Very few people have the ability to make a comeback after being
gone for over a quarter century. However, if there was anyone up to
the challenge, it would be Alice Coltrane.
“I couldn’t feel a time difference. It felt like a
continuation to me,” said Coltrane, an innovative jazz
pianist and the widow of jazz great John Coltrane.
Saturday, Alice Coltrane will perform at Royce Hall as part of
the UCLA Live series. Dwight Trible and his quintet will open for
her. The UCLA performance will mark the first time Trible, who
calls his music spiritual jazz, will perform with Coltrane.
“It’s a very high honor ““ in fact one of the
highest honors that I can have in this music,” said Trible.
“She’s a very spiritual person. She’s always
trying to help people and bring them closer to the source. Being on
the same stage as her, or at least to be associated with her, is
truly a blessing.”
After a 26-year hiatus from her previous album, 1978’s
“Transfiguration,” which was recorded live at UCLA,
Coltrane released “Translinear Light” in 2004. She was
compelled to return to recording music by son Ravi Coltrane, who
begged her for five years before she finally acquiesced to his
request. “Translinear Light” combines the modern sounds
created by the synthesizer with traditional jazz rhythms.
“It was really fun recording,” Coltrane said.
“(Ravi) was the one who really pleaded and begged ““ he
told me, “˜Everywhere I go people are asking (about
you).'”
Although she did not release any albums during the 26-year gap
between releases, Coltrane was still active in helping other
artists record their music. But her main focus during her break
from recording was to find spiritual enlightenment. Coltrane found
it more important to discover her spirituality instead of pursing a
second career, and she spent much of the time reading about
Buddhist theory and other religions of the African and Asian
worlds. Her studies clearly influenced “Translinear
Light” through the mystical melodies woven throughout the
songs.
Her interest in music began early. Even at a young age, her
mother knew the musical realm would be a significant part of
Coltrane’s life.
“My mother told me that as a baby anytime I heard music on
the radio, I would crawl up to it and stay there and listen and
listen and listen,” Coltrane said. “She said,
“˜It’s a baby! How is it that (with) any music, she is
attracted to it?'”
Coltrane found every opportunity to become immersed in the art
of sound. She took an active role in educating herself about
music.
“When I was 7 years old, I remember asking a lady if she
would teach me music,” Coltrane said. “I was very shy,
and she wasn’t a piano teacher, but I asked her to teach me
piano. I studied classical music for 10 years. It was very
enlightening.”
However, Alice Coltrane gained most of her fame as wife and
fellow bandmate of John. The pianist is proud to be associated with
the man who was arguably the greatest jazz musician of his era, and
feels no regret at not being able to shrug off the inevitable
comparisons and be judged on her own merits. Instead, she embraces
his memory and uses him to inspire her work.
“(Being married to John) was one of the best experiences
of my life,” Coltrane said. “He was a man of
extraordinary intelligence and art. I like the way he talked
““ he had humor. But his mind for music was beyond anything I
had seen. He was at the level of genius in terms of his
music.”
John asked his wife to be part of his musical legacy by
replacing his original pianist McCoy Tyner and have her join his
band. Many were skeptical about this decision, including Coltrane
herself. Despite her talent and aptitude, she was still shocked
that John would even consider her to be part of his music.
“He had such insight. I was surprised that he asked me to
join the band,” she said. “(It was) not that I felt
unqualified or not up to level; it wasn’t a matter of music
or ability. It was just the number of talented people in the music
world.”
John still lives on in Coltrane’s music and heart. Her
music is influenced by her husband’s work, but she adds a
spiritual tone that makes it all her own.
“I knew that there wouldn’t be anyone who would
stand in his shadow,” said Coltrane. “I had never seen
anyone up to his level. I thought that it might be unfair to be
with someone else knowing that I would knowingly or unknowingly
compare everyone else to him.”
Despite being in the music industry for several decades, she
still remains as passionate about her art as she was the day she
began making music.
“I’m sure I will always be close to music,”
Coltrane said. “Even though 27 years passed, I’m still
very involved with it. The music will never change.”