COSMIC MUSIC

An accessible, definitive biography of Alice Coltrane (1937-2007), misunderstood jazz musician and guru.

Until recently, Coltrane was typically discussed only in the context of her husband, saxophone titan John Coltrane. Though she was a gifted pianist and harpist, most critical assessments of her music were dismissive if not overtly sexist. (One review called her a “virtually talentless lady who married the right man.”) This complicates Beta’s efforts to explore her life, because relatively few interviews and background materials exist, as if she weren’t worth the bother. But this book not only fills out her life, it goes a long way toward redeeming her as an artist. Born in Detroit, she was prodigiously gifted, accompanying choirs at her church before she was 10. Efforts to launch a music career in New York and Paris fizzled, as did a brief first marriage, but she found a kindred spirit in Coltrane, who in the 1960s was deep into a spiritual phase. She accompanied him on pathbreaking work before his death in 1967; after, she maintained his estate and recorded jazz albums deeply influenced by Hindu spirituality. The music baffled many, but Beta, a veteran music journalist, cleanly contextualizes her work in the traditions of gospel, classical (Western and Indian), jazz, and beyond, making it clear that her music was essential to her spiritual journey. In the ’70s she moved to California, where she established an ashram, assuming the title Swamini Turiyasangitananda, recording cassettes of her singing with followers, and enjoyed a career revival before her death. Artists like Radiohead, Björk, and David Byrne have promoted her work, and Beta’s book does a valuable service as well; in its precision, empathy, and musical understanding, the book scours off the condescension that’s clung to her reputation and reveals her anew.

An invaluable life of a pioneering artist, only now beginning to be fully understood.