Description
180-gram vinyl
When the brilliant saxophonist John Coltrane died in 1967, the core values of jazz music had long drawn him into the spiritual world (A Love Supreme, Ascension, Meditations etc.). His widow and final pianist followed in his footsteps.
Alice Coltrane (1937-2007) sought after "cosmic sounds, higher dimensions, astral levels" — she had an important influence on the spiritualised, esoteric music scene of the 1970s. Her first album was only released after John Coltrane's death, but Eternity was already her tenth. (In the same year she founded a Hindu Vedantic Center in California.)
The album draws its power from highly contrasted sound worlds. The size of the ensemble ranges from an unaccompanied harp solo ("Wisdom Eye") to a large orchestra with a big band of up to 25 plus a 12-man string section. Alice Coltrane's main instrument is the electric Wurlitzer organ, whose rasping sound conjures up John Coltrane's saxophone (especially in the opening number "Spiritual Eternal"). Mostly she improvises modally, sinuously, or with meditative ecstasy — whether in the style of Latin rock ("Los Caballos") or quite without a firm tempo ("Morning Worship" with a tamboura accompaniment).
