#A Monastic Trio

[jt1674]

[jazzdailyblog]

Alice Coltrane: The Spiritual Odyssey of Jazz's Mystical Visionary

Introduction: Alice Coltrane was a pioneer in blending the worlds of jazz and spirituality. Her journey from a talented jazz pianist to a revered spiritual leader is a testament to her unique vision and relentless pursuit of artistic and spiritual transcendence. Through her music, she explored the depths of human consciousness, drawing from a deep well of religious and philosophical influences.…

[boricuacherry-blog]

John's death was a theme, but so was a desire to surrender her ego, and to offer herself to something greater. In the sleeve notes for "A Monastic Trio" (1968), Alice's first album as a bandleader, the poet and critic Amiri Baraka called her "one earth bound projection of John's spirit."

She had no problem with being defined in terms of her husband's legacy, for some of the most radical music he made was an attempt to translate their private world for the masses. It was the "earth bound" part that she resisted.

On Alice's album covers, she often wore a look of dreamy preoccupation, and their titles - "World Galaxy," "Universal Consciousness" - easily aligned her with many of her outer-space-obsessed peers such as Sun Ra or Herbie Hancock.

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 789: Alice Coltrane Journey In Satchidananda

I'm sure I've mentioned it at some point over the course of these hundreds of posts, but I'll mention it again---one of the things I miss from the pre-streaming era is how you would go on tour and you would only have so many options for music. When I first started touring with bands, you just brought a half-dozen cassettes. Then it turned into bringing a binder of CDs. Then it turned into bringing an iPod. With each step, you could travel with more of your music library. While that was good for battling stagnation, it also meant that tours stopped having a particular soundtrack. In the age of streaming, we rarely listen to the same album twice in the van.

So when Russian Circles went to Europe for a six-week tour in Spring '22, I decided early on that I was going to have Alice Coltrane's Journey In Satchidananda as my default headphone music. I had just started getting into the record, and it seemed like a good album to throw on in quiet hotel rooms and long van rides.

Journey In Satchidananda wasn't the first Alice Coltrane record I've added to my collection, but it's become my favorite. It's far more straightforward and approachable than A Monastic Trio and far more stripped down than Universal Consciousness. Sure, it's still a jazz record, but it embraces a kind of minimalism that creates palpable hooks. And the Eastern flair in melodies and instrumentation gives it some of that classic late '60s / early '70s exoticism that just begs for lava lamps, low lights, and water pipes.

So it was a great winding-down-at-the-end-of-the-night album on tour. And I got a fair amount of mileage out of the actual LP when I was home. Then SUMAC went out on a summer tour and we wound up playing Journey In Satchidananda over the house PA during changeovers. It was easily my most played album last year.

So ultimately, my goal of creating a soundtrack to our spring tour kinda worked, though ultimately Journey In Satchidananda really just reminds me of the entirety of 2022.

[isaiahbie]

