ALICE COLTRANE - Huntington Ashram Monastery CD (Impulse/Japan)
Due to the fact that major American recording companies appear to be heavily populated by clueless assholes, this prime slice of AC hasn't been readily available for years. Well, it's still not readily available in the West, and I kinda paid through my nose for this Jap version the other week, but at least I finally got the thing! This was her second album, originally released in 1969, right after her world-beating A Monastic Trio LP, and continues pretty much exactly along the same path: a basic avant-modal jazz setting featuring bass, piano, drums and her patented harp, with a heavy influence from the East, as you can probably gather from the title. No surprises, no disappointments; now that I have this and Lord Of Lords from '73, I've got the set and can die a happy man. Hoo-fucking-ray for that. Vale to the good lady.