ALICE COLTRANE — A Monastic Trio (review)

ALICE COLTRANE — A Monastic Trio album cover Album · 1968 · Avant-Garde Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
Alice’s first solo album came after her husband’s death, but I have no doubt that her creative output would’ve found the same issue regardless of that difficult phase. Actually it probably prompted her to surpass herself and obviously called on Trane’s usual suspects to help her out. Indeed, Garrison, Sanders & Ali are present, but the later is replaced by Ben Riley (probably called by Pharoah) on the drum stool. So, actually we’re talking more of a quartet, but the though-misleading title of A Monastic Trio has to do more with Alice’s mystical or spiritual beliefs (sort of a trilogy or trinity, I guess), rather than about the musical qualities of the album.

Musically the album is right out of Trane’s realm (as you’d expect), but rather the mid-60’s (say late 63 to 65), rather than his more transcendental later period, even if Pharoah’s sax and Ali’s drums tend to push the limits as far as can be, given the context. Opening on Ohnedaruth (supposed to be Trane’s Hindu name), the album directly plunges into a typical Trane modal groove and the rest of the album follows suit, although there is a notable difference when she puts her harp to her shoulder on the flipside. This B-side will obviously affect and be more representative of her future albums, but unfortunately Pharoah’s absence is all-too noticeable, thus it seems something is missing over the three track’s length, this despite Alice’s splendid fingerings on her harp.

A superb debut solo album, one where Alice sets out to digest (read explore and expand) some of her late husband’s musical ideas on one side, but also develop her own (very successfully, I might add) on the flipside. I’d tend to recommend the Satchi or Ptah albums as a more fitting intro, but this AMT could indeed fit just fine as well, showing her in-progress evolution.

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