Journey in Satchidananda

Harp, soprano saxophone and tanpura: the album named for her guru.
Alice Coltrane, 1971

Released
1971
Recorded
8 November 1970; Isis and Osiris live at the Village Gate, 4 July 1970
Studio
Coltrane home studio, Dix Hills, New York
Label
Impulse!
Producer
Alice Coltrane, Ed Michel

Play on hypersongs

Four of the five tracks were cut at home in November 1970 with Pharoah Sanders, Cecil McBee and Rashied Ali, plus tanpura and bells. Shiva-Loka refers to Shiva as the dissolver of creation, Stopover Bombay to the trip to India and Sri Lanka she was about to make, and Something About John Coltrane is built on her husband's themes. Isis and Osiris, recorded live at the Village Gate with Charlie Haden on bass and Vishnu Wood on oud, reflects her interest in Middle Eastern and North African music. In her liner notes she hoped listeners would hear it with their inner ear, as a form of meditation.

AllMusic gave it five stars, Pitchfork ten in 2019, and Rolling Stone called it a meditative bliss-out like jazz had never seen when it placed the album at 446 among the 500 greatest albums in 2020.

Track listing

  1. Journey in Satchidananda6:36
  2. Shiva-Loka6:33
  3. Stopover Bombay2:52
  4. Something About John Coltrane
  5. Isis and Osiris11:32

Personnel

More from Alice Coltrane

Ptah, the El Daoud (1970)

Sources

  1. Journey in Satchidananda, Wikipedia
  2. Journey in Satchidananda, original pressing, Discogs
  3. Journey in Satchidananda at 55, Albumism (2026-02-01)
  4. Treble Hall of Fame: Journey in Satchidananda, Treble (2021-01-31)