Pianist/keyboardist/composer Alice Coltrane, widow of John Coltrane, died over the weekend. I attended her concert in Newark, NJ in October 2006, which was part of a short and much celebrated tour. My reaction was a bit less enthusiastic than that of Bill Milkowski (who sat next to me at the show). Ben Ratliff of the NY Times sounded a more skeptical note.
Her 2004 comeback CD, Translinear Light, met with similarly mixed reactions. I loved it, and I said so in this review for Jazz Times.
My condolences to Alice Coltrane’s family, especially her son Ravi, a saxophonist/composer and an important presence on the New York scene in his own right. We owe him thanks for overseeing his mother’s return to the recording studio and concert stage in recent years.
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