Alice McLeod Coltrane Turiyasangitananda was a multi-talented artist, playing several instruments and composing music, while also being a Hindu swamini.
Starting her musical journey in childhood, she performed in several jazz ensembles in Detroit before marrying jazz legend John Coltrane.
As a part of John’s quartet, Alice showcased her exceptional musical skills. Following her husband’s death, Alice embarked on a spiritual journey, adopting the name Turiyasangitananda and becoming a significant figure in Eastern religions in the US.
She recorded several albums of spiritual music and authored religious texts.
Her music, a melange of her various influences, is often performed by harpist Brandee Younger and Alice’s son, Ravi, as a tribute to her legacy.
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Alice passed away in 2007, leaving behind a uniquely remarkable life as summed up by Ravi.
Best Alice Coltrane Quotes
I came through the bebop era, and to me that was enough. ~ Alice Coltrane.
I don’t feel deprived in not completing my artistic endeavors. ~ Alice Coltrane.
When you quiet your mind, you can enter a world of clarity, peace and understanding. ~ Alice Coltrane.
I believe that meditation is the highest spiritual practice, the pathway to God. ~ Alice Coltrane.
The music is within your heart, your soul, your spirit, and this is all I did when I sat at piano. I just go within. ~ Alice Coltrane.
You have got to stress the freedom of music to really branch out and be universal. ~ Alice Coltrane.
John not only taught me to explore, but to play thoroughly and completely. ~ Alice Coltrane.
Famous Alice Coltrane Quotes
After I fulfilled my Warners contract, I really wanted to go deeper into what the Lord wanted me to do. ~ Alice Coltrane.
Just as it is fire’s nature to burn, it is meditation’s nature to heal, to bring peace and uplift you beyond your worldly environment and transport you to a higher plane. ~ Alice Coltrane.
Look at what trance means. It means to transcend… it means to become transcendental! So if we get a singular transcendental path of light, that could lead to such great dimensions of consciousness, of revelation, of spirituality, of spiritual power. ~ Alice Coltrane.
When looking through the spiritual eye, or the third eye encased within the human mind, one can see vividly beyond the ken of human eyesight, beyond the material atom, and into the future, thereby transcending the limitations of time and space. ~ Alice Coltrane.
God’s work was what I felt was the greater work. ~ Alice Coltrane.
Maybe other musicians are interested in different things, maybe they have greater monetary concerns. I hear people who have not changed, who haven’t elevated anything, who are the same as they were back in the ’50s and ’60s. ~ Alice Coltrane.
Women have been held back and limited throughout the centuries. Creation could not have been rendered, not even considered, let alone be brought into manifestation without woman. She is principal, a powerful energy. She is first. ~ Alice Coltrane.
Top Alice Coltrane Quotes
I didn’t want to be equal to him. I didn’t have to be equal to him and do what he did. That, I never considered. I don’t think like that. And whatever in the women’s liberation – that’s what they want. I didn’t want to be equal to him. I wanted to be a wife. ~ Alice Coltrane.
I didn’t have to inspire John toward the avant-garde; he did not need anything from me. That is why it’s so interesting that critics decided to dislike me. At some point the members of the quartet felt it was time for a change, and left on their own. ~ Alice Coltrane.
You’re creating ‘ it comes from the heart, the spirit, the soul. You’re not manufacturing somebody else’s plan, somebody else’s blueprint, somebody else’s idea that’s not yours. So when you’re creating, that’s the beauty side of art, you know? It comes from within you. ~ Alice Coltrane.
The mind is a great gift, but it has to be quieted down in order to feel, hear and see the presence of God. ~ Alice Coltrane.
Communicating with people was found to be like suffering judgment. In fact, it was almost impossible for me to dwell upon earthly matters, and equally impossible for me to bring the mind down to mundane thoughts and general conversations. ~ Alice Coltrane.
Once, John and I were coming from a concert that he had played, and it was late in the morning. We heard a couple leaving, and the lady said, oh, I have to hurry home. I’m going to church tomorrow. And her friends said, church? You’ve already been to church. ~ Alice Coltrane.
When John said that he wanted me to play with him on piano, I told him that there were many others who were qualified. He said, ‘I want you there because you can do it.’ ~ Alice Coltrane.
So these were the 21 top quotes about Alice Coltrane.
If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Dorothy Hodgkin quotes and Belle Boyd quotes.
