The meditation music that the late jazz composer Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda created during her later yearsis getting the much-deserved reissue treatment.

On Thursday, the lauded label Luaka Bop announced the arrival of World Spirituality Classics:The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, a collection that gathers work from four cassettes she issued between 1982-95.

Turiyasangitananda was married to jazz saxophonistJohn Coltrane (and isthe mother of acclaimed saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and the great aunt of the Los Angeles beat producer Flying Lotus), and created mystical free jazz for the Impulse label during its late 1960s and early 70s prime.

Long a devotee of transcendental meditation, Alice changed her last name in the 1970s, opened a 48-acreashram outside of Malibuin the early 1980sand started composing works for her classes.

The recordings mark the first time any have been released on vinyl or compact discand show the breadth of her skills. They also mark the earliest recordings on whichTuriyasangitananda sings.

A multi-instrumentalist who replaced McCoy Tyner in John Coltranes legendary band, for a long time Turiyasangitanandas work waseclipsed by her late husbands explorations. Since her passing in 2007, though, her influence has expanded, and the new collection reveals why. The versatile player works with instruments including synthesizer, harp,percussion, strings, organs and a 24-person choir on the recordings, and the free-floating results are ethereal without being spineless.

World Spirituality Classics:The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda will also be put out on cassette. The LP version will feature two extra tracks, including one, Rama Katha, that has never before been released.

The volume, which arrives on the heels of a fantasticaudio documentary by Dublabs Mark Frosty McNeill,is the first in Luaka Bops new World Spirituality Classics series, one that mirrorssimilarly inspired Luaka Bop seriesincluding World Classics, Brazil Classics and Cuba Classics.

For tips, records, snapshotsand storieson Los Angeles music culture, follow Randall Roberts on Twitter and Instagram: @liledit. Email:randall.roberts@latimes.com.

UPDATES:

10:36 a.m.This article was updated to include an embed of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitanandas piece Om Shanti.

This article was originally published at 5 a.m.

Excerpt from:

Selections from Alice Coltrane's blissful late-period meditation music ... - Los Angeles Times