty that some of her recordings from studio dates or live performances have been lost, as well as much of the television material she created. Beta's biography fills in as much of the gap as possible, highlighting as always her dedication to music's sacred dimensions. Indeed, her son, Ravi, appears to have maintained some of this aura. At a concert we attended, of which the audience was at least a quarter Indian or South Asian, and performed in a church, one could feel the "cosmic" and divine. Therefore, the Coltrane legacy (both John and Alice) lives on in the music of Ravi and many others, both jazz or non-jazz artists, who imbue a "cosmic" dimension to their work. Unsurprisingly, we have been inspired to explore all of Coltrane's recorded works now. We have moved beyond our youthful dismissal of her music after the early 1970s and can appreciate the beauty of her bhajans.