The Three Holy Hierarchs

In the Eastern calendar, today is the commemoration of the so-called Three Holy Hierarchs: Basil “the Great” of Caesarea (330-379), Gregory “the Theologian” of Nazianzus (320-389), and John Chrysostom, “the Golden-Mouthed,” bishop of Constantinople (347-407). Many of us are more familiar with the grouping of Basil and Gregory with Basil’s younger brother Gregory of Nyssa, the trio known as the Cappadocian Fathers. But the grouping of Basil and Nazianzen with John Chryostom is rooted in an eleventh century debate over which of the three was the greatest theologian, a debate allegedly resolved by a vision of the three to John the Bishop of Euchaita in which they declared their unity and equality. All three were defenders of Nicene orthodoxy and were committed churchmen (as was Gregory of Nyssa). All three were men of holiness and prayer. All three were supported by close Christian friends and family members, many of whom are also canonized in the Eastern tradition (especially noteworthy is Basil and Nyssen’s sister Macrina, a profound theological and spiritual influence on them both). But each of the three had his own unique gifting and personality, and each has his own lesson for today’s church. 1. Basil the Pastor underscores the importance of the church. He left a monastic life to pursue a public ministry in defense of the divinity of Christ. He soon conscripted his reluctant friend Gregory to the same task. 2. Gregory the Theologian teaches us to value the intellectual life. He is given the title “the Theologian” for a reason. Among his other writings, Gregory’s Five Theological Orations, preached to a small band of orthodox Christians while the see of Constantinople was in the hands of the heterodox, remain a classic defense of the doctrine of the Trinity. 3. John the Preacher reminds us of the power of proclaiming the Word of God. He was given the moniker “Golden-Mouthed” because of his remarkable gifts of oratory. Few in church history have moved the church more powerfully to obey all that Jesus demands in Holy Scripture. Men like these are an inspiration to the whole church of Jesus Christ. One need not be Orthodox or Roman Catholic to find great value in the lives of the saints. Yes, we understand that all Christians are already saints through faith in Jesus Christ. No, we will not be found asking the saints in heaven to intercede for us. But we confess belief in the communion of saints just the same. We too believe that all Christians share life together in the one body of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. We too are the inheritors of the whole history of the church. All things are ours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Basil or Gregory or John. And we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1 Corinthians 3:22-23). Considering the lives of the saints who have gone before us serves as inspiration to our own faith and life. Growth in Christian virtue takes place, by the grace of God, through habits inspired by exemplars. So, let us remember faithful pastors, theologians, and preachers like the Three Holy Hierarchs. And let us imitate their faith as they imitated our one Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:7; 1 Corinthians 11:1).

[gingerradiohour]

Ginger Radio Hour #055

Show Notes January 2, 2024

Listen to archived episode.

Theme: Vinyl extravaganza.

Playlist:

The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” Album: Pet Sounds 1966

Madlib “Slim's Return” Album: Shades of Blue 2003

Ry Cooder & Manuel Galbán "Mambo Sinuendo” Album: Mambo Sinuendo 2003

Leni Okehu and His Surfboarders Album: Hawaiian Holiday 1959

Wah Wah Watson "Bubbles" Album: Elementary 1976

Asoka "1975" Album: Asoka 1971

Keith Jarrett "Starbright" Album: Facing You 1972

Duke Ellington "Laying On Mellow" Album: Duke Ellington’s 70th Birthday Concert (Recorded Live in England) 1969

Alice Coltrane "Gospel Trane" Album: A Monastic Trio 1968

Billie Holiday "Good Morning Heartache" Album: 16 Classic Tracks 1982

Richie Havens “Just Like A Woman” Album: Mixed Bag 1968

Prince & The Revolution "Paisley Park" Album: Around The World In A Day 1985

Fugees “Ready Or Not” Album: The Score 1996

Madlib “Young Warrior" Album: Shades of Blue 2003

[ssvas1966]

Mantra Deekshe - Swamy Gautamanandaji Maharaj

It was a long pursuit of scriptural studies, mostly with breaks and internal turmoil’s, doubts, side tracking of the goals, which finally culminated into me taking a practical step in the form of MANTRA DEEKSHE, which happened exactly one month ago.  This was like a total turnaround from a mere pursuit of philosophical studies, for satisfying the intellect and the ego, into a simple practice of spirituality which looks amazingly powerful than all the studies put together.  It is a new beginning and a very big step in my LIFE.  A small back ground as to what and all happened till now….

I started my earliest studies with Ramayana and Mahabharatha during my child hood days and also a bit of Bhagavadgitha.  Lord Ram was my favourite deity and Aaradhya Daiva.  I was attracted to the teachings of Lord Gautama Buddha and tried to understand him through the practice of Vipassana.  As an ardent follower of Naturopathy as a way of life and admirer of Yogic Sciences, did some studies in these aspects of life.  I got firmly rooted in the Indian way of natural life and Yoga as a method for a healthy living.  Deeply inspired by Mahatma Gandhi I had full faith in the nature’s ability to heal itself.  In the meanwhile, I had the privilege of studying Homeopathy for some time (for the sake of my children) and highly appreciated its curative abilities at very subtle levels of body and mind.

