Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

8. Alice ColtraneJourney In Satchidananda

The ultimate ecstatic modal-jazz expression, this album is just out there on its own. Obviously the influence of Pharoah Sanders on sax and percussion looms large but Alice Coltrane’s genius on harp defies words in its openness and sheer celestial nature. I’m trying to recall when I first heard this and I’m thinking it was around the end of the ’90s, but it expanded my musical imagination in a way I find hard to define.

This is freedom of expression. This is sonic enlightenment. This is meditation in musical form.

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