John and Alice Coltrane

Kate Molleson and Kevin Le Gendre dive into the lives and music
of John & Alice Coltrane


Coltrane is a name you’re likely to have heard, even if you know
little to nothing about jazz. More than half a century after his
death, saxophonist and composer John Coltrane is hailed as a
giant of American cultural history, and one of 20th-century
music’s greatest visionaries. But he’s not the only Coltrane. His
wife, Alice, was an accomplished keyboardist and harpist who made
revolutionary music in her own right, and whose contribution to
John’s late output has not always been fully recognised. As
soulmates and fellow seekers in sound, John and Alice both
transcended cultural and genre boundaries, helping to pioneer
avant-garde and spiritual jazz. But following John’s premature
death in 1967, Alice began her solo career and would take forward
their journey of creative and religious expansion. This week,
Kate Molleson is joined by journalist and broadcaster Kevin Le
Gendre to dive into the lives and music of these monumental
figures, and explore their contributions to the jazz world and
beyond.


Music featured:


Straight Street (from Coltrane) Blue Train (from Blue Train)
Miles Davis/John Coltrane: So What (from Kind of Blue) Giant
Steps (from Giant Steps) Syeeda’s Song Flute (from Giant Steps)
Naima (from Giant Steps) Rodgers/Hart: It’s Easy to Remember
(from Ballads) Up ‘Gainst the Wall (from Impressions)
Rodgers/Hammerstein: My Favorite Things (from My Favorite Things)
Blues Minor (from Africa/Brass) India (from Impressions) Alabama
(from Live at Birdland 1963) Bessie’s Blues (from Crescent) Terry
Gibbs: Sherry Bossa Nova (from Plays Terry Gibbs feat. Alice
McLeod) Ogunde (from Expression) A Love Supreme, Pts 1 and 2
(from A Love Supreme) Expression (from Expression) Dear Lord
(from Transition) Stopover Bombay (from Journey in Satchidananda)
The Sun (from Cosmic Music) Lovely Sky Boat (from A Monastic
Trio) Ohnedaruth (from A Monastic Trio) Blue Nile (from Ptah the
el Daoud) A Love Supreme (from World Galaxy) Journey in
Satchidananda (from Journey in Satchidananda) Spiritual Eternal
(from Eternity) Sivaya (from Transcendence) Going Home (from Lord
of Lords) Krishna Krishna (from Turiya Sings) Translinear Light
(from Translinear Light) Rama rama (from The Ecstatic Music of
Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda) Govinda Jai Jai (from
Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana)


Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Amelia Parker & Martin
Williams for BBC Audio Wales


For full track listings, including artist and recording details,
and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after
broadcast) head to the series page for John and Alice Coltrane
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001s5st


And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve
featured on Composer of the Week here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z