Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Alice Coltrane and Redefining the Jazz Avant-Garde

Alice Coltrane: Redefining the Jazz Avant-Garde

• Alice Coltrane's Subtle Spiritual Statements:

  • Bassist Cecil McBee describes Alice Coltrane's spiritual expression as more delicate and graceful compared to the loudness of others.

  • Alice Coltrane viewed her musical work as an offering to God and a sharing with others rather than being concerned with results.

• Naming and Identity:

  • Born Alice McLeod, she became Alice Coltrane through marriage to John Coltrane in 1963.

  • She later adopted the names Swamini Turiyasangitananda and Turiya Aparna, reflecting her spiritual pursuits.

  • Names hold power and reflect one's understanding of their true self.

• Jazz and Spirituality:

  • Alice Coltrane intertwined jazz and spirituality, making them inseparable in her music.

  • She combined Black church traditions with Eastern religious and musical practices.

  • She integrated her music into the ritual life of the Sai Anantam Ashram.

• Musical Legacy and Debate:

  • There's ongoing debate on who inherited John Coltrane's musical legacy.

  • While some consider Pharoah Sanders, Ornette Coleman, or Albert Ayler, Alice Coltrane is seen as continuing John's spiritual and musical experimentation.

  • She introduced African, Indian, and Middle Eastern instruments to jazz.

  • She developed a unique jazz harp sound and used instruments like the oud and tambouri.

• Fourfold Purpose of Discussion:

  • Explore Alice McLeod's early life and musical education prior to joining John Coltrane's Quartet in 1966.

  • Examine how cultural revitalization, self-actualization, and spirituality became central themes in Alice Coltrane's music, extending and departing from John Coltrane's spiritual and musical experimentation.

  • Discuss general beliefs about free jazz and the avant-garde, beyond gender and identity.

  • Analyze how religious conversion or spiritual awakening became a theme in black jazzwomen's music in the 1960s and 1970s, transitioning jazz into ritualized religious life.

Early Life and Musical Development

• Lack of Extensive Documentation:

  • Limited information exists on Alice Coltrane post-1967 due to few interviews granted.

  • Franya Berkman's dissertation is a primary study, with mentions in John Coltrane works and reviews in publications like DownBeat and Billboard.

  • Some were unfamiliar with Alice Coltrane at the time of her death in 2007, but her name remains linked to free jazz.

• Early Influences:

  • Born Alice McLeod on August 27, 1937 in Detroit.

  • Musical talent developed within her family, with her mother playing piano and singing in the church choir.

  • Half-brother Ernie Farrow, a jazz bassist, influenced her transition to the New York jazz scene.

• Detroit's Music Scene:

  • Detroit's music scene shaped her musical training, from local churches to nightclubs.

  • Familial connections influenced her musical identity in her early teens.

  • She studied piano, harmony, and theory at age seven.

  • She played organ for Mt. Olive Baptist Church and accompanied church groups.

• Church Influence:

  • Mt. Olive and Mac Avenue Church of God in Christ provided diverse musical understanding.

  • She learned that worship wasn't dictated by tradition and discovered freedom to express God in her own way.

  • The Lemon Gospel Singers also provided a significant gospel experience.

• Spiritual Experience with the Lemon Gospel Singers:

  • Alice recounts an experience with the Lemon Gospel Singers, where the spiritual atmosphere was so intense that many were overcome, and the service ended spontaneously.

• Religious Beliefs' Impact:

  • Early religious experiences and the importance of spirituality influenced her life and music.

• Exposure to Diverse Music:

  • Detroit's music scene exposed her to blues, jazz, and classical music.

  • She liked hymns, anthems, gospel music, and music from the sanctified church.

  • She played percussion in high school concert band, mastering timpani, drums, and chimes.

• Bebop Influence:

  • Bebop became the basis of her musical style during the 1950s.

  • Detroit's jazz scene provided access to musicians and performance opportunities.

• Jazz Cooperatives:

  • The World Stage and the New Music Society supported young experimental musicians.

