Illuminations (Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana album)

Illuminations is a 1974 collaboration between Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana. Jazz musicians Jules Broussard, Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland also contributed to the record, on saxophone, flute, drums and bass.

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)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
Christgau's Record GuideC–[2]

Alice Coltrane performs on harp, piano, and Wurlitzer organ and arranged and conducted the string section. Carlos Santana (whose Indian name "Devadip" appears on the sleeve, as Alice's Turiya) plays electric guitar in a minimal style, using feedback, long notes and simple melodies and lending much space to the other instruments. The album is conceived as an instrumental jazz album, with lengthy solos on guitar, saxophone and keyboards.

The introduction to "Angel of Air", with its violins, has been sampled by the Cinematic Orchestra. It is his first of three solo albums (the others being Oneness and The Swing of Delight) to be released under his temporary Sanskrit name Devadip Carlos Santana, given to him by Sri Chinmoy.

In addition, the usual 2 channel stereo version of the album was also released in 1974 by Columbia Records in a 4 channel quadraphonic version.

Remix

In 2001, Bill Laswell, responsible for remixes of albums by Bob Marley and Miles Davis, mixed and remixed excerpts of Santana's Illuminations and Love Devotion Surrender,[3] on an album called Divine Light.[4]

In 2017, a reissue of the album was released by Dutton Vocalion in the UK on the Super Audio CD format containing both the stereo and quadraphonic mixes.

Track listing

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

Charts
Chart (1975) Peak
position
Australian (Kent Music Report)75[5]

Personnel
  • Alice Coltrane - Piano, Harp, Wurlitzer Organ (on track B1)
  • Carlos Santana - Guitar
  • Dave Holland - Double Bass (on tracks A2, B1)
  • James Bond - Bass
  • Jack DeJohnette - Drums and Percussion (on tracks A2, B1)
  • Tom Coster - Electric Piano and Hammond Organ (on tracks A2, B1-2)
  • Jules Broussard - Flute, Soprano Saxophone (on tracks A2, B1)
  • Phil Brown - Tanpura (on track B1)
  • Armando Peraza - Congas (on track B1)
  • Phil Ford - Tablas (on track B1)
  • String section arranged and conducted by Alice Coltrane
  • Murray Adler - Violin, concert master
  • Ron Folsom - Violin
  • Bill Henderson - Violin
  • Nathan Kaproff - Violin
  • Gordon Marron - Violin
  • Paul Shure - Violin
  • Charles Veal - Violin
  • Anne Goodman - Cello
  • Glenn Grab - Cello
  • Jackie Lustgarten - Cello
  • Fred Seykora - Cello
  • Marilyn Baker - Viola
  • Myer Bello - Viola
  • Rollice Dale - Viola
  • Alan Harshman - Viola
  • Myra Kestenbaum - Viola
  • David Schwartz - Viola

References
  1. Ruhlmann, William. Illuminations at AllMusic
  2. 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.
  3. "DiscsEtc: Music CDs". The Independent. 2001-09-16. p. 14.
  4. Broecking, Christian (2001-07-11). "Instant Karma: Sci-Fi-Jazz und andere Fusionen - Barbecue im Raumschiff". Die Tageszeitung. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  5. 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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