ALICE COLTRANE & ANUSHKA

Alice Coltrane was born in 1937 in Detroit, Michigan. She is the daughter of John and Alice Coltrane. After studying classical music at Wayne State University, she moved to New York City in the early 1960s and became involved with the avant-garde jazz scene. There she met her future husband, trumpeter Don Cherry, and began playing piano and organ with his groups.

In 1966 Coltrane moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as a studio musician for film soundtracks and TV shows. In 1967 her first album as a leader, A Monastic Trio, was released on Impulse! Records. She went on to record more than 20 albums as a leader or co-leader over the next three decades.

Coltrane’s music is spiritual in nature, drawing on Hindu and African religious traditions as well as American gospel music. She has been cited as an influence by such diverse artists as Pharoah Sanders, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Questlove of The Roots.

Alice Coltrane passed away in 2007 at the age of 69.