  • The World Stage birthed jazz artists like Yusef Lateef, Barry Harris, and Kenny Burrell.

  • The New Music Society sponsored jam sessions and concerts.

  • These groups aimed to collectively organize and control music production.

• Influence of Ernie Farrow:

  • Alice's half-brother, Ernie Farrow, influenced her transition into jazz.

  • Farrow was an innovative bassist with a triple finger technique.

• Musical Classroom:

  • Farrow's connections turned their home into a musical classroom; she developed into a professional.

• Early Career and Marriage:

  • From 1957-1960: She worked with The Premiers in Detroit.

  • Alice focused on her musical development during this period.

  • She married singer Kenny "Pancho" Hagood; they had a daughter named Michelle in 1960.

• Move to Europe:

  • Alice and Kenny moved to Europe in 1960 to further careers.

  • They formed bonds with jazz musicians in Paris, including Hazel Scott, Kenny Clarke, and Oscar Pettiford.

  • Bud Powell became a musical mentor, helping her formulate musical ideas.

• Divorce and Return to Detroit:

  • Her marriage suffered, and in the fall of 1960, she divorced Hagood and returned to the United States.

  • She quickly became a fixture on the Detroit jazz scene again.

  • Subsequent engagements included Johnny Griffin and Kenny Burrell.

  • She mainly played at the Twenty Grand Lounge with a band that included Farrow.

• Musical Evolution and Influences:

  • Alice played both bebop and vibes.

  • She was greatly influenced by the modal compositions of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

• Early Compositions:

  • Even in her early years, her compositions extended beyond the straight-ahead concepts that dominated the Detroit scene.

  • Bennie Maupin recalls that Alice's compositions served as points of departure, with adventurous improvisation.

  • Her structures and harmonies were quite different, experimenting with dissonances and scales.

• Influence of Terry Pollard and Terry Gibbs:

  • In 1962, Terry Pollard approached Alice about taking her place with the Terry Gibbs band.

• Joining Terry Gibbs' Band:

  • Despite initial reluctance, Alice auditioned and got a spot in Gibbs' band.

  • Gibbs recognized her talent immediately, comparing her to Bud Powell.

• Meeting John Coltrane:

  • In 1963, the band was booked opposite John Coltrane’s Quartet at Birdland in New York City, which marked the first time that McLeod met John in person.

  • Gibbs introduced Alice to John.

• Initial Romance and Courtship:

  • "I immediately saw a puppy love romance starting," recalled Gibbs in his autobiography.

  • John and Alice were equally infatuated with each other.

• Developing Relationship:

  • John showed up at the club where Gibbs’s band was performing.

  • They bonded over music and a shared connection.

  • Alice was drawn to John's introspective nature.

• Musical Influence and Growth:

  • Alice's playing began to reflect some of the harmonic structures that had recently become a part of John’s music.

  • The influence was first captured on the 1963 recording she made with Gibbs called “Terry Gibbs Plays Jewish Melodies in Jazz Time."

• Touring with John Coltrane:

  • After several tour dates on the West Coast, the band returned to New York, and John asked Alice to go with him to Sweden.

  • Alice obtained her mother’s permission and traveled with John’s quartet; she traded her career for domesticity with John.

• Transition to Domestic Life:

  • Over the next two years, Alice McLeod would transition into a life of relative obscurity.

Marriage to John Coltrane

• Changes in John Coltrane's Life and Music:

  • John moved in with Alice and started a family.

  • They had two sons, John W. Coltrane Jr. (born in 1964) and Ravi John Coltrane (born in 1965).

  • John was already integrating new ideas into his compositions.

  • His solos and compositions were moving away from hard bop and modal sounds.

  • He explored the limits of his instrument to articulate musical ideas.

  • Spirituality became a common theme in his music.

• Integration of Spirituality and Jazz:

  • The 1964 release of Crescent and A Love Supreme were emblematic of John Coltrane’s marriage of spirituality and jazz.

