Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture presents: ‘Jazz Spiritualities: The Natural Noise of Good’

Andrew Taylor continues the series with a talk entitled ‘Alice Coltrane: The Sound of Reconciliation’

Trinity Term Week 5 – Wednesday 27th May at 5pm, The Collier Room, Regent’s Park College, Oxford.

Places are limited, register for free here:

Alice Coltrane: The Sound of Renunciation

For many years Alice Coltrane was only spoken of as the second wife of John (whose famous surname she took on marriage), in spite of the extraordinary musicianship that she evidenced as a member of his final groups before his death in 1967. During these latter years Coltrane was deeply involved in exploring the spiritual dimension of his music, and Alice accompanied him in many of those groundbreaking compositions. After his death she looked after his estate and began her own attachment to Hindu spirituality, eventually moving to California and establishing an ashram there, while also making some of the most influential recordings in jazz/Indian crossover genres, moving away from her talent as a pianist to privilege her second instrument, the harp.  Famously private as an individual, she eventually came to enjoy a revival in her career in the final years before she died. This lecture will explore the continuing influence of her music and spirituality for later generations of jazz musicians, as well as the many working in other musical genres.

Andrew Taylor is an Anglican priest and a former research associate in The Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture. He presently serves in a local parish in Cheltenham, where he lives, and also as a locum priest for the Diocese in Europe where he assists for short periods of time with chaplaincies in a period of vacancy. His academic interests lie with the rich and varied interdisciplinary conversations between theology and literature, but also with jazz music to which he has been listening since his mid-teens. It is in that capacity that he is the curator for this particular project in Jazz Spiritualities.

Part of the Jazz Spiritualities: The Natural Noise of Good  series organised by the Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture.