Illuminations (Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana album)

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Illuminations
Studio album by
Santana & Coltrane
ReleasedSeptember 1974
GenreFree jazz
Length35:40
LabelColumbia
ProducerTuriya Alice Coltrane, Devadip Carlos Santana, Tom Coster
Carlos Santana chronology
Santana's Greatest Hits
(1974) 		Illuminations
(1974) 		Borboletta
(1974)
Alice Coltrane chronology
Lord of Lords
(1972) 		Illuminations
(1974) 		Eternity
(1976)

Illuminations is a 1974 collaboration between Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana (under their Indian names "Turiya" and "Devadip", respectively). Saxophonist/flautist Jules Broussard, keyboardist Tom Coster, drummer Jack DeJohnette, percussionist Armando Peraza and bassist Dave Holland also contributed to the album.[1]

Alice Coltrane performs on harp, piano, and Wurlitzer electric organ and arranged and conducted the string section. Carlos Santana plays his electric guitar in a more minimal style than usual, utilizing feedback, sustain and simple melodic statements to create atmosphere and lend space to the other instruments. The album is all instrumental, with lengthy solos from most of the participants.[2][3][4]

The string section introduction to "Angel of Air" was sampled by the Cinematic Orchestra for use on the track "All That You Give", which appeared on their 2002 album Every Day.[5][6] This is the first of three Santana albums (the others being Oneness and The Swing of Delight) to be released under his Sanskrit name Devadip, given to him by guru Sri Chinmoy.[7]

The usual 2 channel stereo version of the album was also released in 1974 in a 4 channel quadraphonic version.[8] In 2017, Illuminations was reissued by the Dutton Vocalion label in the UK in Super Audio CD format containing both the stereo and quadraphonic mixes.[9][10]

Santana biographer Marc Shapiro stated that the guitarist was "once again the child" during the recording session, plying Coltrane with requests for stories about her late husband.[11] Santana later recalled: "the music really took me farther away from that classic Santana sound than almost any other recording—farther away but closer to where my heart was."[12]

Remix[edit]

In 2001, Bill Laswell, responsible for remixes of albums by Bob Marley[13] and Miles Davis,[14] mixed and remixed excerpts of Santana's Illuminations and Love Devotion Surrender,[15] on an album called Divine Light.[16]

Reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideC−[17]

In a review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann wrote: "Columbia Records could not have been pleased at Santana's determined drift into esoteric jazz: Illuminations was the first of the nine Santana-related albums so far released in the U.S. not to go gold."[2]

A reviewer for Billboard called the album "a totally cosmic record," and stated that it "should turn a lot of people onto this form of music."[18]

Saxon Baird of Red Bull Music Academy noted that the album is "as strange and fascinating as the pairing" of Coltrane and Santana would suggest, and called "Angel of Sunlight" the album's centerpiece, commenting: "The nearly 15-minute, feverish free-jazz number is heavily indebted to John Coltrane's late output... But if much of the saxophonist's late work felt like a musician in search, Santana and Alice Coltrane here are also musicians journeying in the same style."[19]

Writing for All About Jazz, Rob Caldwell described Illuminations as "quite a bold album," and stated that it is "all about drama and grandiosity." He remarked: "At times bordering on New Age, it's much too adventurous to be pigeonholed as such and just when it seems to get too syrupy or cosmic, it veers into free jazz."[7]

A writer for Aquarium Drunkard commented: "Despite his instantly recognizable tone and reputation for wailing, Santana's playing is minimal and humble, stripped to its melodic core. Here, he sets a new benchmark for electric guitar in a spiritual jazz context, while also providing the soaring counterpoint to Alice Coltrane's lush orchestrations."[20]

Buckley Mayfield of Jive Time Records remarked that the album "is all about transmitting blazing beams of enlightenment into listeners' minds," and stated that Illuminations and Love Devotion Surrender "stand as [Santana's] creative peaks."[21]

A reviewer for Overgrown Path wrote: "It is, of course, very easy to dismiss this album as New Age whimsy. But that denies the primordial and mystical power of sound to transform, and it is elitist and myopic to contend that this transformative power is the exclusive property of the masterworks of the Western classical music."[8]