  • His perspective on spirituality, central in his first marriage to Naima, began to emerge in his music.

• Experimentation and Transition:

  • Ascension foreshadowed his musical experimentation.

  • The recording featured a forty-minute performance with an enlarged band.

• Avant-Garde and Personal Changes:

  • John's music evolved towards avant-garde jazz.

  • In 1966, he divorced Naima, married Alice in Juarez, and bought a house in Dix Hills, Long Island.

The Marriage and Musical Partnership

• Shared Spiritual Direction:

  • Alice described their union as God uniting two souls.

• Family Life:

  • John and Alice had another son, Oranysan Olabisis Coltrane, in 1967.

  • Alice embraced her role as a mother and wife.

  • Together, they explored religious faiths and different types of music.

• Musical Shifts and Challenges:

  • John's move closer to the avant-garde led to pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones leaving the quartet.

  • Coltrane turned to Alice to fill the gap left by Tyner’s absence.

  • His decision, along with the addition of Rashied Ali, caused controversy among critics and fans.

  • Some blamed Ali for the quartet's dissolution, while others blamed Alice for changes in John's music.

• Artistic Vision and Determination:

  • According to Alice, the quartet members felt it was time for a change and left on their own.

  • John wanted Alice to play with him on piano and valued her contributions.

• Reception and Evolution:

  • American audiences initially defected, but Europeans and Asians embraced the group’s sound.

  • John pushed the boundaries of free expression, and Alice's role led her into stylistic developments beyond bebop.

• John's Teachings on Musical Freedom:

  • "John showed me how to play fully," Alice recounted.

  • He encouraged her to explore her instrument entirely, branch out, and not stay in one spot.

• Core Ideologies:

  • The aesthetic approaches described here represented the core ideologies of John Coltrane’s music, and in time also those of Alice. These notions are defined in three practices: self-definition, self-assessment, and the act of branching out.

• Evolving Identity:

  • John desired to be seen as more than the “sheets of sound”/classic quartet John Coltrane, while Alice fought against being a poor appropriator of his style.

  • His evolving sense of identity extended beyond the concert stage and recording studio to his life with Alice and their kids.

• Redefining Masculinity:

  • Coltrane, like Ornette Coleman, "remasculated" jazz through his public displays toward Alice.

  • He redefined notions that black male jazz musicians could not have meaningful relationships with black women.

• Providing and Securing the Future:

  • John took great care in providing for Alice and his children. She became the sole heir to his estate and gained ownership of Jowcol Music, which also provided the family with a steady income.

  • Even when she decided in the late 1960s to record her own compositions, John’s financial planning allowed her to not feel pressured to tour to support the sale of her music.

The Female Musician and the Avant-Garde

• Impact of Free Jazz on Women Musicians:

  • The emergence of free jazz in the 1960s further isolated jazz women from the mainstream scene.

  • The business of jazz declined, and strategies from the 1950s were no longer viable.

  • Female jazz musicians struggled to find their identity in a shifting music scene.

• Challenges and Marginalization:

  • Increased militancy and Black Nationalism polarized jazz audiences, making it difficult for jazzwomen to secure their place.

  • Some women quit the business or took day jobs; the free jazz movement meant a virtual "blackout" of women musicians.

  • Historians have often ignored women or relegated them to minor roles.

• Cultural Movements and Gender Roles:

  • The search for creative liberation was centered in the need to liberate oneself and the art from clutches of women.

  • Freedom in jazz became an aesthetic value defined in a more male-centered construct.

• Exceptions and Perspectives:

  • Abbey Lincoln and Alice Coltrane are noted as exceptions.

  • Alice provides one of the few perspectives of the female instrumental voice within the 1960s avant-garde.

• Instrumental Gender Stereotypes:

  • The piano and harp have been historically viewed as "feminine" instruments.

  • The piano is largely ignored within the free jazz paradigm due to its melodic focus and dependence on Western tonality.

• Masculine-Defined Contexts:

  • The free jazz paradigm is defined as decidedly masculine.

