The Jazzcat

Pioneering Jazz Pianist Alice Coltrane Comes to

UCLA Live in a World Premiere Performance of her latest album, “Translinear

Light,” Feb. 18

 “[Translinear

Light] is a poetic, well-rounded, and utterly convincing portrait of the

artist at the top of her game… a defining, aesthetically brilliant statement

from a master composer, improviser, and player.”—All Music Guide

                              

LOS ANGELES—UCLA

Live presents Alice Coltrane, the acclaimed musician, bandleader,

spiritualist and wife of the late jazz legend John Coltrane in a special world

premiere concert of works from her latest album, “Translinear Light.”

The performance features Coltrane on organ and synthesizer, her son Ravi

Coltrane on saxophone, Reggie Workman on bass and Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums. The evening opens with dynamic Los Angeles jazz vocalist

Dwight Trible and his Quintet. This concert begins at 8 p.m. on

Saturday, Feb. 18 at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. For tickets call

310-825-2101, visit www.UCLALive.org,

or contact Ticketmaster. The approximate running time is two hours

with one intermission.

 

            “Translinear Light,” is Alice

Coltrane’s first release in 26 years. The 2004 album marks her triumphant

return to the recording scene after a period in which she devoted herself to

pursuing spiritual enlightenment. This mother-son collaboration reflects a

strong sense of family and marks the fulfillment of a dream for son Ravi

Coltrane. He is an accomplished musician, composer, bandleader and head of his

record label RKM records, who was the driving force behind his mother’s return

to the studio.

 

            “I feel more proud and more happy

about this than any musical project that I’ve been involved in,” says Ravi

Coltrane.

 

“Translinear Light” continues John Coltrane’s

investigations of Eastern music as well as Alice Coltrane’s extensive

involvement with Indian-influenced spiritual music. The recording showcases

Alice Coltrane on the ethereal Wurlitzer organ and synthesizer playing. The

initial recording sessions began in April of 2000 with Ravi recruiting all-star

sidemen including Jack DeJohnette and Jeff Watson on drums, and Charlie Haden

and James Genus on bass. In November of 2002, to help launch the simultaneous

release of Verve’s deluxe edition of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” along

with Ashley Kahn’s book “A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature

Album,” Coltrane agreed to perform with her son in a special engagement at New

York’s Joe’s Pub, which led to her association with Verve and the realization

of this long overdue recording.

 

“All this is so amazing,” says Coltrane

of her long-awaited return to the recording scene. “I didn’t want a second

career and my son knows it. For years I had been telling people, ‘My time came

and went.’ But Ravi had been asking me over a

five-year period to do this, so I finally decided the timing was right.

Something was on my son’s heart, so I felt I could surely make time. And it did

seem to work out very well.”

 

            Known

as a singer’s singer, jazz vocalist Dwight Trible and his Quintet open

the show with a combination of vocal virtuosity and imaginative improvisational

skills. Trible has aligned himself with the great Jon Hendricks and Eddie

Jefferson, and stands firmly planted in the jazz singer’s domain of soulful

scatting and complex phraseology, delivering his horn-like vocal riffs with

luxuriant resonance and power. He has also received numerous awards for his

humanitarian efforts. Members of the

Dwight Trible Quintet include John Rangel on piano; Trevor Ware,

bass; Daniel Bejarano, drums; Derf Reklaw, percussions and Joshua

Spiegleman on woodwinds.

 

Alice

Coltrane was born in

Detroit, Michigan,

on August 27, 1937, the fifth child in a family of six. Her interest in music

bloomed early in childhood. She studied classical music for many years, but

later became more interested in jazz. She has recorded more than 15 albums,

written numerous books including “Monument Eternal,” “Divine Revelations,” and

“Endless Wisdom” and has performed concerts in music halls throughout the world

with some of jazz’s finest musicians including Sonny Stitt, Charlie Haden,

Ornette Coleman, Reggie Workman and Ben Riley.

 

For

more than 25 years, she has been sharing her vision with others as the founder

of The Vedantic Center and the Sai Anantam Ashram located in Agoura,

California. Conveying the spiritual and devotional purpose of music, Coltrane

has recorded albums such as “Transformation,” “Lord of Lords,” and “Journey to

Satchitananda,” as well as tapes and CDs of spiritual chants such as “Turiya

Sings,” “Divine Songs,” “Infinite Chants,” and “Glorious Chants.”

 

She is

also the founder and director of the John Coltrane Foundation. The development

of youth as the next generation has been one of her deepest concerns. In May of

2002, she spoke at the Cal Arts graduation commencement where she received an

honorary Ph.D.

 

Ravi

Coltrane, tenor and

soprano saxophonist, bandleader, and composer has fronted a variety of jazz

lineups, recorded critically-hailed albums as leader, produced recordings by

other artists – including his mother, worked as sideman for jazz luminaries,

overseen important jazz reissues, and founded an independent record label.

Born the second son of John and

Alice Coltrane in 1965 in Long Island, New York and raised in the Los Angeles

area, he was named after Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar.

 

Jeff

“Tain” Watts is among

the most in-demand jazz drummers in the world today. Watts majored in classical

percussion at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University, where he was primarily a

timpanist, followed by enrollment at the Berklee School of Music, where he

pursued jazz studies alongside such talented players as Branford Marsalis,

Kevin Eubanks, Greg Osby, Aimee Mann, Steve Vai and Marvin “Smitty” Smith. He

joined the Wynton Marsalis Quartet in 1981 and proceeded to win two Grammy

Awards with the ensemble. Watts left Marsalis in 1988. After working with

George Benson, Harry Connick. Jr. and McCoy Tyner, he joined the Branford

Marsalis Quartet in 1989.

 

Reggie

Workman is an internationally

acclaimed bassist, composer, arranger, record/concert producer and educator.

His versatile style fit into both hard bop and avant-garde settings. In

recognition of his contribution to the artist community spanning a period of

more than 40 years, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation named him a Living Legend

in 1999. Workman has also received numerous Meet The Composer grants. He was

also honored by Orchard Hill College (1974), Harvest Enterprise (1991), and

Trane Stop Resource Institute (1989).

 

Tickets to Alice Coltrane are available

for $45, $35, $25 at the UCLA Central Ticket Office at the southwest

corner of the James West Alumni Center, online at www.UCLALive.org

and at all Ticketmaster outlets. For more information or to charge by

phone, please call 310-825-2101. UCLA students may purchase tickets in

advance for $15. Student rush tickets, subject to availability, are offered at

the same price to all students with a valid i.d. one hour prior to show time.

 Supported by the Henry Mancini Tribute Fund.

UCLA

Live

UCLA Live is an internationally acclaimed

producer and presenter of music, dance, theater and spoken word, bringing

hundreds of outstanding and provocative artists to Los Angeles each year. From

the ancient to the modern, the local to the global, and the underground to the

world-renowned, UCLA Live is committed to supporting the development of new and

existing work by both major and emerging artists. Lectures, residencies, and

extensive outreach programs expand the impact of its unparalleled performances.