Alice Coltrane, circa 1978. She died in 2007 but remains an influential force for many artists. via The John & Alice Coltrane Home
Coltrane, a jazz virtuoso who devoted much of her life to a spiritual journey, is a beacon for today’s artists. An exhibition at the Hammer Museum shows why.
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For some artists, Alice Coltrane’s life yields prompts of a kind. Bethany Collins, for instance, who lives in Chicago, learned that “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was a favorite of Coltrane from her Detroit church music days. Collins is known for works on paper that blur or alter scores of musical pieces that recur in different times and social contexts. Her series in the show is based on that hymn and on the Largo from Antonin Dvorák’s “New World Symphony” — itself drawn from Negro spirituals, and which Coltrane adapted on one of her albums.
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Read full article at nytimes.com.
