Alice Lucille Coltrane (born McLeod; August 27, 1937 – January 12, 2007), also known as Swamini Turiyasangitananda or Turiya, was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and Hindu spiritual leader. She was a skilled pianist and one of the few harpists in jazz history. Coltrane led her own band and recorded many albums starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s for Impulse! and other record companies. Her music, which focused on spiritual themes, had an impact on jazz and other musical styles. She was married to John Coltrane, a famous jazz saxophonist and composer, and performed with him from 1966 to 1967.

In the mid-1970s, Coltrane’s music career slowed as she focused more on her religious studies. She started the Vedantic Center in 1975 and the Shanti Anantam ashram in California in 1983, where she guided spiritual activities. On July 3, 1994, she officially renamed the ashram Sai Anantam Ashram. During the 1980s and 1990s, she recorded albums featuring Hindu devotional songs. She returned to spiritual jazz in the 2000s and released her final album, Translinear Light, in 2004.

Biography

Alice Coltrane was born Alice Lucille McLeod on August 27, 1937, in Detroit, Michigan. She grew up in a home where music was important. Her mother, Anna McLeod, sang in a church choir. Her half-brother, Ernest Farrow, became a jazz bassist. Her younger sister, Marilyn McLeod, became a songwriter for Motown.

With her father’s support, Alice McLeod began performing music in clubs in Detroit. Later, she moved to Paris in the late 1950s. There, she studied classical and jazz music, including lessons with pianist Bud Powell. She worked as a pianist during breaks at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Paris in 1960. She performed on French television with musicians Lucky Thompson, Pierre Michelot, and Kenny Clarke. In 1960, she married Kenny "Pancho" Hagood and had a daughter named Michelle. The marriage ended when Hagood struggled with drug use, and Alice returned to Detroit with their daughter. She continued playing jazz professionally in Detroit, performing with her own trio and as a duo with vibraphonist Terry Pollard.

In 1962–63, she played with Terry Gibbs’ quartet, where she met John Coltrane. In 1965, they married in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. John Coltrane became the stepfather to Alice’s daughter, Michelle, and the couple had three children together: John Jr. (born 1964, a drummer who died in 1982), Ravi (born 1965, a saxophonist), and Oranyan (born 1967, a DJ). Oranyan later played saxophone with the band Santana.

Alice and John’s interest in spirituality influenced John’s music, including his album A Love Supreme. In 1966, Alice replaced McCoy Tyner as the pianist in John Coltrane’s group. She recorded music with him until John’s death on July 17, 1967. After his death, Alice continued to share their musical and spiritual vision. Though she was trained as a pianist, she became skilled at playing the harp. She received a large Lyon & Healy concert harp before John’s death, but it is unknown if she took lessons or how she practiced to become so good. Her first album, A Monastic Trio, was recorded in 1967. From 1968 to 1977, she released thirteen full-length records. Over time, her music moved away from traditional jazz toward more spiritual and cosmic themes. Albums like Universal Consciousness (1971) and World Galaxy (1972) included orchestral arrangements and harp melodies. She released music with Impulse! Records until 1973, then with Warner Bros. Records until she stepped away from the public eye.

After John’s death, Alice struggled with health problems, including weight loss, sleeplessness, and hallucinations. She described these experiences as part of her spiritual practice, called tapas. A friend introduced her to Swami Satchidananda, a yoga teacher, who helped her study Hinduism in the early 1970s. By 1972, she left her life in Detroit and moved to California, where she founded the Vedantic Center in 1975.

In the mid-1970s, Alice had a spiritual experience where she believed God gave her a new name, Turiyasangitananda, meaning "the Transcendental Lord’s Highest Song of Bliss." She dreamed of leaving her normal life to follow Swami Satchidananda. She traveled to India to study with him and later became the spiritual leader of the Shanti Anantam Ashram near Malibu, California. At the ashram, she performed religious ceremonies, led chanting, and created new music by blending traditional chants with gospel and modern sounds. In 1977, she released an album called Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana, which included songs from the Sathya Sai Baba and ISKCON movements. She sent a copy of the album to A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the leader of ISKCON, who praised her work. Alice later met Swami Prabhupada in India during a pilgrimage.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Alice shared her spiritual teachings through books and music. Her first book, Endless Wisdom I, was published in 1982 with a spiritual cassette called Turiya Sings. She released more books and music, including Divine Revelations (1995) and Endless Wisdom II (1999). In 2017, a compilation of her music titled World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda was released. In 2021, her album Kirtan: Turiya Sings was re-released with updated arrangements.