  • Women were thought to be deficient in the necessary abilities to master harmony, melody, their emotions, and the complex musical language of free jazz.

• Breaking Barriers:

  • Alice defied these notions and served as a mentor to a generation of free jazz purveyors.

• Widow Phenomenon:

  • Alice's place in jazz history is often shaped by the common reading of her public persona as the widow of John Coltrane.

  • Similarly to other significant widows of the 1960s, Alice's legacy was defined in her role as the widow of a great man.

  • There is often no noteworthy public acknowledgment of the woman’s contributions to the revolutionary actions that immortalized her husband.

  • Alice's professional aspirations were reshaped by John’s death, and she worked to reconcile her music career with motherhood.

• Building a Recording Studio:

  • Alice built a recording studio in their home, reflecting John's desire to create music independently.

• Creative Freedom and Control:

  • She had complete control over what material of John’s would be released.

  • Alice felt pressure to record, but later asserted that it would be John’s wish for her to continue to perform musically.

• Experimental and Spiritual Music:

  • Over the next decade, from 1968 to 1978, Alice created highly experimental and spiritual music for Impulse Records and Warner Brothers.

  • The aesthetic ideals of freedom in music and faith were associated with the avant-garde in Alice's recordings.

  • Liner notes became a testament to the evolution of her spiritual beliefs.

• Musical and Production Approach:

  • A spirit of musical cooperation defined the manner in which Alice approached her music and recording sessions.

  • Her focus was on the emotional, spiritual, physical statement of the environment.

• Cultural Links and Influences:

  • This approach reveals a larger cultural link between cultural practices of West Africa, jazz, and the African American experience.

  • Music making follows a collective approach, emphasizing communal participation.

  • Value is put on technical virtuosity and what the performer does with what he or she has.

Spiritual and Musical Elements

• Literal and Ephemeral Sacred Space:

  • Alice invoked the free and transformative aspects of her experiences in Holiness churches.

  • One makes connections in the collective improvisation of free jazz, reflecting an African American religious experience.

• Universal Consciousness:

  • Each recorded work reflected her articulation of a universal consciousness.

  • This drew from African and Indian music, Stravinsky, bebop, the blues, and gospel music.

  • Spiritually, this consciousness draws from Hinduism, Islam, Judeo-Christianity, Buddhism, and Egyptology.

• Complete Control Over Production:

  • Alice exercised complete control over the production of her music.

• Artistic Freedom:

  • Alice operated in complete autonomy from industry trends, putting commodity above art.

• The Struggle for Artistic Freedom:

  • Archie Shepp wrote a DownBeat letter, stating jazz is an unequal product of blacks and whites.

  • For Alice Coltrane, the struggle was rooted in her articulation of spiritual growth through music.

Four Phases of Alice Coltrane's Discography

• First Phase: Acknowledgment (Spiritual Awakening):

  • Reflects a period of spiritual awakening and a deeper understanding of God in her life.

  • Listeners can chronicle the personal struggles Alice experienced after John’s death through her first three albums: A Monastic Trio, Huntington Ashram Monastery, and Ptah the El Daoud.

  • Reaches back to her Holiness church roots to "testify" about experiences.

• Monastic Trio Liner Notes:

  • The liner notes explore her role in furthering John Coltrane’s spiritual legacy.

  • Musical representations of her early years in the Holiness and Baptist churches are found in works like “Gospel Trane,” and “Lord Help Me to Be."

Ptah the El Daoud:

*   In the notes to Ptah the El Daoud, Alice wrote that her focus was “to express and bring out the feeling of purification."

• Critical Reception and Growth:

  • Critics and audiences did not readily receive first three albums.

  • A Monastic Trio received a lukewarm response, with critics viewing her style as an imitation of her husband’s.

  • DownBeat gave the album a low rating, declaring that the “piano is unsuitable instruments for transmitting passionate utterance” and that “Alice artist in the process of becoming.”

• Second Phase: Discovery of God (1970-1972):

  • Listened had allowed purging process to proceed and pursue knowledge of God.