My formal study of Vedic literature commenced during 2010 when I started my initial studies in Prasthana trayas through Chinmaya International Studies.   It was not exactly a scriptural study and I got a glimpse through the Foundation and Advanced Course in Vedantha, as expounded by Adi Shankara.   The huge knowledge base in the form of Bhashyas, Sutras to Vedic lore deeply stirred my intellectual hunger and set a direction for my further studies.  A glimpse of the advaitic thought mesmerized me and I got deeply attracted towards it. 

This initial attraction for “Advaitha” became stronger when I studied Complete works of Vivekananda and his vision about our ancient culture opened up a new vista of knowledge.  I could easily correlate the teachings of Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, through his devout and courageous, monastic student Swamy Vivekananda.  It is not a co incidence that I started this journey in “Ramakrishna Ashram”, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru long back during my High school days in 1980s.  I used to regularly visit this place and the divine rock on which Mata Shri Sharada Devi sat and meditated.  I never knew that one day I would be part of this great lineage through the process of Mantra Deeksha.

I was very sceptical since beginning about following any particular method / order in the path of spirituality.   I never felt that I should follow someone or something, which might be due to egoistic ideas of self-realisation through own efforts.  My recent visit to Ramanasramam, in Tiruvannamalai kindled my desire to strongly cling on to one particular method as there are too many roads leading to the same place.  I had a strong feeling that the journey so far was only theoretical and as that of a bystander without any real progress, except for accumulation of knowledge and confusing ideas.  Though it all looked very peaceful and steady, my inner core was with turmoil and waiting for any small provocation.  This made me send a mail to Swamy Gautamanandaji Maharaj and within a few hours I got a firm reply also !!

As a preparation to this great event scheduled for 30-09-2019 I had to follow certain procedures which began nearly a month before.  After registering my name, I started reading three simple but powerful books on the “Holy Trio” – Shri Ramakrishna, Sharada Maa and Swamy Vivekananda.  We were also instructed to study a book “Spiritual Initiation – What it is ?”.  This book is a compilation of material culled from the three articles written by Swami Bhuteshananda Maharaj, former president of the Ramakrishna Order, and lucidly explains the need of guru in leading the spiritual aspirants along the spiritual path by giving a formula called mantra repeating which they can reach the Supreme Goal.   It is a very handy material for those thinking of taking spiritual initiation.  Most of my doubts got cleared with this and I determined to plunge into this great journey. 

On the appointed day, I went early in the morning with specified things for Deeksha programme.  Cheerful devotees were there already helping us in setting things right.  There was a small briefing previous evening by the Secretary Swamy as to the dos and don’ts for the “D” day. My mind was full of reverence and anxiety for a new beginning. About 105 aspirants were there, including 45 students starting a new journey.  We were asked to keep our things in a very orderly manner and sit at the appointed place.  Every step to be followed for the next six hours was told in great detail.  We had to stay put for the instructions and completely pay attention to the procedures.  It was the hall mark of disciplined monastic order getting reflected in this simple but significant ceremony of the Ramakrishna Math.  We have to very systematically follow the steps and it was to the precision that things happened like in a dream.

Swamy Gautamanandaji Maharaj was very kind and patient, explaining the whole process in minute detail and inspiring us to follow a new path of glory.  His melodious but firm voice and reassuring smiles in between took me to a different plane, and our flight had just taken off with his energies backing all of us.  What exactly happened between 6.30 am to 11.30 am cannot be described in words, but there was an elevation of our minds and the Japa journey has begun.  Through out the program, I was completely engrossed with devotion and there was a subtle excitement about the new journey.

