John Coltrane & Alice Coltrane ‎– "Cosmic Music" (Coltrane Recording Corporation ‎– AU 4950) 1968

Recorded only months before John's death,and released on Coltranes own label, this is the first offering of Alice Coltrane as an artist in her own right,although maybe it took the death of her hubby to achieve solo status.Someone had to carry on the Coltrane legacy, she did bare the name after all?
Her exotic swirling piano work is cruelly low in the mix,although she has an equal score in the writing credits at least. A milestone in the development of spiritual Jazz,and a tombstone for Coltrane J's forays into free improvisation.
Rashied Ali drums on this as well by the way.

Tracklist:

A1 Manifestation
Composed By – John Coltrane
A2 Lord Help Me To Be
Composed By – Alice Coltrane
B1 Rev. King
Composed By – John Coltrane
B2 The Sun
Composed By – Alice Coltrane

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John Coltrane ‎– "Infinity" (Impulse! ‎– AS-92250 1972

Another post-mortem examination of the out-takes of John Coltrane is this exhumation of a few sessions from 1965 and '66,later enhanced by the cosmic widow herself, wife, Alice.
It's really an Alice Coltrane record,filled with hindu inspired lush string sections,abstract organ work and Harp glissando's, plus samples of John's tenor sax laid over the top.
If you're an Alice fan, this is her great lost work,if you're a John fan it's a cynical cash-in. As a fan of both, this is like playing two albums by either artist together at the same time,which is something I always like to do from time to time......sometimes it works,and it works here, very well.Should really be credited as a John and Alice Coltrane record,but no-one knew who she was, so,its a John Solo effort for commercial purposes.
All the usual suspects are guesting on the personnel list, like Rashied Ali,Elvin Jones, Pharoah Sanders, Charlie haden, McCoy Tynor;they all dug in to lend a hand,for what in all intents and purposes is a tribute album to one of musics most influential artists......by his widow and old chums.Ahhhh!

Tracklist:

A1 Peace On Earth 9:03
A2 Living Space 10:40
B1 Joy 8:01
B2 Leo 10:08

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John Coltrane ‎– "Interstellar Space" (ABC Impulse! ‎– ASD-9277) 1974

Rashied Ali didn't play on 'Om',but he did play on this Coltrane album from....wot?....1974??? Wait a minute, hadn't the Trane pulled into his last station some seven years earlier,I hear you protest!?
Indeed he had, but this session with Rashied Ali was taped back in '67,and dug up to try and squeeze some more cash from the wide open pockets of your average jazz fan. This is still happening as Coltrane released a new album a year or so ago,competing with Jimi Hendrix for the bi-annual  post-mortem  scraping the bottom of the barrel award.
Its not as wild as Rashied Ali's duet with Frank Lowe however,and not as good, but it does have some nice bells on it.....i'm always a sucker for the odd bell or two amidst the chaos.

Tracklist:

1 Mars 10:42
2 Leo 10:55
3 Venus 8:27
4 Jupiter Variation 6:45
5 Jupiter 5:22
6 Saturn 11:36

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John Coltrane ‎– "Om" (Impulse! ‎– AS-9140) 1967

Here we go, yeah it's the 'Trane',and what has been labelled his worst album. A scathing attack by the same jazzbo journalists who thought Miles Davis's "On The Corner" was his worst album. Of course it is now accepted that "On The Corner" is one of the greatest albums ever made,but "OM" still wears its label of worst like a millstone. Now I can reveal that "OM" is Trane's bestest work wot he done!
It also happens to be the first Coltrane work that I was exposed to; therfore all previous works were judged by this standard.Expecting another bowel flushing  deluge of ecstatic horn blowing, "A Love Supreme" sounded like a Yes album, nice tunes but too safe for these times that we live in.
"Om" is a ferocious beast, with some groovy Hindu chanting from the Gita:
"I am, and the offering made to the ghosts of the fathers, herbs of healing and food, the mantram, the clarified butter. I the oblation, and I the flame into which it is offered. I am the sire of the world, and this world's mother and grandsire. I am he who awards to each the fruit of his action. I make all things clean. I am Om!"

Dig that cover of a medallion nestling into a hairy chest, that wouldn't have been out of place on Oddbod in "Carry On Screaming".Is that supposed to signify some kind of 'Black Power' or shit?

Allegedly, John and chums were off their tits on LSD-25 during this recording,but I think its too coherent for that.It makes too much sense to me,and I ain't never done Acid in my life.....there were plenty of other fools who did it for me, so why risk doing a Syd Barratt?We all know that LSD eventually turns you into Hawkwind,and who wants to do that to themselves? Jefferson Airplane getting turned into Starship,is a better example of what drugs can do to your creativity.It turns one from "White Rabbit" to "We Built This City On Rock and Roll".If you need it for inspiration then maybe you shouldn't do the arts at all? Lets face it, you do drugs to get off yer face,simple as that.Not to find a new direction in art....that's done by thinking stuff up.Y'know perspiration not inspiration.

Despite sounding like they can hardly be bothered to speak in the spoken word intro and outro,Coltrane and band are definitly inspired by the natural forces of freedom here.

I love everything about this posthumously released cash-in album, and it is Coltrane's best or,more accurately, his beast.

NB, oh yeah, this was supposed to link to that Frank Lowe and Rashied Ali album,but Rashied doesn't drum on this,its Elvin Jones.....on LSD apparently?

Tracklist:

A Om, Part 1 15:02
B Om, Part 2 13:58

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