ALICE COLTRANE Universal Consciousness FROM 71-ART OF THE HIGEST ORDER-A CLASSIC

A MINT MINUS LP ON IMPULSE AS 9210

FROM 1971 WITH GATEFOLD COVER

PRODUCED BY ALICE COLTRANE AND ED MICHEL AND RECORDED AT COLTRANE STUDIOS IN DIX HILLS, NY AND A&R RECORDING IN NYC

WITH THE ORIGINAL IMPULSE INNER SLEEVE AS SHOWN

TRACKS AS SHOWN ON THE LABEL PHOTOS

BACKGROUND INFO FROM ALLMUSIC.COM WEBSITE:
Recorded between April and June of 1971, Alice Coltrane's Universal Consciousness stands as her classic work. As a testament to the articulation of her spiritual principles, Universal Consciousness stands even above World Galaxy as a recording where the medium of music, both composed and improvised, perfectly united the realms of body (in performance), speech (in the utterance of individual instrumentalists and group interplay), and mind (absolute focus) for the listener to take into her or his own experience. While many regard Universal Consciousness as a "jazz" album, it transcends even free jazz by its reliance on deeply thematic harmonic material and the closely controlled sonic dynamics in its richly hued chromatic palette. The set opens with the title track, where strings engage large washes of Coltrane's harp as Jack DeJohnette's drums careen in a spirit dance around the outer edge of the maelstrom. On first listen, the string section and the harp are in counter-dictum, moving against each other in a modal cascade of sounds, but this soon proves erroneous as Coltrane's harp actually embellishes the timbral glissandos pouring forth. Likewise, Jimmy Garrison's bass seeks to ground the proceedings to DeJohnette's singing rhythms, and finally Coltrane moves the entire engagement to another dimension with her organ. Leroy Jenkins' violin and Garrison's bottom two strings entwine one another in Ornette Coleman's transcription as Coltrane and the other strings offer a middling bridge for exploration. It's breathtaking. On "Battle at Armageddon," the violence depicted is internal; contrapuntal rhythmic impulses whirl around each other as Coltrane's organ and harp go head to head with Rashied Ali's drums. "Oh Allah" rounds out side one with a gorgeously droning, awe-inspiring modal approach to whole-tone music that enfolds itself into the lines of organic polyphony as the strings color each present theme intervalically. DeJohnette's brushwork lisps the edges and Garrison's bass underscores each chord and key change in Coltrane's constant flow of thought.
On side two, "Hare Krishna" is a chant-like piece that is birthed from minor-key ascendancy with a loping string figure transcribed by Coleman from Coltrane's composition on the organ. She lays deep in the cut, offering large shimmering chords that twirl -- eventually -- around high-register ostinatos and pedal work. It's easily the most beautiful and accessible track in the set, in that it sings with a devotion that has at its base the full complement of Coltrane's compositional palette. "Sita Ram" is a piece that echoes "Hare Krishna" in that it employs Garrison and drummer Clifford Jarvis, but replaces the strings with a tamboura player. Everything here moves very slowly, harp and organ drift into and out of one another like breath, and the rhythm section -- informed by the tamboura's drone -- lilts on Coltrane's every line. As the single-fingered lines engage the rhythm section more fully toward the end of the tune, it feels like a soloist improvising over a chanting choir. Finally, the album ends with another duet between Ali and Coltrane. Ali uses wind chimes as well as his trap kit, and what transpires between the two is an organically erected modal architecture, where texture and timbre offer the faces of varying intervals: Dynamic, improvisational logic and tonal exploration become elemental figures in an intimate yet universal conversation that has the search itself and the uncertain nature of arrival, either musically or spiritually, at its root. This ambiguity is the only way a recording like this could possibly end, with spiritual questioning and yearning in such a musically sophisticated and unpretentious way. The answers to those questions can perhaps be found in the heart of the music itself, but more than likely they can, just as they are articulated here, only be found in the recesses of the human heart. This is art of the highest order, conceived by a brilliant mind, poetically presented in exquisite collaboration by divinely inspired musicians and humbly offered as a gift to listeners. It is a true masterpiece.

THE COVER STOCK IN MOST UNUSUALLY FINE CONDITION, SINCE THIS ITEM WAS STORED IN A PLASTIC SLEEVE SINCE THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE. THE EDGES ARE CLEAN AND SHARP AND WITHOUT ANY ROUGHNESS OR LOSSES. THE CORNERS ARE LIKEWISE UNTOUCHED WITHOUT WEAR. BOTTOM RIGHT FRONT CORNER WITH SMALL RIPPLE AS SHOWN. NOTWITHSTANDING, A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, SO PLEASE DO LOOK AT THE COVER PHOTOS TO ASCERTAIN COVER CONDITION.

VIRGIN SPINDLE HOLE. THE HIGH LUSTER VINYL BLANK AT FIRST GLANCE OUT OF THE SLEEVE APPEARS UNUSUALLY PRISTINE AND TO HAVE NOT BEEN PLAYED, MUCH LESS TOUCHED, BEFORE NOW. UNDER BRIGHT ANGLED LIGHT AND ASSIDUOUS EXAMINATION A FEW LIGHT SURFACE RUB MARKS AND PAPER SLEEVE STORAGE IMPRESSIONS.

FROM A NOTED JAZZ REVIEWER'S PRIVATE COLLECTION
RARELY SEEN LP WHICH NOW FETCHES 100 PLUS WHEN SEEING THE LIGHT OF DAY

?PLEASE NOTE THE VINYL DESCRIPTION IS ONLY A VISUAL INSPECTION UNLESS OTHERWISE MENTIONED. HERE IS A FEW WORDS ABOUT OUR GRADING SYSTEM AND SUPERSEDES ANY OTHER GRADING SYSTEM, INCLUDING GOLDMINE: ALL RECORDS ARE VISUALLY GRADED AND THE RED GRADE ABOVE REFERS ONLY TO THE APPEARANCE OF THE VINYL BLANK. COVER CONDITION IS NOTED SEPARATELY. ANYTHING BESIDES MINT OR MINT MINUS IS USUALLY TEST PLAYED AND THE RESULTS ARE FOUND IN THE LISTING. MINT INDICATES PRISTINE VINYL WITHOUT ANY MARKS ON THE VINYL BLANK. MINT MINUS MAY CONTAIN A FEW VERY LIGHT SURFACE RUB MARKS FROM HANDLING & SLEEVE WEAR OR A FEW PLAYS. IF YOU ARE A REAL VINYL AFICIONADO AND COLLECTOR YOU'LL KNOW THAT EVEN A FACTORY SEALED LP OCCASIONALLY HAS SOME LIGHT RUB OR SLEEVE MARKS FROM TRANSPORT AND SHELVING. ANYTHING IN THE VG CATEGORY WOULD CONTAIN SOME LIGHT AND FINE SURFACE PLAY LINES AND EVIDENCE OF PLAY WEAR THAT IS EASILY SEEN. SELDOM IS ANYTHING OFFERED IN THE "G" STATE.
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