A Love Supreme: Alice Coltrane, 1938-2007

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The brilliant jazz keyboardist and harpist Alice Coltrane died yesterday. She was John Coltrane's widow, and as far as I'm concerned, Coltrane's two greatest students (his wife and saxophonist Pharoah Sanders) exceeded him, building upon his foundation of what I call "Supreme" to create a cosmic, ethereal, intellectual, yet also passionate music.

Procure a copy of the strangely-titled but superbly assembled album World Galaxy. It's got a bizarre version of "My Favourite Things" as lead-in (which I like), but the rest is all Supreme. The final cut is a cover version of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" which is superior to the original, featuring a rambling (yet interesting) Swami named Satchidanada discussing love in Pauline terms.

I'm going to miss Sister Coltrane. Her work deeply inspired me and my writing.

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