
Andy Beta on the Transcendence of Alice Coltrane
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Cosmic Music: The Life, Art and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane
By Andy Beta
About the Event:
For most of her life, jazz musician and spiritual leader Alice Coltrane was primarily known as the widow of saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. But award-winning music journalist Andy Beta is here to set the record straight. In Cosmic Music, the first full biography of Alice Coltrane, Beta elevates Alice Coltrane to her proper place: alongside her husband as one of the greatest musical visionaries of the 20th century, and also as a singular artist in jazz who connected with generational icons like Stevie Wonder, Mother Teresa, and Doja Cat. Beta illuminates how, in the years since her passing, Coltrane has become a great influence on a new generation of musicians, especially women, people of color, and artists who seek to combine jazz with other musical forms, from modern classical to electronic. Through extensive research and scores of new interviews, Beta gives us the definitive account of a visionary whose influence is only now beginning to be fully appreciated.
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Andy Beta
Andy Beta is an award-winning arts and music writer. His writing on rock, jazz, experimental, and electronic music has appeared in...