Track listing[edit]

Side one[edit]

  1. "Guru Sri Chinmoy Aphorism" (S. Chinmoy) - 1:11
  2. "Angel of Air / Angel of Water" (Coster-Santana) - 9:55
  3. "Bliss: the Eternal Now" (A. Coltrane) - 5:33

Side two[edit]

  1. "Angel of Sunlight" (Coster-Santana) - 14:43
  2. "Illuminations" (Coster-Santana) - 4:18

Charts[edit]

Chart (1975) Peak
position
Australian (Kent Music Report) 75[22]

Personnel[edit]

  • Alice Coltrane - piano, harp, Wurlitzer electric organ (B1)
  • Carlos Santana - electric guitar
  • Dave Holland - acoustic bass (A2, B1)
  • James Bond - acoustic bass, bass guitar
  • Jack DeJohnette - drums & percussion (A2, B1)
  • Tom Coster - electric piano, Hammond B-3 organ (A2, B1-2)
  • Jules Broussard - soprano saxophone, alto flute (A2, B1)
  • Phil Brown - tanpura (B1)
  • Armando Peraza - conga drums (B1)
  • Phil Ford - tablas (B1)
  • String section arranged and conducted by Alice Coltrane
  • Murray Adler - violin, concert master

Violins:

  • Ron Folsom
  • Bill Henderson
  • Nathan Kaproff
  • Gordon Marron
  • Paul Shure
  • Charles Veal

Cellos:

  • Anne Goodman
  • Glenn Grab
  • Jackie Lustgarten
  • Fred Seykora

Violas:

  • Marilyn Baker
  • Myer Bello
  • Rollice Dale
  • Alan Harshman
  • Myra Kestenbaum
  • David Schwartz

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Turiya Alice Coltrane and Devadip Carlos Santana - Illuminations". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Ruhlmann, William. Illuminations at AllMusic
  3. ^ Weinstein, Norman (2009). Carlos Santana: A Biography. Greenwood. pp. 54–55.
  4. ^ Berkman, Franya J. (2010). Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane. Wesleyan University Press. p. 90.
  5. ^ Shea, Matt (October 5, 2010). "Ninja Tune Week: Cinematic Orchestra's 'Every Day'". Passion of the Weiss. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  6. ^ "The Cinematic Orchestra: All That You Give". Who Sampled Who. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Caldwell, Rob (August 15, 2015). "Carlos Santana: Light Of The Supreme: Carlos Santana's Devadip Trilogy". All About Jazz. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Music that goes around comes around". Overgrown Path. November 3, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  9. ^ Smotroff, Mark (February 18, 2021). "Santana / Coltrane Collaboration Shines On Quadraphonic SACD". Audiophile Review. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  10. ^ "Turiya Alice Coltrane & Devadip Carlos Santana - Illuminations". Dutton Vocalion. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  11. ^ Shapiro, Marc (2000). Carlos Santana: Back on Top. St. Martin's Press.
  12. ^ Santana, Carlos (2014). The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light. Little, Brown.
  13. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Bob Marley: Dreams of Freedom: Ambient Translations of Bob Marley in Dub". AllMusic. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  14. ^ Ginell, Richard S. "Miles Davis: Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974". AllMusic. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  15. ^ "DiscsEtc: Music CDs". The Independent. 2001-09-16. p. 14.
  16. ^ Broecking, Christian (2001-07-11). "Instant Karma: Sci-Fi-Jazz und andere Fusionen - Barbecue im Raumschiff". Die Tageszeitung. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  17. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 12, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  18. ^ "Billboard's Top Album Picks". Billboard. October 5, 1974. p. 78.
  19. ^ Baird, Saxon (December 19, 2017). "The Weird One: Devadip Carlos Santana and Turiya Alice Coltrane's 'Illuminations'". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  20. ^ "Turiya Alice Coltrane and Devadip Carlos Santana: Illuminations". Aquarium Drunkard. March 11, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  21. ^ Mayfield, Buckley (December 11, 2016). "Devadip Carlos Santana & Turiya Alice Coltrane 'Illuminations' (Columbia, 1974)". Jive Time Records. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  22. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 71. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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