Swamy Gautamanandaji Maharaj also took Mantra Deekshe in RK Math, Basavanagdi, Bengaluru in 1956 and it was our great privilege to follow this lineage.  Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa – Swamy Brahmananda – Swamy Veereshananda – Swamy Gautamananda ….  (Brahmananda, born Rakhal Chandra Ghosh, was one of the direct disciples of Ramakrishna and the first president of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. He was born in Sikra Kulingram near Basirhat, Kolkata. Ramakrishna recognised him as his 'spiritual son'. He became the first president of the mission.).

Its one month now and the practice of Japa is going on with a particular pace and I am sure there will be more to come.  During the last one month, I also read “Japa Yoga” by Shivananda which was found to be having very useful and practical tips. I tried to understand the Aratikram of RK Math and read a book by Swamy Harshananda “Aaraatrika Gaanagalu” which explained the meaning and significance of i) Khandcana Bhava Bandhana, ii) Om Hreem ritham iii) Sarva mangala mangalye iv) Prakratim – paramam, four stotras during Sandhayarathi.  I had only heard them during Aarathi and got fascinated with the rhythm and melody of the Stotras and now I got a chance to understand the significance and meaning.

This is just a small narrative of the divine experience I had, a month ago and I wrote this to express my deep gratitude for  Pujya Swamy Gautamanandaji Maharaj who very lovingly initiated us into this Holy order of Ramakrishna Math.  The journey has begun in a real sense and a distinct link got established with this small step.

Shri Gurubhyonamaha – Hari Om Tatsat - Shri Ramakrishnarpanamasthu.

S SRINIVAS

[blurrydog]

1.27.23 fri

18:09

a month since I last typed in here. 

new glasses, from  when? couple weeks ago

typing at the white moveable counter top 

in the kitchen

bright

stove water boiling, or fixing to boil 

behind me

alice coltrane playing on the speakers from the phone

a monastic trio

---

black beans and rice out of a bag

a mix

saying it like that makes you think i’m not into it but i am it’s okay

and it’s eyes for me. I wish this had a dark background

only in experimental situations

you can’t write like this and be taken seriously you know

you can’t 

or maybe you can

maybe they’ll see it’s okay

log back in to tumblr

clear some space in your mind

I wanted to go for a run on the treadmill which I haven’t done in a while but I will tomorrow

20 mins maybe or maybe 30 something light

maybe just an audio version.

--

I named this thing a while back

not sure if i'm into it anymore.

--

alice coltrane on the harp now

dog batting the ball around now

looking outside the window, just a parking lot

and cold

in florida i used to want the cold

oppressive heat

but heat makes you last i think

heat means life, those 90 year old

leather skinned folks basking

I get it now

i can see you baking yourselves covered in sunscreen

better than the cold black nothing of minnesota days and nights

and not even 7pm but everything dark.

beans and rice

keep on going.

[sarahtheflutist]

Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E major enters strangely mystical territory. The hushed intensity of its opening string tremolo seems to emerge out of silence. The first movement gradually begins to unfold from an expansive theme which, according to some accounts, came to Bruckner in a dream. It’s simultaneously serene and ghostly, reverent and terrifying. It hints at majestic, awe-inspiring, mysterious, and even frightening aspects of the sacred. In Bruckner’s music we sense the cosmic power of sound, as well as silence.

In the context of history, Bruckner, the slightly eccentric Austrian symphonist and organist (at the monastic church of Sankt Florian near Linz), links the worlds of Schubert and Mahler. Each of his nine mature symphonies represents a persistent attempt to pick up where Beethoven’s monumental and enigmatic Ninth Symphony left off, a daunting task avoided by earlier composers. At the same time, Bruckner’s symphonies, largely misunderstood by audiences when they were first performed, were a radical departure from anything which had come before. In the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Deryck Cooke writes:

