An Abbreviated, Non-Autobiographical Memoir of Alice Coltrane
The Coltrane name remains ever-pervasive in the music community, dredging up echoes of wailing saxophone cries ahead of their time – and ahead of poor Tommy Flanagan. Countless musicians have found inspiration in John Coltrane’s career and his second wife, Alice Coltrane (1937-2007), is no exception. Accomplished musician in her own right as a pianist, organist, and harpist, she made a successful career for herself prior to and following her marriage to John Coltrane, particularly after as a recording artist and continuer of experimental jazz. Before his influence, Alice Coltrane (formerly McLeod) spent her early formative music years with both the gospels and spirituals of her neighborhood churches as well as the bebop jazz club scene
Born …show more content…
Farrow, who was fast becoming one of Detroit’s finest modern jazz bassists, inspired her in her youth and was crucial in helping her get exposure as a bebop pianist in her early-twenties. It was in this period that she came to play organ with trombonist George Bohanon, bassist Anthony Jackson, and drummer Oliver Jackson in her first working band, the Premieres. They could be considered “a lounge act,” working at bar shows and in resort areas in the latter part of the 1950s. At the same time, McLeod was working various other gigs, through which she met her first husband, accomplished bebop scat singer Kenneth Hagood. Together, they decided to travel to Paris for work and were wed before their departure in 1960. During her near-year in Paris, she met and was mentored by Bud Powell and worked as a pianist in the Blue Note Jazz Club. Unfortunately, her time in Paris also posed exceptional challenges for her. She became pregnant with daughter, Michelle, while her marriage to Hagood crumbled. Later that year, she returned to the States – sans
The Coltrane name remains ever-pervasive in the music community, dredging up echoes of wailing saxophone cries ahead of their time – and ahead of poor Tommy Flanagan. Countless musicians have found inspiration in John Coltrane’s career and his second wife, Alice Coltrane (1937-2007), is no exception. Accomplished musician in her own right as a pianist, organist, and harpist, she made a successful career for herself prior to and following her marriage to John Coltrane, particularly after as a recording artist and continuer of experimental jazz. Before his influence, Alice Coltrane (formerly McLeod) spent her early formative music years with both the gospels and spirituals of her neighborhood churches as well as the bebop jazz club scene
Born …show more content…
Farrow, who was fast becoming one of Detroit’s finest modern jazz bassists, inspired her in her youth and was crucial in helping her get exposure as a bebop pianist in her early-twenties. It was in this period that she came to play organ with trombonist George Bohanon, bassist Anthony Jackson, and drummer Oliver Jackson in her first working band, the Premieres. They could be considered “a lounge act,” working at bar shows and in resort areas in the latter part of the 1950s. At the same time, McLeod was working various other gigs, through which she met her first husband, accomplished bebop scat singer Kenneth Hagood. Together, they decided to travel to Paris for work and were wed before their departure in 1960. During her near-year in Paris, she met and was mentored by Bud Powell and worked as a pianist in the Blue Note Jazz Club. Unfortunately, her time in Paris also posed exceptional challenges for her. She became pregnant with daughter, Michelle, while her marriage to Hagood crumbled. Later that year, she returned to the States – sans