In 1994, Alice renamed her ashram Sai Anantam Ashram in honor of Sathya Sai Baba, a spiritual leader she believed to be "the Avatar of this age." She visited Sai Baba’s home in India many times. After her death in 2007, the ashram’s attendance declined and it was closed in 2017. The site was later destroyed in the 2018 Woolsey Fire.

In the 1990s, interest in Alice’s music grew, leading to the release of a compilation called Astral Meditations. In 2004, she released a comeback album, Translinear Light. After a 25-year break from performing, she returned to the stage in 2006, including a concert at Ann Arbor’s Hill Auditorium on September 23, which would have been John Coltrane’s 80th birthday.

Impact

Alice Coltrane has influenced many artists. The English rock band Radiohead was inspired by her music, as seen in the song "Dollars and Cents" from their 2001 album Amnesiac. Paul Weller honored Alice Coltrane in his 2008 song "Song for Alice (Dedicated to the Beautiful Legacy of Mrs. Coltrane)" from the album 22 Dreams. The track "Alice" on Sunn O)))'s 2009 album Monoliths & Dimensions was also inspired by her work.

Steve "Flying Lotus" Ellison, a musician, is Alice Coltrane's grandnephew. On his 2010 album Cosmogramma, he included a song titled "Drips//Auntie's Harp," which features a sample of her harp playing from the 1970 album Ptah, the El Daoud. Laura Veirs' song "That Alice" on her album Warp and Weft is about Alice Coltrane. The band Orange Cake Mix included a song titled "Alice Coltrane" on their 1997 album Silver Lining Underwater.

Poet giovanni singleton wrote 49 poems daily after Alice Coltrane's death in his book Ascension. Pop artist Doja Cat spent part of her teenage years at Alice Coltrane's ashram, which influenced her dance style.

Artist Cauleen Smith's exhibition Give It or Leave It included two films, "Pilgrim" (2017) and "Sojourner" (2018), that explored Alice Coltrane's music and her ashram.

Discography

Studio and Live Albums

• A Monastic Trio (Impulse!, 1968)
• Huntington Ashram Monastery (Impulse!, 1969)
• Ptah, the El Daoud (Impulse!, 1970)
• Journey in Satchidananda (Impulse!, 1971)
• Universal Consciousness (Impulse!, 1971)
• World Galaxy (Impulse!, 1972)
• Lord of Lords (Impulse!, 1973)
• Illuminations (Columbia, 1974) with Carlos Santana
• Eternity (Warner Bros., 1976)
• Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana (Warner Bros., 1977)
• Transcendence (Warner Bros., 1977)
• Transfiguration (Warner Bros., 1978)
• Turiya Sings (Avatar Book Institute, 1982; re-released by Impulse!/Verve/UMe/Universal, 2021)
• Divine Songs (Avatar, 1987)
• Infinite Chants (Avatar, 1990)
• Glorious Chants (Avatar, 1995)
• Translinear Light (Impulse!, 2004)
• Carnegie Hall '71 (Hi Hat, 2018) also released as Live at Carnegie Hall, 1971
• Live at the Berkeley Community Theater 1972 (BCT, 2019)
• Kirtan: Turiya Sings (Impulse!/Verve/UMe/Universal, 2021; different mixes of Turiya Sings found by Ravi Coltrane in 2004)
• The Carnegie Hall Concert (Impulse!, 2024)

• Reflection on Creation and Space (a Five Year View) (Impulse!, 1973)
• Priceless Jazz Collection (GRP, 1998)
• Astral Meditations (Impulse!, 1999)
• The Impulse Story (Impulse!, 2006)
• Universal Consciousness / Lord of Lords (Impulse!, 2011)
• Huntington Ashram Monastery/World Galaxy (Impulse!, 2011)
• World Spiritual Classics: Volume I: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda (Luaka Bop, 2017)
• Spiritual Eternal: The Complete Warner Bros. Studio Recordings (Real Gone Music, 2018)

• Cosmic Music (Impulse!, 1966–1968) with John Coltrane

• Live at the Village Vanguard Again! (Impulse!, 1966)
• Live in Japan (Impulse!, 1966; released 1973)
• Offering: Live at Temple University (Resonance, 1966; released 2014)
• Stellar Regions (Impulse!, 1967; released 1995)
• Expression (Impulse!, 1967)
• The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording (Impulse!, 1967; released 2001)
• Infinity (Impulse!, 1972)

• Terry Gibbs Plays Jewish Melodies in Jazztime (Mercury, 1963)
• Hootenanny My Way (Mercury, 1963)
• El Nutto (Limelight, 1964)

• Left & Right (Atlantic, 1968)

• Extensions (Blue Note, 1970)

• The Elements (Milestone, 1973)

• Closeness (Horizon, 1976)

• Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool (GRP, 1994)