Despite its general debt to Beethoven and Wagner, the “Bruckner Symphony” is a unique conception, not only because of the individuality of its spirit and its materials, but even more because of the absolute originality of its formal processes. At first, these processes seemed so strange and unprecedented that they were taken as evidence of sheer incompetence…. Now it is recognized that Bruckner’s unorthodox structural methods were inevitable…. Bruckner created a new and monumental type of symphonic organism, which abjured the tense, dynamic continuity of Beethoven, and the broad, fluid continuity of Wagner, in order to express something profoundly different from either composer, something elemental and metaphysical…his extraordinary attitude to the world, and the nature of his materials which arose from this attitude, dictated an entirely unorthodox handling of the traditional formal procedures. Sonata form is a dynamic, humanistic process, always going somewhere, constantly trying to arrive; but with Bruckner firm in his religious faith, the music has no need to go anywhere, no need to find a point of arrival, because it is already there…Experiencing Bruckner’s symphonic music is more like walking around a  cathedral, and taking in each aspect of it, than like setting out on a journey to some hoped-for goal. 

Let’s start off by listening to the first movement of the Seventh Symphony. Try closing your eyes the first time through. Listen attentively, staying in the moment as the music gradually unfolds. At times, Bruckner seems to turn the orchestra into a giant pipe organ. He often isolates strings, woodwinds or brass rather than mixing these colors together. Pay attention to the way musical lines fit together, forming interesting contrapuntal shapes. The Seventh Symphony’s musical architecture includes an almost obsessive fascination with inverted counterpoint (voices which mirror each other).

This performance features Sergiu Celibidache conducting the Munich Philharmonic during a 1990 tour of Japan:

Allegro moderato (0:00)Adagio. Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam (25:45)Scherzo. Sehr schnell – Trio. Etwas langsamer (53:47)Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht schnell (1:05:55)

The opening of the Seventh Symphony is rooted firmly in the home key of E major, but did you notice how quickly the first theme pulls us away from E towards B major? Even if you didn’t know what was happening specifically, you might have sensed a drama unfolding involving keys and their relationships. In the opening we get a hint of E major, the symphony’s true center of gravity, but amazingly it’s never fully reestablished until the end of the coda (23:42). That’s one reason why the moment when the music “finds E major” is so powerful. On a subconscious level we feel like we’re going home. In The Essence of Bruckner Robert Simpson describes the first movement’s harmonic structure as:

the slow evolution of B minor and B major out of a start that is not so much in as delicately poised on E major [and] the subtle resurgence of the true tonic, not without opposition from the pretender…outward resemblances such as the change from tonic (E) to dominant (B) must not deafen us to the fact that such behavior as we find in this opening section is totally uncharacteristic of sonata [form]. The slow emergence of one key, by persuasion, from a region dominated by another is a new phenomenon in the field of symphony, and the rest of this movement will be heard to reinstate E major in a similar but longer process.

For me, one of the first movement’s most strange and frightening moments is the gradual, ominous crescendo and diminuendo in the coda (21:44). Bruckner marks this passage Sehr feierlich (very solemnly) in the score. The tympani roll on an E pedal tone anticipates the movement’s ultimate resolution to E major (23:42). Listen to the incredible sonic intensity of the final bars. For a moment, focus on each individual voice…the rumble of the tympani’s E pedal, the vibrant energy of the string tremolo, the heroic statement of the opening motive in the horns and trombones, the trumpet fanfares, and the repetitive contrapuntal figure in the violins.

[peixebalona]

Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, 1937-2007

[the-underground-candy]

http://theundergroundcandy.blogspot.com/

[loneberry]

Alice Coltrane - Oceanic Beloved. Liquid glissando feels

[infantacarclina]

location & setting: the hôtel saint-pol

closed to @blanchedanjou

       the tapestries that adorned the walls of the hôtel saint-pol testified not only france’s taste, but the crown’s infinite fealty to christ above. woven into a tenebrous backdrop of millefleurs, an anjou prince from many epochs prior presented on bended knee a miniature model of the hôtel to the virgin mary, who appeared to float within a gilded aureola. whether it was clemency or salvation he sought, it was immortality he received: peering down at whomever gazed at this tapestry evermore. the infanta of portugal reached forth as if to caress the plaited textile, but inhibited herself just short of brushing the tips of her fingers against the blessed virgin’s flushed cheeks, as if to avoid sullying the artwork before her with her own wretched mortality. instead, her hand motioned to the coat of arms of the d’anjou family, taking pride of place in the upper-right of the cloth, where she gently skimmed the trio of fleur-de-lis that comprised the blue and gold emblem with her palm. france––as her mother bemoaned––could benefit from a reminder of its own impermanence. 

lodged in a distant reverie, it was not until she gave an ear to the tell-tale groan of a floorboard that carolina withdrew, clasped her hands neatly behind her spine, and readied herself to greet whomever approached the vacant sitting room.

