Alice Coltrane (1937-2007)

Alice McLeod's bebop piano playing with Terry Gibbs in the early 60's is legendary. Very little of it is on tape, but those that saw it live still talk about this pretty young girl tearing it up Bud Powell-style.

At that time, her boyfriend was Joe Henderson. Shortly afterwards, she starting going with John Coltrane. Unlike Coltrane's previous wife, Naima, Alice agreed to play to learn the harp, an instrument that fascinated Coltrane, and they married in 1966. At the piano, she abandoned her Powell style and studied McCoy Tyner's fourth-chords and pentatonic flurries in order to gig with her husband. Rather than imitate Tyner exactly, she put all that new modal information in the service of free-form rhythm. The John Coltrane records with Alice show her fitting in Trane's late style much better than Tyner did. Tyner said he left the band because he couldn't hear himself, but you can hear Alice on the '66 and '67 recordings just fine. It's too bad Alice isn't on Ascension and Kulu Se Mama, because she would have hooked up those dates much more than Tyner, who sounds a little irritated.

There are at least four classic recordings with John and Alice Coltrane together:

Live at the Village Vanguard Again!
Live In Japan
Expression
The Olatunji Concert

There are also many more bootlegs and a few more studio recordings from this era. The pick of the bunch is probably The Olatunji Concert, which was John Coltrane's last recorded gig. Alice sounds truly marvelous here, especially on "Ogunde," which is strong enough to make any pianist reconsider what they think they know about free playing.

After John's death, Alice Coltrane dealt less with playing gigs and making recordings than with matters of the spirit, which probably would have suited John just fine. (We have solicted an essay by a devotee of Alice Coltrane solo albums, so stay tuned.) The family seems to have come full circle with their son Ravi, who is a clear-headed, burning jazz player.