A Monastic Trio

Recorded in 1968 at the Coltrane home in Dix Hills with Pharoah Sanders, Jimmy Garrison and Rashied Ali, all of whom had played in John Coltrane's last quintet. Ben Riley plays drums on one track. Alice Coltrane is credited as producer and Bob Thiele oversaw the release. The liner notes dedicate the music to the mystic Ohnedaruth, known as John Coltrane from 23 September 1926 to 17 July 1967.

Critics were cool at first. Jazz Journal's Barry McRae thought it did John less than justice, and a DownBeat reviewer called her an artist in the process of becoming. Later writers were warmer. An AllMusic writer called it one of the landmark debuts in avant-garde jazz, and Tammy L. Kernodle heard a swinging gospel sensibility in tracks such as Lord, Help Me to Be.

The 1998 CD reissue adds Lord, Help Me to Be and The Sun, first issued on Cosmic Music, and Altruvista, an edited piano solo recorded on 7 March 1967 during the session for John Coltrane's Expression. Atmic Peace is printed that way throughout the original LP, and the title probably refers to the Hindu concept of Atman rather than being a misprint of Atomic Peace.