“ ––– my lady the king’s mother. ” carolina’s brow quirked heavenward as she lowered in a deep and reverential bow. ( it was peculiar, she mused, that she should continue to address blanche d’anjou as the king’s mother, when her son was buried only a stone’s throw from the palace. ) “ i must admit, you were the last person i envisioned passing this threshold. i was informed that you would sooner take monastic orders than ingratiate yourself in courtly life –– has there been a change of heart, i wonder? ” 

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 529: Alice Coltrane A Monastic Trio

Goin’ a little out of sequence today, but after yesterday’s post about Harmonia, electronic music, and my somewhat vague rambling about music that “unfolds and reverberates within a real, definable space instead of merely existing in some synthetic headphone mix,” I figured it might be helpful to talk about a record that fully embodies an ideal when I talk about music having a sense of depth and dimension.

You know how bats have a sense of sonar? How they emit these little chirps and how they can get a sense of the dimension of their environment by the way the sound reverberates? I firmly believe we have some vestigial remnant of that trait in our DNA. Here’s a little exercise: play Alice Coltrane’s “Ohnedaruth” from A Monastic Trio on a good stereo system. Don’t use headphones. Doesn’t it sound like the band is in the room with you? It sounds like the drum kit is in a back corner and the bass player is just standing off to your right. Alice is at the piano, situated somewhere in the center of the room, hammering out her stormy melody. The goddamn tambourinist can’t sit still and keeps wandering all over the place. Some of this dimension obviously comes down to studio tricks like panning, where the signal is disproportionately placed in either the left or right channel to give the recording a stereo effect. But even without the panning, the three piece band (and that rogue tambourinist) sound like they’re performing in some definable space. It sounds real.  

By contrast, you can listen to some production-heavy rock band like Angels & Airwaves, and even though the engineer / producer had a field day with panning and EQing and putting reverb and delay on everything, it doesn’t sound like the band is in the room with you. It’s hard to even envision what kind of space the band occupied while they tracked their songs. It sounds good in that everything is articulate and clear, and it sounds interesting in that there are all kinds of tiny sonic details sprinkled throughout any given track, but something about it sounds very plastic and inauthentic. 

Studio effects like reverb help create the illusion of space, but one reason that the big reverberating drums on “When the Levee Breaks” sound infinitely cooler than, say, the drums on “The Adventure” is because Zeppelin tracked the drums in lobby of a three-story stone building with microphones situated around the surrounding stairwells, while I imagine Angels & Airwaves tracked their drums in an isolated studio environment that enabled the producer to add most of the sonic character with outboard effects. Apparently, a lot of audio engineers will tell you that adding more than two reverb sounds to a mix will actually flatten the recording rather than giving it a sense of depth. On some level, our brains understand that reverb is the sound of something echoing within a large room, but if you mix a bunch of different reverbs together, our brains also somehow understand that those echoes aren’t actually defining any sort of real space. We no longer get a sense of the room. Our vestigial sonar gets thrown off and it winds up sounding flat. 

Of course, there’s something to be said for artists and engineers who create their sonic realms with entirely manufactured sounds. They’re essentially creating a synthetic space from the ground up. And while that’s very cool, I personally find it difficult to get lost in those kinds of recordings. But a record like A Monastic Trio? It sounds immersive. It sounds like you’re right there in the studio with the band. And for me, the sense of being in the midst of the sound, rather than merely observing it, is ultimately more satisfying and more exciting.