1LP Vinyl A-9156

A Monastic Trio is the first solo album by Alice Coltrane. Recorded in 1968, she intended it to be a tribute to her husband, John Coltrane, who had died the year before. It originally featured the message: “This music is dedicated to the mystic, Ohnedaruth, known as John Coltrane during the period from September 23, 1926 to July 17, 1967

Alice Coltrane harp, piano
Pharoah Sanders flute, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
Jimmy Garrison bass
Rashied Ali drums
Ben Riley drums

While John’s spirit can be felt throughout from the song titles (“Ohnedaruth” was his adopted Hindu name) to the personnel (Jimmy Garrison, Rashied Ali, and Pharaoh Sanders were frequent collaborators) the album showcases Alice’s immense talent for fusing spiritual free-jazz and new-age with classical, Eastern, post-bop and gospel.

As the late Amiri Baraka writes, “‘I Want to See You’ is a monastic piano concerto. With echoes of Europe , it has a solemnity and majesty to it. Yes, monastic is the word. The piano broods in its earth imagination.”