  • Albums such as Journey in Satchidananda, Universal Consciousness, World Galaxy, and Lord of Lordsmirrored pilgrimages to the East and full immersion into Hinduism.

Journey in Satchidananda:

*   The title track featured Alice on harp, Pharoah Sanders on soprano sax, Cecil McBee on bass, Tulsi on tamboura, Rashied Ali on drums, and Majid Shabazz on bells and tambourine.
*      A musical tribute to Swami Satchidananda, Alice’s spiritual advisor.
*“Shiva-Loka” was, according to her, an attempt to “stretch thoughts over to Shiva-Loka, one of the highest points of the universe.”

Universal Consciousness:

*   Reflected the varied nature of Alice's musical experimentations and her understanding of God.
*   Employed strings arranged by Ornette Coleman and mantras such as “Hare Krishna” and “Sita Ram.”

• Critical Acclaim:

  • Journey in Satchindananda and Universal Consciousness were highly acclaimed, viewing Alice as being “a paragon of the new music.”

• World Galaxy Receipt:

  World Galaxy was received lukewarmly with its musical spirit thought to have been betrayed by Impulse’s insistence to “tone down the weirdness and to give them something that would sell big.”

• Third Phase (Discovery of the Holy Spirit):

  • The third phase, Discovery of the Holy Spirit, is transitional between the end of Alice’s commercial recording career and her move to a completely religious life.

  • In 1973 and 1974 she collaborated with Joe Henderson and Carlos Santana on the albums The Elements and Illuminations, respectively.

  • And in 1976 and 1977 she produced Radha Krsna Nama Sankirtana and Transcendence, which featured chanting.

Transfi guration:

*   *Transfi guration*, recorded in 1980 for the Warner Brothers label, marked the end of Alice’s commercial recording career.

Avatar:

*   For the next twenty years she would focus on noncommercial recordings of her interpretations of bhajans, or Indian devotional songs. These songs were recorded on *Avatar*, and included the following recordings: *Turiya Sings (1982), Divine Songs (1987), Infi nite Chants (1990), and Glorious Chants (1995)*.

• Fourth and Final Phase (Psalm - Song of Praise):

  • These recordings reflect the transition of Alice's music from being driven by commercial appeal to being motivated by its own divinely ordained purpose.

  • The music moved to a use and purpose that John Coltraine’s music, aside from A Love Supreme, had yet to achieve.

Alice Coltrane as Spiritual Avatar

• Changing Perceptions of Jazz:

  • Many black jazzwomen during this time also used the genre to manifest their evolving spiritual identities.

  • The 1960s and 1970s marked an important period in the construction of a conversion narrative of black jazzwomen.

• Significant Women:

  • Three signifi cant women refl ect this idea—Mary Lou Williams, Alice Coltrane, and Hazel Scott.

• Mary Lou Williams:

• She devoted herself to a religious life of prayer and service to others, even turning her Hamilton Terrace apartment into a rehab center for addicted musicians. In the early 1960s she was persuaded by a number of priests to compose some spiritually based jazz compositions.

  • One year before A Love Supreme was released, Mary Lou Williams debuted her fi rst religious composition, “A Hymn in Honor of St. Martin de Porres,"

• Hazel Scott:

  • According to Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who was then her husband, Scott was drinking heavily as a coping mechanism, but she experienced a "spiritual awakening."
    Hazel's statement in an interview states her basic belief was in

Gender presented both overt and subtle challenges to Alice Coltrane. The male-dominated jazz scene often marginalized women, either ignoring their contributions or relegating them to minor roles. There were also gender stereotypes about instruments, with the piano and harp being viewed as "feminine," which further complicated her standing in the avant-garde, largely defined as masculine. She provided a rare female perspective within the 1960s avant-garde movement, defying conventional notions of women's abilities in jazz. Furthermore, some critics attributed changes in John Coltrane's music to Alice's influence, showcasing how gender dynamics played out in the reception of her work and contributions.