Alice Coltrane recorded her Spiritual and Modal Jazz classic Ptah, The El Daoud in 1970 for the Impulse ! label. Alice plays Piano and Harp accompanied by Pharoah Sanders and Joe Henderson on tenor sax and alto flute, Ron Carter on bass and Ben Riley on drums on the four long self compositions.
‘Ptah’ (an Egyptian god), ‘The El Daoud’ (beloved) Is a 14 minute march of purification. ‘Turiya and Ramakrishna’ is beautiful piano led, blues rooted melodic and haunting track without the horn’s taking you to a state of Nirvana throughout its 8 mins.This amazing track has suprisingly become a YouTube ‘hit’ with 19 million views/listens.
‘Blue Nile’ is another beautiful mystical track On which Coltrane’s harp is sympathetically accompanied by flutes, conjuring up images of the great African river. ‘Mantra’ is much more menacing and challenging In its approach Henderson and Sanders saxes swirling above Alice’s piano and the rhythm section. All together a superb album which oozes spirituality.
Buy the LP HERE
Buy the CD HERE
Check out the tracks below:
Alice Coltrane – Ptah, The El Daoud
Alice Coltrane – Turiyah An Ramakrishna
Alice Coltrane – Blue Nile
Alice Coltrane – Mantra
