Rare, decades-old recordings by Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, the widow of John Coltrane, will be reissued in their complete form for the first time.
Matador Records is reissuing the four devotional “Ashram Tapes” Coltrane Turiyasangitananda put out in the 1980s and 1990s, which were distributed by her own press on tapes and one CD to attendees of Sai Anantam Ashram Hindu temple near Los Angeles. Matador said in a statement that a release date will be announced shortly for the four albums, Turiya Sings, Divine Songs, Infinite Chants, and Glorious Chants.
The recordings blend gospel, traditional Indian chants, and avant-garde jazz with synthesizers, organs, and the Ashram choir, the press release said. The reissues will restore Coltrane’s mixes, artwork, and sequences on vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital formats.
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“Musically, it’s a pure reflection of the life journey my mother was on at the time. She was seeking, in every, most authentic way, a life of devotion, transcendence, and spiritual elevation. The music was an inspired offering to the sanctity and feeling of this spiritual path,” Michelle Coltrane, daughter of Alice, said in a statement.
Despite being distributed in the Hindu temple Coltrane led, the recordings began circulating through underground channels among jazz and music fans. In 2018, some tracks from three of the albums were put out on a compilation by Luaka Bop Records. Impulse! put out an early mix lacking the synthesizers of Turiya Sings in 2021, according to Matador.
Jim James of My Morning Jacket recently cited Coltrane Turiyasangitananda’s spiritual recordings as an inspiration for his latest single “Wowed Out” released Tuesday, July 28th.
Coltrane Turiyasangitananda was a jazz and experimental musician. She married jazz saxophonist John Coltrane in 1965 and played piano in his band until his death two years later. She devoted her life to Hindu spiritualism in the 1970s. She died in 2007. Her 1971 album Journey in Satchidananda was included in Consequence‘s 10 Afrofuturism albums that helped shape our understanding of space.