Miler72 I'm certain Carlos Santana wanted to meet up and perhaps collaborate with John Coltrane, but it was obviously too late as he passed away in 1967, and Santana had just formed and their debut album won't see the light of day for another two years. It's clear Mr. Santana was a big fan. At least many years later, after being a disciple of Sri Chimnoy, and already releasing a coupe of fusion albums with Santana (Caravanserai, Welcome) and with John McLaughlin (Love, Devotion, Surrender), he got to collaborate with John Coltrane's widow Alice Coltrane. I knew right away this wasn't going to be a Santana album. Much of side one consists of orchestral passages with Mr. Santana's unmistakable guitar playing and some really nice harp playing from Ms. Coltrane. This is truly stuff that you can't imagine being on Caravanserai, Welcome or Borboletta. It's great stuff indeed. "Angel of Sunlight" is the closer to Love, Devotion, Surrender in spirit, has that same intense jamming, although with more of an Indian influence. Tablas are used but also drumming from Jack DeJohnette, and congas from Armando Peraza, Afro-Cuban percussionist, who, unsurprisingly, played with Santana. I also dig the cover, it reminds me of artwork you'd see on various versions of the Bhagavad Gita, which I guess was intentional, given Mr. Santana's association with Sri Chimnoy (Alice Coltrane wasn't a disciple of Sri Chimnoy, though). Rather unique stuff that's well worth having!

siLLy puPPy The word avant-garde is simply a term for the “leftovers” of music that don't fit neatly into any category. Given the breadth of experimental possibilities, it is rather meaningless by definition in conveying any prior sense of what to expect before actually hearing a new musical piece. Such is the case for ALICE COLTRANE and her masterpiece PTAH THE EL DAOUD (Ptah is an Egyptian God and El Daoud simply means The Beloved.) This sounds absolutely nothing like many of the other jazz artists lumped into the avant-garde such as Eric Dolphy, Sun Ra etc. Upon first listen it seems to me that Alice simply created something in the jazz world that is similar to what emerged in the rock world that later become known as post-rock, meaning rock instrumentation focused on ambiance and soundscapes rather than preordained musical compositions. ALICE COLTRANE does just that. It is clearly jazz by the sounds of the saxes and flutes, yet it's like the scarab beetle that graces this beautiful album cover. Alice's musical vision is the soft spiritually-infused fleshy part on the inside and the jazz instrumentation is the hard exoskeleton giving it a form. Just like post-rock, this post-jazz has additional instruments not usually heard in jazz. In this case the harp played with full virtuosity by Alice herself. And a super satisfying performance I may add.

This album is just brilliant! It is a return to the modal jazz composition of the previous decade that was quickly being abandoned for a more fusion approach in the jazz world, yet it wasn't just being retrospective. It was also fresh and original taking jazz to new places. At times the piano reminds me more of soul or gospel adding a warmth and a gentleness to the ferociousness of the musical performance that feels like a battle between order and chaos and at times it truly does have a free-jazz feel especially when Pharoah Sanders and Joe Henderson are competing on the left and right channels with their saxophones. The free form performances of bassist Ron Carter and drummer Ben Riley show that it really is the sum of the parts that make this album come together. None of the individual instruments would sound right without the contrast. The strange thing about this album is that despite feeling like a mystical spiritual journey the music doesn't particularly evoke any feel towards the Ancient Egyptian imagery depicted on the cover art. Doesn't matter a bit though. I find this music satisfying from beginning to end and wishing more albums of the sort had been made like it. However, I guess that would diminish from its uniqueness. 5 stars

Sean Trane Deep in her spiritual quest and under the influence of some maharishi guru, Alice recorded this UC album in three different sessions that were indeed quite different in terms of who was playing. Despite the full respect I have for Trane’s widow, I was never really able to decipher her lengthy mumbo jumbo on the innerfold of the album, but it’s not really necessary to get a solid whiff of the music on the black disc. If the outerfold artwork shows Alice in a normal state, the pictures inside show her in an influenced transient state, which she will never really leave for the rest of her life.

The first session took place on April 6/71 and consists of two tracks (plus another half), including the opening UC cacophonic and dissonant title track and the calmer “oh allah”, where she plays her Wurlitzer organ with Garrison and DeJohnette and a 4-man violin section (including Leroy Jenkins) and the help of Ornette for the arrangement scores.

The second session happened mid-May and featured Garrison, DeJohnette, Jarvis and Tulsi on tamboura. But the opening Hare Krishna track received some string arrangement treatment from the quartet mentioned above at a different date, while Sita Ram (a trad Indian piece) remained as such. Needless to say that Tulsi’s sitar/tamboura playing adds an undeniable Indian feel that permeates every second of the two compositions.

The third session occurred mid-June and was probably held to fill the rest of the album, and produced two tracks, one aside. It’s mainly Alice on her Wurlitzer and Rashied on drums, and if Armageddon has got a cosmic feel, Ankh is breathes serenity due to the added harp playing in the intro. Now it doesn’t really feel like filler material, but it’s certainly hors de propos sonically-speaking from the rest of the album. Definitely not her easier album to get into, but also not her most inaccessible, UC is probably not a fitting intro into Alice’s musical world, but it can be investigated in a second wave.

Warthur Alice Coltrane's musical exploration of mystical concepts from Egyptian mythology might be firmly in the avant-garde camp, but it sounds an awful lot more focused and honed than much of what is usually referred to as free jazz. Alice and her posse of sidemen manage such a dead-on evocation of mood with this one that it's hard to say which parts are structured composition and which parts are free improvisation, since more or less everything the musicians play helps evoke the atmosphere aimed for. The sax-and-flute duo of Henderson and Sanders are a particular treat, especially the way they are arranged in the mix - listen to a stereo version of the album on headphones to get the full effect of their interplay.

snobb Alice Coltrane was with no doubt one between leading avant-garde jazz musicians.Her best albums are gold legacy perfectly dated till now. But beside of her not very large and well researched jazz discography there exist all series of releases containing quite different music.

It's known that in mid 90s Alice left the jazz world for being religious teacher. Her established Avatar Institute recorded and released some albums of soulful chants,played mostly by Alice (with only occasional vocal support of her "pupils"). Musically it sounds as Indian vedas,played by harp/organ with Alice singing Sanskrit chants over it. As rule I am very critical to such kind of music, but surprisingly Alice plays it differently and it works!For sure this music has nothing common with jazz and could be classified possibly as soulful form of new age.

Release for heavy Alice fans only - but not so bad as you could think about it before listening.