Journey in Satchidananda

I was aware of the importance of John Coltrane's work from a relatively young age (even if I struggled to enjoy it), but, as these things too often go, I read or heard nothing of his wife's music until much later. About ten years ago I heard her composition 'Turiya And Ramakrishna', which stopped me in my tracks, whereupon I downloaded a few of her albums. Even so, several more years passed before I finally bought some of them on physical media, with Journey to Satchidananda being one of two CDs of hers I picked up at Spillers Records in Cardiff in 2019 (as mentioned a few days ago).

In Coltrane's original liner notes for the album, reproduced in the CD booklet, she wrote "I hope this album will be a form of meditation and a spiritual awakening for those who listen with their inner ear." Only having functional outer ears, and not the most discerning ones at that, such an awakening may continue to elude me, but one needn't be fully on-board with the heartfelt spirituality in evidence here to enjoy the wonderful music, or to be uplifted by it.

The opening track, from which the album takes its name, soon establishes a mood, one that is thoroughly redolent of its time (1970), but which still feels fantastic over half a century later - it's a warm & fragrant bath of sound. The second track, 'Shiva-Loka', continues in a similar vein, while the two subsequent tracks have a more restless air, with Coltrane having switched from harp to piano. The last and longest track 'Isis and Osiris' is cut from a somewhat different cloth, being a live recording with some different players - leaning perhaps a little more toward the avant-garde, without being unduly abrasive.

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