Uddhava108
Published on
February 27th, 2023 |
by Harmonist staff
By Murali Balaji, originally published at Religion News Service.
(RNS) — More than 50 years after his death, John Coltrane is rightfully recognized as a giant in American music, a visionary who innovated jazz and made an indelible impact on subsequent generations of musicians in a wide variety of genres.
Alice Coltrane’s impact as a jazz musician might not have been as legendary as her husband’s, but she emerged as a multigenre force over her 40-year music career before her death in 2007.
For all the accolades and tributes the pair have received in making their mark in music and popular culture, and becoming outsized in their role as Black history makers, the Coltranes had an arguably equal impact in reimagining American Hinduism.
John Coltrane’s appreciation for Hinduism grew as a result of his exposure to Hindu philosophy, which was made popular in the early to mid-1960s as a result of Indian gurus gaining attention within American counterculture circles. Coltrane also experimented with LSD, and some of his contemporaries noted that his drug use and subsequent recordings were an attempt to connect with a Supreme Being.
#Coltranes #American #Hinduism
