Next month, Luaka Bop will release World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitanandaa, a compilation of music the legendary jazz harpist and pianist recorded while living in the California ashram she established in 1983. After sharing the lovely “Om Shanti,” the label has released another track from the album, the 10-minute hypnotic rave-up “Om Rama.” Combining gospel handclaps and melisma, Vedic chant, and Coltrane’s own cosmic keyboard playing, “Om Rama” is a transportive listen, moving through several equally compelling sections before it draws to a close. If your primary reference point for Coltrane’s music is her jazz ensemble work of the early ’70s, it’s thrilling to hear her unmistakable spiritual yearning expressed in this electrifying new context. Listen below. [Pitchfork]
According to Luaka Bop, the recordings Coltrane made at Sai Anantam Ashram in the ’80s and ’90s were previously distributed in private pressings to the members of the ashram. World Spirituality Classics marks the first time they will be released publicly, and includes liner note interviews with Coltrane’s children Michelle and Oran, as well as with her nephew Steven Ellison, aka Flying Lotus. It will be released May 5.
