In many ways this is a logical development from Alice Coltrane’s Satchidananda and it finds her painting on a far larger canvas. Her writing is elegant and imaginative and hints at the religiousness of her concept. The orchestra is handled beautifully and the recording balance allows the individual voices to be heard within the full orchestral panoply. What this music is not, is jazz. Not even Riley and Haden can infuse much of that product into the proceedings and I am left wondering at what market it is aimed.
The elegance of its themes cannot disguise the fact that, in terms of contemporary serious composition, the style is extremely dated and Coltrane’s fussy, romantic piano and harp work will please jazz followers no more than it did when she was working with her late husband. Obviously a considerable amount of money was spent on its production and I feel almost guilty that I cannot find anything more generous to say.
Discography
Andromeda’s Suffering; Sri Rama Ohnedaruth; Excerpts From The Firebird (21½ min) – Lord Of Lords; Going Home (21¾ min)
Alice Coltrane (pno/org/harp/tymp/perc); Charlie Haden (bs); Ben Riley (dm) plus large string orchestra. LA, 5-13/7/72.
(Impulse IMPL 8009 £2.55)
