Alice Coltrane: A Monastic Trio (Verve By Request series) [VERVE]

Why you'll love it

This Verve By Request series reissue is pressed on 180g vinyl in a gatefold jacket. Recorded at the Coltranes' home, it introduced Alice Coltrane's harp and her spiritual approach to composing, with Pharoah Sanders, Jimmy Garrison, Ben Riley and Rashied Ali.

This edition

• Verve By Request series
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Stereo mix

About the album

The debut album by American jazz musician Alice Coltrane, A Monastic Trio was recorded at her and her husband John Coltrane's home in 1968, a year after John's death. The album was intended as a tribute to her late husband, and modern reviewers praise Coltrane's arpeggio-rich harp playing and her spiritual approach to composition.

The supporting band consists of Pharoah Sanders, Jimmy Garrison, Ben Riley and Rashied Ali, and every piece is her own. Garrison and Ali both played in John's final groups, which makes the tribute personal, and Bob Thiele served as executive producer. "Ohnedaruth" takes its title from John's spiritual name, "Gospel Trane" and "I Want To See You" put her piano front and centre, and "Lovely Sky Boat" and "Atomic Peace" let the harp ripple and soar.

This reissue comes through Verve Recordings on their Verve By Request series, back on the Impulse! catalogue number it first carried. The harp became her signature over the albums that followed, Journey in Satchidananda among them. It's the opening chapter of one of spiritual jazz's great journeys, and it still sounds like a quiet room with the windows open.

Also at Kops: more Alice Coltrane on vinyl · browse Modern Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Impulse! / Verve (cat# A-9156), a reissue of the 1968 album.