On June 14, 1998, Alice Coltrane emerged from retirement to play in the grand finale concert of the 1998 Texaco Jazz Festival at New York City's Town Hall. She appeared as a guest of her son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, who was sharing the bill with legendary Indian musician Ravi Shankar.
I submitted the following review of the event to the Kozmigroov Mailing list: Ravi Coltrane brought along a quintet: bass, drums, piano, trumpet. He played two tunes from his new album to acoustics in the hall (a balconied theater) that didn't somehow do anybody justice. Everybody clears the stage 'cept Ravi and out comes mom Alice. She's dressed in a fiery gold-trimmed orange sari, and both say a few words filling the hall with warm fuzzies. They play two duets, he on soprano or tenor sax, she on piano.
The first number was John Coltrane's "Crescent". Second was a tune dedicated to Alice's new guru, Satya Sai Baba. Both were beautiful, and Alice's piano playing was absolutely wonderful, and the ghost of dad John fairly conjured up. It was interesting to me how her playing filled the room when the other player's playing had not....perhaps it was the absence of drums, perhaps it was her own power. Her playing was deeply spiritual. The band returns, the trumpet with a mute, Alice switches to the organ to make room for the piano player.
Wow, here's the died and gone to heaven part. They play the first movement from A Love Supreme. Alice takes a killer--repeat, killer--solo on organ. I wanted the whole thing to go on and on, and when they peaked and couldn't believe they hadn't been slotted to play all of A Love Supreme. Oh well. Her organ playing is unlike anything I've ever heard before: forceful, spiritual, intense; a far cry from the soul-jazz the instrument is known for.
(The remainder of the concert featured Ravi Shankar, after whom John and Alice had named their son: They left, and the other Ravi and his band came out; total change of scenery, and no, the fantasized about two-Ravi-two-Coltrane jam didn't happen. You couldn't exactly picture it since the piano and organ and drumkit had been wheeled off to make room for a raised platform covered with oriental rugs. A very interesting set though, Ravi trading virtuosity with his daughter. It was Ravi and his daughter on sitars, a tabla player, two women playing different tambouras, and a guy whose job seemed to be to just sit there looking pretty. I was mostly struck that the music was kinda like sex. You weren't always sure when the tuning stopped and playing began, and then you realized you were completely caught up in it and the exchanges between the musicians, leading, of course, to a shockingly dazzling but expected, um, climax. I'll stop before my metaphors get too much more colorful. They played maybe 3 or four tunes. From my vantage point in a corner of the balcony I had the treat of being able to see Ravi and Alice sitting off to the side peeking out through the curtains and grooving at the whole thing.
Alice and Ravi returned to the stage the following evening to make a cameo appearance during a jazz awards ceremony at Lincoln Center. Unfortunately I wasn't able to afford the $75 ticket so someone else will have to kindly supply me a review of that event.